I got my cert because I worked on 3 of the books (441, 443, 444).

To me the cert does prove you have some knowledge IF you have experience as well. It shows you spent time to prove your knowledge and likely learned a few things in preparation. It's kind of like a college degree in that it proves you can learn, you can take a test under some pressure, and you are willing to work on your career.

I think you need a book for the 731 exam. If for nothing else than to focus you on a number of tasks and give you exercises to work through. DEFINITELY spend time in SSMS working through tasks, even simple ones like adding or deleting a login. The exam (731) will require some of those skills with a subset of SSMS.

The others are more "read and decipher the requirements v questions". I didn't think any of the others were that difficult.