It is definitely worth it from the marketing point of view. This is a tough environment and every little bit helps.

As far as taking the training that depends upon you. Some people take well to books ... others don't. Personally, the training dollars are significant and there are many good books out there that are much cheaper than training. Remember that you can take these tests as many times as you want ... you are looking for the first pass and then you are done.

My method is as follows:

1. Take the test ... don't study ... just take it and try to remember as many questions as you can ... this, of course, is the best exposure to "the test" that you'll get.
2. Buy the best books on the subject (a minimum of two) based upon ratings on Amazon.com (feedback). Study the books in depth.
3. Take the test again ... repeat until pass.

Notice the slight problem here being step 3. Having a certification like MCSD only proves one thing ... you took the tests and passed ... it really doesn't mean that the person with the cert. is worth a crap as far as software development is concerned ... it's marketing ... pure and simple ... the quality of your work is much more important ... but then again ... if you don't market well, you don't work (Catch-22 kinda thing I guess).

Just my humble opinion,

CT