So what's the trick to pass this exam?

I am frustrated because I read this book 3 times over (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-270/dp/0735621527/ref=sr_1_14/105-4248723-2993238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183151619&sr=8-14), I understand the material that I am reading, I do excellent on the review questions at the end of every chapter, but when I take the practice exams (off the CD that comes with the book)that simulate the testing environment I come nowhere near close to passing.

What really frustrates me is that so many questions I am asked on the practice tests are about material that was not covered in the book. I understand the test is not going to contain everything out of the text and that you need to improvise on these tests, but too many questions are related to material I never remember reading.

Im pissed because I know the operating system well, but I am bombing these exams.

Any tips? Should I just keep taking the practice exams and basically memorize the questions and answers?

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matradley

BigLou wrote:

I am frustrated because I read this book 3 times over (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-270/dp/0735621527/ref=sr_1_14/105-4248723-2993238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183151619&sr=8-14), I understand the material that I am reading, I do excellent on the review questions at the end of every chapter, but when I take the practice exams (off the CD that comes with the book)that simulate the testing environment I come nowhere near close to passing.

What really frustrates me is that so many questions I am asked on the practice tests are about material that was not covered in the book. I understand the test is not going to contain everything out of the text and that you need to improvise on these tests, but too many questions are related to material I never remember reading.

Im pissed because I know the operating system well, but I am bombing these exams.

Any tips? Should I just keep taking the practice exams and basically memorize the questions and answers?

I read the MS Press book thoroughly as well. After, I just picked up the Sybex book - http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Professional-Study-Guide-70-270/dp/0782144128/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-9715596-9820803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183155996&sr=1-2 - and reviewed from there. It was very effective.

Technowiz

BigLou wrote:

I am frustrated because I read this book 3 times over (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-270/dp/0735621527/ref=sr_1_14/105-4248723-2993238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183151619&sr=8-14), I understand the material that I am reading, I do excellent on the review questions at the end of every chapter, but when I take the practice exams (off the CD that comes with the book)that simulate the testing environment I come nowhere near close to passing.

What really frustrates me is that so many questions I am asked on the practice tests are about material that was not covered in the book. I understand the test is not going to contain everything out of the text and that you need to improvise on these tests, but too many questions are related to material I never remember reading.

Maybe you could give us an example of the questions you are getting about material not covered in the book? That book is quite thick and maps to the exam objectives mapped in the front. When you miss the practice questions do you understand why you missed them? I know some people have difficulty with exams but if you truly understand the material in the book I doubt your problems stem from questions not being covered by the material.

For my own studies I tackle one exam objective at a time rather than the whole thing and try to have a solid handle on that one topic before moving on to the next. It is so much material that I think trying to learn it all at once makes it more difficult.

dagger1x

If you look at the black bubble chart in the book that indicates which objectives are covered you find that the training kit doesnt cover them all. Even if it did the book is a better reference manual than a comprehensive read. When I have an XP issue to fix there isnt a better book on the market to bring along and I sort of look at it like a Chiltons for car repair. But it will not take concepts and explain them in an instructional way.

I know this because I failed this test about 18 months ago after doing precisely the preparation and feeling exactly how you do right now. What I did was went back to the COMPTIAs and got net & security plus which are exams fulll of material 270 expects you to know. Now I will take another look at 270 and im in a better position to spend some money on other materials such as the Sybex and exam cram II books, CBT Nuggets and the transenders test engines.

The wise old adage heard again and again on this board is you need to use more than one resource to pass just about any certification test. I think it applys to the 70-270 in a big way.

Babietech

Technowiz wrote:

BigLou wrote:

I am frustrated because I read this book 3 times over (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-270/dp/0735621527/ref=sr_1_14/105-4248723-2993238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183151619&sr=8-14), I understand the material that I am reading, I do excellent on the review questions at the end of every chapter, but when I take the practice exams (off the CD that comes with the book)that simulate the testing environment I come nowhere near close to passing.

What really frustrates me is that so many questions I am asked on the practice tests are about material that was not covered in the book. I understand the test is not going to contain everything out of the text and that you need to improvise on these tests, but too many questions are related to material I never remember reading.

Maybe you could give us an example of the questions you are getting about material not covered in the book? That book is quite thick and maps to the exam objectives mapped in the front. When you miss the practice questions do you understand why you missed them? I know some people have difficulty with exams but if you truly understand the material in the book I doubt your problems stem from questions not being covered by the material.

For my own studies I tackle one exam objective at a time rather than the whole thing and try to have a solid handle on that one topic before moving on to the next. It is so much material that I think trying to learn it all at once makes it more difficult.

Hello

I agree what you are saying it is best to tackle one exam objective at time instead of trying to cram everything in your mind because it will not stay there. Years past, I took an A+ Course and the instructor had us cram the material from he downloaded from the Exam Cram website in our brains and he didn't have all the material we needed to prepare us for the real exam. It was a struggle. We were really lost. That is the reason why I don't like to cram for certifications exams. We just have to take one step at a time. And it so much material to try to remember. If you try to learn it all at once, you can get burned out and discourage.

Everlife

BigLou wrote:

I am frustrated because I read this book 3 times over (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-270/dp/0735621527/ref=sr_1_14/105-4248723-2993238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183151619&sr=8-14), I understand the material that I am reading, I do excellent on the review questions at the end of every chapter, but when I take the practice exams (off the CD that comes with the book)that simulate the testing environment I come nowhere near close to passing.

What really frustrates me is that so many questions I am asked on the practice tests are about material that was not covered in the book. I understand the test is not going to contain everything out of the text and that you need to improvise on these tests, but too many questions are related to material I never remember reading.

Im pissed because I know the operating system well, but I am bombing these exams.

Any tips? Should I just keep taking the practice exams and basically memorize the questions and answers?

Hi BigLou,

With the Microsoft Press books, you really need to supplement your study with an additional book as well as doing some research into some of the topics. I would recommend using Technet, this site, and wikipedia to supplement areas you are having difficulty with. Microsoft exams differ very much from CompTIA and most of the exams I had taken in school. Your first exam will be rough as you figure out how to read/answer questions the Microsoft way. Once you get it down, you'll hammer them out in no time.

Never memorize the answers to practice exam questions. This is the absolute worst way to study for any type of exam. Ideally, you shouldn't even glance at those exams until you've read through the book twice. The way I normally study for an exam is to take a read through a chapter, then go back and take notes as I read the chapter a second time. I then transcribe these notes to a Word document and bring it home each night. I repeat this process for each chapter. Once I have finished the book, I go back and review the chapters that I had trouble with. As I learn things from the study guides, I usually make one or two revisions until I've hammered it down to just the areas I have trouble with. It's very time consuming but has been extremely helpful with all of the exams. I ended up scoring an 870 (70-270), 985 (70-290), and 900 (70-291).

Good luck and make sure you use outside resources beyond the book. Real world experience with the OS is very key.

seuss_ssues

I recommend the technote here for the 70-270 exam. It was the main source I read.

I sat down and read it a few times over a weekend.
Got a list of objectives from Microsoft.
Googled anything that I didnt feel that I grasped very well.
Tested anything on my XP machine that I needed.

BigLou

Thank you all for all the helpful advice, fortuantely for me I do have real world experience with the OS as I am in the I.T. field. I will implement the advice I learned in thsi thread.

One last thing, one thing that frustrates me is trying to memorize the plethora of switches. Is that really neccessary? Are there a lot of questiosn regarding switches on the exam?

Thanks.

sprinkl3s

not sure about the 270, but I recently took the 290. there wasn't very much on command switches.

Not sure if that helps or not.

Drak

I think I only had at most a trio of questions related to switches, but you should memorize them because those are some of the easy ones to get right. Unlike some of the Illyad length question that tend to pop up in later exams let alone case scenarios for the 297.