New MCSE today ... Finally :)
TeKniques
Member Posts: 1,262 ■■■■□□□□□□
Hi all,
Today I passed my remaining exams for my MCSE. First, I passed the 70-294 in the morning and successfully passed the 70-293 exam in the afternoon.
My reviews:
70-294:
In my opinion this exam is very hard! I was sweating it the whole time and reviewed my answers twice! I never review my answers, but I am sure glad I decided to this time, because I found obvious mistakes that I made the first time through. Especially on 2 of the sims, I edited the GPO in the wrong spot and only caught myself after re-reading what it wanted a few times.
My exam primarily focussed on GPO's for the most part and almost every sim I had made me use the GPMC. I never really use this day-to-day, but after taking the exam I can see that it actually makes things easier when organizing GPO's and linking them to OU's.
My exam was 39 questions and I had 5 sims. I must say that I thought this exam was just as hard as the 291 exam, except with the amount of content that is required to be covered. I scored an 836 and overall the score report indicated about the same in all areas. I started preparing for this one at the beginning of June after I passed 298. My resources used were the MS Press book which I really liked for this exam, Transcender (Which I almost didn't buy), and Technet.
70-293:
This exam again kind of surprised me, and what's funny is that I scored lower on it than 294, but I felt it was easier. What got me was two of the sims
And I knew it as I was going through them, they were a little bit difficult and reflected on my score report for the Network Security section. Without going into too much detail they were referring to CA/PKI. It's discouraging because at work I set up the whole CA/PKI for the users on my network and I felt like a complete noob looking at the sim
I hate when I click on something I want to look at from inclination and the MS sim doesn't open it because it's obviously the wrong choice. That's when you know you're in troulbe
The exam focussed heavily on IPSec, L2TP, CA, PKI, and Monitoring. Surprised that I had so many network monitor questions, but what the hell they are good review from 291. I had about 2 DNS questions with a little Unix flavor which I liked.
Scored an 806 on it. Used the MS Press book which IMO is a POS! Used Transcender again, and Technet. I have the Sybex books for both exams I took, and I just glanced through them so I can't say I really used them to offer some sort of good opinion on them.
Well, that wraps it up. Finally an MCSE
. It took me almost 13 months to get it with non-stop studying for the most part. My job really helped the most, as when I was studying it was far easier to comprehend the material as it was being introduced. Being a network admin at a MS shop can have advantages.
I'm going to take the rest of the week off and then start for the Security+ exam to achieve the 'Security' specialization for the MCSE. To be honest, I'm flat out broke from buying every MCSE Transcender exam
Someone said UCertify is pretty good, and after glancing on their website their prices are very good. I think I'll use them for Security+. Hey, last thing real quick .... Thanks to all the members who contribute to the forums. You guys were my last reference for study material.
Today I passed my remaining exams for my MCSE. First, I passed the 70-294 in the morning and successfully passed the 70-293 exam in the afternoon.
My reviews:
70-294:
In my opinion this exam is very hard! I was sweating it the whole time and reviewed my answers twice! I never review my answers, but I am sure glad I decided to this time, because I found obvious mistakes that I made the first time through. Especially on 2 of the sims, I edited the GPO in the wrong spot and only caught myself after re-reading what it wanted a few times.
My exam primarily focussed on GPO's for the most part and almost every sim I had made me use the GPMC. I never really use this day-to-day, but after taking the exam I can see that it actually makes things easier when organizing GPO's and linking them to OU's.
My exam was 39 questions and I had 5 sims. I must say that I thought this exam was just as hard as the 291 exam, except with the amount of content that is required to be covered. I scored an 836 and overall the score report indicated about the same in all areas. I started preparing for this one at the beginning of June after I passed 298. My resources used were the MS Press book which I really liked for this exam, Transcender (Which I almost didn't buy), and Technet.
70-293:
This exam again kind of surprised me, and what's funny is that I scored lower on it than 294, but I felt it was easier. What got me was two of the sims
And I knew it as I was going through them, they were a little bit difficult and reflected on my score report for the Network Security section. Without going into too much detail they were referring to CA/PKI. It's discouraging because at work I set up the whole CA/PKI for the users on my network and I felt like a complete noob looking at the sim
I hate when I click on something I want to look at from inclination and the MS sim doesn't open it because it's obviously the wrong choice. That's when you know you're in troulbe
The exam focussed heavily on IPSec, L2TP, CA, PKI, and Monitoring. Surprised that I had so many network monitor questions, but what the hell they are good review from 291. I had about 2 DNS questions with a little Unix flavor which I liked.
Scored an 806 on it. Used the MS Press book which IMO is a POS! Used Transcender again, and Technet. I have the Sybex books for both exams I took, and I just glanced through them so I can't say I really used them to offer some sort of good opinion on them.
Well, that wraps it up. Finally an MCSE
. It took me almost 13 months to get it with non-stop studying for the most part. My job really helped the most, as when I was studying it was far easier to comprehend the material as it was being introduced. Being a network admin at a MS shop can have advantages.I'm going to take the rest of the week off and then start for the Security+ exam to achieve the 'Security' specialization for the MCSE. To be honest, I'm flat out broke from buying every MCSE Transcender exam
Someone said UCertify is pretty good, and after glancing on their website their prices are very good. I think I'll use them for Security+. Hey, last thing real quick .... Thanks to all the members who contribute to the forums. You guys were my last reference for study material.
Comments
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Silver Bullet
Member Posts: 676 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congratulations Tekniques.
This is a nice acomplishment.... what after the Security+.....Cisco..... Ceiling repair? -
Spur
Member Posts: 95 ■■□□□□□□□□
Double post
Guess I can use this post to wish you the best of luck with your next exams
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mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congratulations!
And good luck on the Security+
:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set! -
TeKniques
Member Posts: 1,262 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thank you all for the nice comments!Silver Bullet wrote:Congratulations Tekniques.
This is a nice acomplishment.... what after the Security+.....Cisco..... Ceiling repair?
Well, I am hoping to get involved into the security side of IT. After Security+ I may try the CEH or CWNA. I haven't looked that far down the road, but I know I would like both of those ones for sure. Eventually I will probably get into Cisco, but the problem is that in my current job I don't work with the products at all. We own no Cisco equipment.
And, if all else fails I could always take up ceiling repair
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eurotrash
Member Posts: 817
Congrats on the two exams (and on the MCSE)!
I'll be doing the 294 in a week and so far it seems to be the easiest of them all. Guess I'll find out soon enough.witty comment -
Danman32
Member Posts: 1,243
Great job!
You might want to consider working on 299 for your security specialization, as it seems to follow closely with 293. I wish I had done that. What I really wish I would have done was try for the 299 on June 30th under the 2nd shot deal. Who knows? I could have passed! And if I did, I would have the security specialization by now, since I passed Sec+ last monday.
Interesting that you found 294 harder than 293. I found the opposite, although I also was suprised that I scored very well in 293 but not quite as high in 294. But then, I often troubleshoot AD issues often for clients. Having experience troubleshooting security leaks in NDS probably got me a head start with AD as well.
I too didn't appreciate GPMC at first either, but when you're looking for all effective GPOs and where they are linked, it beats having to search through every OU in ADU&C.
But this isn't about me, this is about your great achievement! -
12thlevelwarrior
Member Posts: 302
congrats man!
i have chosen 70-431 to finish up mcsa. it counts towards mcse and gives you mscts:sql05. haven't heard many people choose this path. got the book today, looks tough hope i am not loco.Every man dies, not every man really lives. -
SWM
Member Posts: 287
I agree with Danman32.Interesting that you found 294 harder than 293. I found the opposite
I actually regretted studying for 294. Due to my work and study's for the other exams I think I would have gone close to passing 294 with no study.
Hindsight is a wonderfull thing.Isn't Bill such a Great Guy!!!! -
bcairns
Member Posts: 280
grats man - now get back to work My youTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/voidrealms
