>I took 70-029 on Monday w/o any studying and some "basic" MSSQL experience and almost pulled it off...

Hi, John:

You must know your stuff, that's not an easy exam. Forunately I passed it last Wednesday and completed my MCSD (hooray!). I studied from the Exam Prep and New Riders books I mentioned, plus as much hands-on experience as I could get. I found that the two books complemented each other - there was quite a bit of overlap, of course, since they both address 70-029 specifically, but between the two of them I felt there was pretty good coverage of all of the stated exam requirements. I'm sure there are other good study guides, too, but IMO nothing is as valuable as hands-on experience with the product.

Are you pursuing MCSD and/or MCDBA? In any case, good luck to you, too.

-Rick