70-298 question: question style

maxhavoc

What types of questions are on the 70-298 exam? Are they the typical multiple-choice or multiple answer select type questions that are on the other MS exams or do they involve simulations and case studies with copious reading and actual doing of things?

doom969

The 70-298 and 10-297 are design exams and are a bit different from other MS exams. There is no sims. The exams is composed of 5 different testlets (independant exams). At the beginning of each testlet you get a case study, including interviews, company policies, problem statements, network diagrams, etc... You then get 5 to 12 questions regarding this case. I found the questions to be shorter and more concise than usual for the ms exams. The answer are active screen, multiple choices, multiple answers, etc...

maxhavoc

Ugh, that sounds like a lot of reading. How about 70-299? I see that you're studying for it now. Does that have the same style?

doom969

70-299 does not have sims either. It is similar to other ms exams in other aspects. It doesnt count as a design exam tho. For the design exam you have to do 70-298 or 70-297 witch is the same format.

SWM

I am not sure how others approached the design Exam. When I did mine, rather than reading the 5 pages of waffle (case study), I went straight for the question, then looked back through the case study until I found the precise information required.

IMO there was not enought time to read it all, understand it and then answer the questions.

Good luck

maxhavoc

Well, I just took the exam and passed with an 811. Not a great score, but hey, who cares right? Just for clarification, all MS exams are out of 1000 correct?

wesmjc

Except for the 70-290 (which I'm embarrassed to say, failed 4 times), I've done quite well on all the other MS exams. I have to say I'm a little nervous about taking this one. Does anyone else agree with SWM opinion that I should read the questions first and look for the answers in the case study? It's actually the second time I’ve heard in taking this approach. I just feel like I need to know about the case study before I answer any questions? I'm going for December 7th ready or not, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

maxhavoc

Here's what I did.

1) Read the case study thoroughly
2) Tried to answer the questions (some I remembered what information I needed and I just answered them)
3) If I needed to look something up, I typically remembered where in the case study it is so I looked it up.
4) Answered the question.

I think the problem with looking at the questions first is that you might hit a question which you think you can answer because it's not specific to tbe case study, but then you find something in the case study which does apply which changes the answer. I've had that happen a few times when doing practice case studies.

The flip side is, if you read the questions first, you know what information to look for. Not sure which way is best. Do some practice case studies and see for yourself. The Sybex book did a great job of preparing me for the question style. There were no surprises on the exam for me (which fails to explain why I did so poorly). Of course, I only took a week to prepare so...<shrugs>

wesmjc

That sounds logical to me..Thanks for the advise. Don't be too bummed about get 811 on the exam. If you get over 700 then a pass is a pass!

famosbrown

When I took the exam, the majority of the questions could be answered without reading the Case Study. The only questions that I did go back to the Case Study for was when the question asked about a specific requirement stated int he case study, but didn't include it int he question. I then skimmed through the case study for lists of requirements or interviews from the important people. I usually read the requirements firsts since they told you waht was going to be upgraded and what was going to stay...easiest exam I've taken so far in the MS track...but this was the last one for my MCSE, so I've a gained a LOT before this one.

Good luck!!