70-291 - Is this a good route!

sjmatthews

Hi everyone,

Being new here, I'm sorry if this post comes across being trivial!

I stumbled across your forum whilst searching on Google for some advice before I sat the 70-290 exam last week, and to be honest I'm glad I did. I passed that exam with a score of 728, not the best score but I'm through, but I did have 5 Simulations in a row...... anyway I digress.

To prepare for the 70-291 I have done / thought about the following, and your advice would be very much appriciated!

* I have been booked onto the "Implementing, Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure " Course - M2277 (http://www.qa-iq.com/courses/IltCourseoutline.aspx?type=IltCourse&courseCode=M2277)
-- Will this prepare me well for the Exam?

* Have used MeasureUP Test Prep software for the 70-290, I have seen Transender mentioned, is this better software?

* I have been given access to on-line E-Learning via SkillSoft via my employer. I'm not sure about how close to the exam this learning package is?

* I have downloaded the Windows 2003 Deployment Guide (thanks for the link!) and have created a Virtual Server and Client PC (thanks again for the advice on that one! ) How should I configure the Server?

Is there anything else I need to do, and how long should I leave it until I attempt the Exam after returning from the Course?.

Thanks for your help!

JdotQ

Welcome to the forum!

Nothing is too trivial to post, so post any and all questions - hopefully we can help you

I would say that the Microsoft course (M2277) alone will not be enough for you to pass this exam, unless you have a ton of real world experience. This is the general consensus for most of the MS courses, of course it's a great start for introduction to the material to get you familiar with everything.

My suggestion would be to pick up the Microsoft Press 2nd Edition book for this exam (http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-MCSE-Self-Paced-Training-70-291/dp/0735622884/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-8517419-3522869?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192498861&sr=8-1). In my opinion, this book is well worth the cost -- and you get 15% off the exam cost with an included voucher.

The class along with that book should be good to get you a passing score. Be sure to do lots of virtual machines to do testing and labs with

I have not used the MeasureUP practice tests with this particular exam, so I can't comment directly on their quality. Most of the people around here strongly recommend Transcenders for all exams, I would assume the same recommendation for this exam as well.

For my studying I have used CBT Nuggets and the MS Press 2nd Edition book. I've learned a ton so far, and hopefully that knowledge will carry over on exam day

Happy studying!

sjmatthews

Hi JdotQ,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Thanks for your tips and advice, very much appricated!. I have managed to find the book you mentioned on Amazon, it looks really good and will be buying that!

I've just started to use the SkillSoft courseware just as an introduction really before the Microsoft Course. It's started with TCP/IP and subnetting, etc. and i feel lost already!!

I received an email from Microsoft today saying congratulations on passing the 70-290 and that my profile will be updated. When I passed the 70-270 I didn't receive an email but I do have a Microsoft ID, and my Prometric account show both exams as passed. Do you know when I'll receive my Access Code for the MCP site or does anyone have any contact details of who I can talk to please? Is there anywhere I can look, apart from Prometric, to see what details Microsoft has on the exams i've taken? I'm just a bit concerned that the 70-270 may not be registered anywhere!!!!!

Thanks again for your help!

jbaello

sjmatthews wrote:

Hi JdotQ,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Thanks for your tips and advice, very much appricated!. I have managed to find the book you mentioned on Amazon, it looks really good and will be buying that!

I've just started to use the SkillSoft courseware just as an introduction really before the Microsoft Course. It's started with TCP/IP and subnetting, etc. and i feel lost already!!

I received an email from Microsoft today saying congratulations on passing the 70-290 and that my profile will be updated. When I passed the 70-270 I didn't receive an email but I do have a Microsoft ID, and my Prometric account show both exams as passed. Do you know when I'll receive my Access Code for the MCP site or does anyone have any contact details of who I can talk to please? Is there anywhere I can look, apart from Prometric, to see what details Microsoft has on the exams i've taken? I'm just a bit concerned that the 70-270 may not be registered anywhere!!!!!

Thanks again for your help!

I used trainsignal for my lab parctice, they are fast track and very informative , they give it to you like an uppercut, I'm also using trainsignal for my CCNA one of the instructor is a CCIE.

techlee

I would study all that the others are telling you. Also, 70-291 is rich with DNS and RRAS. Make sure you know about creating A, SOA records...etc. Practice doing simulations, create some scenarios

sjmatthews

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies and tips, very much appriciated!

My 70-291 Microsoft Training Kit turned up today from Amazon, only ordered it late Tuesday night, so I can now start with that.

I just hope this book turns out to be a little better than the E-Learning software i've been using. It was OK until it said an APIPA address was 169.245.x.x what else could be wrong, it's amazing how you suddenly don't trust it anymore when this happens!

Thanks again for all your help!