Have you ever found a mistake in a book, certification prep product or on a certification website? When you are reading a book, viewing a website or using other certification prep materials, how can you be sure that what you are reading is correct? If you are only using one source then you can't be because mistakes are inevitable.
When people find incorrect information on our site they pass along friendly feedback, get angry or sometimes even tell us that we suck. Many fail to realize that there is incorrect information on every website(even Microsoft's), in every book and just about every reputable certification product available. This is a direct result of the fact that they are created by humans who make mistakes.
To complicate the matter further, Microsoft(and others) change their minds about various technical issues such as minimum memory requirements for Windows 2000 and the recommended size of the paging file in NT 4 as examples. Furthermore, technologies evolve during the 2-3 year span that a certification is valid and what was considered correct or the standard in 1998 probably isn't in 2001. One of our visitors recently pointed out a great example of this with regards to subnetting. When the Microsoft TCP/IP test was active, certification materials prepared people to learn the 2n-2 method of subnetting even though the modern standard uses the 2n(all definable subnets) method. The same confusion still exists for CompTIA's Network+ certification and quite frankly, we still do not know which method certification vendors are testing on.
So what can you do to make sure that you are getting the accurate information that you need to pass your exam? There are some tips below.
Use more than 1 preparation tool. Certification prep materials aren't cheap, but neither are the exams so you might as well get it right the first time. Instead of buying 1 book, buy 2 so that you can cross reference the information in them. If you buy just 1 book, buy a set of practice questions and make sure that they accurately reflect the information that you read. Use websites like ours and compare our information to what you have read in your book. Are we saying the same things?
Use reputable sources. If you are looking for correct answers in a braindump then you will get what is coming to you. If you are not sure if a product comes from a reputable source or not, ask in one of the many certification forums available. Ours are here.
Most publishers post updates to their products online when mistakes are found in their materials. These sections are often called "Errata". If your publisher does not provide this information online, contact them and find out how you can get access to updates. Below are links to several of the major publishers websites. Microsoft Press - http://microsoft.com/mspress/ Que - http://www.informit.com Sybex - http://www.sybex.com/ Mcgraw-Hill - http://www.osborne.com
Finally, help others out by pointing out the mistakes to the product manufacturer or website owner. None of us are trying to mislead you, but inevitably mistakes will happen. Help us out by letting us know where we have erred.
