Preparing for 70-285

geekie

Wondering if anyone has taken 70-285 and if so how they prepared for it? I've got the CBT Nuggets course from work but usually like to complement the CBT's with a book but can't find a single book for this exam.

So far I've been reading up on my notes for 284 along with watching the Nugget videos for 285 and the usual browsing of msexchange.org. I've also been practicing migration, co-existance and Exchange hardening. I'm hoping this will be enough and will be purchasing the Transcender practice test come pay day. Reading some previous threads it seems the exam format is case studies Can anyone confirm this and if so how many case studies are there? No. of questions per case study? Time allocation per case study?

Any advice / pointers would be much appreciated!!

Cheers
Rob.

Gabe7055

If I recall correctly there was 30 questions and between 4 or 5 case studies. So yes it is a design test with case studies so your not going to be able to find many books for 285. Just use what you have for 284 and I would recommend Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Advanced Administration by Jim McBee to help on some of the more advanced stuff.

I actually found 285 to be easier than 284 but I took 284 very early in my Exchange career.

Also I feel I should warn you Exchange 2007 will be out probably at the end of December and it is an all new version not just a rehash. Many things are different. Test for Ex 2007 are supposed to appear toward the March or April time frame

geekie

Thanks for the info Gabe! I saw a comment in another thread that they thought 285 was easier than 284

Also I feel I should warn you Exchange 2007 will be out probably at the end of December and it is an all new version not just a rehash. Many things are different

Yeah I got 2007 beta 2 installed on one of my VM's. Very nice package indeed. Also done two of the free MS e-learning clinics which gave a good introduction to the product!

royal

Hm. I wonder if it makes sense to just study for 284 and then schedule my exam for 284 and 285 just to see how I do. I begin studying for 70-284 tomorrow but my work wants me to hold off on specializations for now and focus on some other stuff such as ITIL and some project management courses right after I finish 284 and then come back to my specializations in 4-5 months.

geekie

Hm. I wonder if it makes sense to just study for 284 and then schedule my exam for 284 and 285 just to see how I do. I begin studying for 70-284 tomorrow but my work wants me to hold off on specializations for now and focus on some other stuff such as ITIL and some project management courses right after I finish 284 and then come back to my specializations in 4-5 months.

Maybe if you feel confident enough. My thoughts are if I were to fail the first exam I wouldn't be in a great frame of mind to sit the next one but fingers crossed you won't! Sounds like you've got a lot of studying to do anywayz

Good luck!