Hello, I'm new. And petrified. :(

abekku

Hello!

I'm currently attending a Microsoft IT Academy, which will land me my MCP, MCSA and MCSE all by January 7th of '08. I'm pretty new to the world of IT (the extent of my knowledge is releasing and renewing an IP thru command prompt), so you can only imagine what my reaction was when I compared the title of the actual MS Press book (70-270) to the actual content inside of it. *d'oh*

Right now, I'm just feeling so overwhelmed. 70-270 exam is in ~3 more weeks and I don't feel like I've even grasped half of what we've covered (and we're currently on Chapter 11). I feel like I'm in over my head and that taking these courses was just one huge mistake. I signed up for a tutoring session of sorts with my instructor and explained to him sort of how I was feeling. He said my quiz and homework scores were on par with everyone else's, which, as nice as that sounds, wasn't very comforting at all. I'm 99.9% sure the other students know what the heck they're doing, whereas my scores are probably sheer luck. We do hands-on labs in class with the 70-270 Lab book. I feel like I go through all of the motions without understanding a thing I'm doing. Sure, I come up with the desired result by the end of the lab, but I'll be damned if I understand what I even did.

The only current resources I'm using are the MS press book and the site where all of our Homework/Quizzes are done, MasterMind. Not sure if any of you have heard of it before, but MasterMind is neat in the sense that it gives you the correct answers once you finish the assignment. Not only that, but it explains why each answer is right if you got it right and why each answer is wrong if you got it wrong. Very helpful, but even still, I seem to be struggling. Next week, we get to use Microsoft's Self-Test software in class to help get a roundabout grade for the exam if we were to take it. Once we do that a few times, then we have one exam study session. The time is growing near and I'm petrified.

Did any of you ever feel this way before? How did you cope? DOES IT ALL TURN OUT OKAY IN THE END? ...lol. I fear nothing more than my passing exam grade being a fluke and me being thrown into my first help desk job, completely dumbfounded.

h2jones

Yeah sure I have felt that way before - only, all my training has been self study and on the job/learn it by trying it. Try learning how to configure a 2003 server active directory network with terminal servers and xp clients while the client is watching you. Nerve shredding but you damn well LEARN the first time.

Hands on practice is the key, read the material then DO it. Works for me anyway

sprkymrk

Try to understand why you are doing a lab. Ask yourself, for instance, why would I ever want to do something like this in real life, what other ways are there, and why is this way better?

Let's say the lab is something like installing XP by using RIS or Sysprep and Ghosting software.

Q. Why would I want to do this in real life?
A. Because in a corporate environment they don't buy a computer from Walmart preinstalled with XP Home and assign it to an employee. They buy computers by the dozen (or hundreds) from HP, Dell, or Gateway. They don't use a factory install of XP because they have specific requirements and settings unique to their environment. So you need a way to install XP to all these machines in the fastest way possible so that they all come out in a standard format.

Q. What other ways are there?
A. Pop an XP CD into the drive, run setup, answer a bunch of questions, hope you and the other 10 techs all remember to do it the same way so all the computers are set up correctly, and generally spend a lot of time and effort visiting each computer.

Etc. If you don't know the answers yourself, ask the instructor or another student that seems to know his stuff. Find other questions to ask that will help you understand not only "what" to do, but "why". See if things don't slowly start to make sense and come together for you. I think you are concentrating on the "task" of each lab, but not the bigger picture of how it all fits together.

Good luck, and please feel free to post questions here. There are many who will be glad to help you out.

ITdude

All great responses. I think almost everyone if they are being honest with themselves has felt like you during at least some part of their learning cycle especially in a rapid paced classroom environment, even perhaps for some with more advanced topics than 70-270.

As sprkymrk said. Basically try not to get robotic doing the labs. Ask yourself why the heck would I want to be doing this in the first place. Also listen to the people in the class who "seem" to have a good grasp of the material and become friends with them, eat lunch with them etc., etc.

You can learn alot about networking by networking with others.

Good luck and feel free to ask questions you are confused about on here...

By the way a little fear can be a potent motivator, too much can paralyze you. Try to keep things in perspective.