AutoCAD 2014 Essentials: Autodesk Official Press

Great!

The book provides clear and helpful exercises in every chapter to help you get familiar with the software. I studied this book and tried to cover a chapter or two everyday for 14 days and helped me get a 94% (passing is 77 at my test site). I've had no previous experience with AutoCAD before, so if you're anxious about taking the test, study this book and also do some practice tests. This book is not perfect, but I'd still give it a 5/5. It only provides the fundamentals, and the actual exam questions are more complex than the exercises, but the tools that you will learn from this book should be enough to get you started with CAD. To really be proficient with AutoCAD, you will have to spend time with the software and do some hands-on exploring and drawing with it. Supplement your learning by watching online video tutorials, reading forums, answering practice tests, and hands-on drawing with the software.

Very good, understandable for students or beginners

I found this book very helpful. It covered 90% of my questions very well, 5% OK, 5% fair to poor. Prior to purchase, I had 90 minutes AutoCAD instruction and about 80 hours trial-and-error of hands-on work, and could, with considerable effort, produce a respectable drawing (site plan with contours, existing and proposed conditions.) The book is well-organized, and it's readily apparent when it doesn't have the answer, so I haven't spend a lot of wasted time searching dead ends. The program-use tips alone, such as efficient use of the mouse keys, have more than paid for the book, and have saved me hours of time.

Not worth the price