I Passed 70-227 today

Hi all,
Well, weird thing happened to me at the testing center today. First, I scheduled my 70-291 exam in the morning and alas I experienced my first testing center technical problem ever .... could not download the exam because an update had to be made to the test delivering software at the testing center. Naturally, the guy who installs these upgrades is not working till tomorrow. So the proctor called VUE and they said that I should be able to take my 70-227 exam that I scheduled in the afternoon because the update did not affect this exam.
So I took the 70-227 (ISA Server) exam and passed with a 748! The exam was a lot tougher than I expected. A lot of questions that were either not covered in the study material or that I overlooked it as an unimportant topic. Probably the later lol. Why did I take this exam? Well I needed an MCSE elective and I found the Sybex study guide on Amazon.com for $3.00
So I picked that up and purchased the Transcender exam (Right on key btw) and immediately after reading the study guide, playing with my home lab, and doing all the exercises I hit 82% on my first practice exam. Not too bad, but not great either. I studied for the exam for about 3 weeks and was confident I would pass, but knew I had the 2nd shot promo just in case
For anyone looking to take this exam I would really focus your studies on these areas:
-Installing ISA in an Array configuration
-Protocol rules, Protocol rules, and oh yea .. Protocol rules!
-Configuring the clients with Web Proxy, Secure NAT, or Firewall! I had a lot of questions in this area
-VPN access both to the local network and a remote network.
All in all, the Sybex study guide was great, the author was on key and the chapters really hit the nail on the head. Was a pretty easy read overall. Well I am trying to reschedule my 70-291 exam for Friday ... Hopefully I will report that I am an MCSA soon!
Thanks!
Well, weird thing happened to me at the testing center today. First, I scheduled my 70-291 exam in the morning and alas I experienced my first testing center technical problem ever .... could not download the exam because an update had to be made to the test delivering software at the testing center. Naturally, the guy who installs these upgrades is not working till tomorrow. So the proctor called VUE and they said that I should be able to take my 70-227 exam that I scheduled in the afternoon because the update did not affect this exam.
So I took the 70-227 (ISA Server) exam and passed with a 748! The exam was a lot tougher than I expected. A lot of questions that were either not covered in the study material or that I overlooked it as an unimportant topic. Probably the later lol. Why did I take this exam? Well I needed an MCSE elective and I found the Sybex study guide on Amazon.com for $3.00
So I picked that up and purchased the Transcender exam (Right on key btw) and immediately after reading the study guide, playing with my home lab, and doing all the exercises I hit 82% on my first practice exam. Not too bad, but not great either. I studied for the exam for about 3 weeks and was confident I would pass, but knew I had the 2nd shot promo just in case

For anyone looking to take this exam I would really focus your studies on these areas:
-Installing ISA in an Array configuration
-Protocol rules, Protocol rules, and oh yea .. Protocol rules!
-Configuring the clients with Web Proxy, Secure NAT, or Firewall! I had a lot of questions in this area
-VPN access both to the local network and a remote network.
All in all, the Sybex study guide was great, the author was on key and the chapters really hit the nail on the head. Was a pretty easy read overall. Well I am trying to reschedule my 70-291 exam for Friday ... Hopefully I will report that I am an MCSA soon!
Thanks!
Comments
Will you be continuing for the MCSA:Security?
Thanks Johan!
Yes I am, I eventually want the MCSE: Security. My remaining track in order includes:
70-291(For MCSA), 299(For MCSA: Security), 293, 294(For MCSE), 298(MCSE: Security)
Yeah I had thought about that. The only thing that turns me off about the Security+ is the cost. The nice thing of course would be to have it for 3 things.
1. Knowledge
2. MCSE Security Elective
3. Another Qualification on the resume
I may weigh that and do it instead of the 299 as I have heard that is one bear of an exam.