An SAP recommended book for SAP Certification – this should be more than enough to convince people to buy a book. On the flip side, it created a hype and sets the bar really high. Written by Puneet Asthana and David Haslam, this books lives to the hype to some extent and should be treated as a success. But it is what it is, a certification guide. The keyword is ‘guide’.

It covers all the topics you need to know to sail safely beyond the cut off. It includes traditional topics like Workbench, Debugger, Dictionary, OOPS and some new customers like concepts of HANA. This builds concrete ground for test preparation. A caution, some topics are less exposed than others and one need to read between the lines to understand the meaning fully.

This book assumes that reader has basic knowledge of SAP ABAP and is having some kind of access to workbench. It builds up on lots of practical use and without hands on experience, though, a reader might still score well, it will not amount to anything. Ideal user should have about a year of development experience and should have access to an IDES.

Writing is fair. Sometimes it tends to go over some difficult topics quicker than a normal reader would prefer but such instances are fewer than other books tending the same cause. Sample questions are a big help. I am personally not a big fan of the way it has been structured but I believe I am in a minority in that context.

If you are a beginner and intend to give exam in a year or two, this is a right book to start with.

~S