Any good tips for 70-350 exam..... little help..

Any tips guys....

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When is your exam scheduled? What have you got for study material so far? Do you use ISA 2K4 in a production environment? What is your experience level in general?

I think the MS Press book is good, but dry.
I think the Train Signal videos are good, but dry. They have scenario based labs to go along with the videos.
I think the CBTNuggets are good and fairly entertaining.
The Tom Shinder books are great for advanced setups, but are not geared toward the exam at all.

Overall, I was falling asleep while trying to study for this one and had to put it off and pursue other things for a while, though I plan to revisit this in the next year or so.

jbaello

I've been debating and very confused either to take 299 or 350. Being in this field for 5 Years, I have not seen a company that uses ISA 2004, how widely is this used? can it also be used to filter user internet access? like block myspace.com and such?

jbaello

I'm trying to see if there's a Microsoft software based web filtering solution, I would like to get my feet wet on this for some purposes that I have.

sprkymrk

jbaello wrote:

I've been debating and very confused either to take 299 or 350. Being in this field for 5 Years, I have not seen a company that uses ISA 2004, how widely is this used? can it also be used to filter user internet access? like block myspace.com and such?

ISA 200/2004 (and now 2006) has a pretty large user base. Wander on over to www.isaserver.org and you'll see a pretty large community.

ISA 2004 will do just about everything, including blocking web sites. It doesn't do AV scanning by itself, but there are third party add-ons that do a LOT of stuff pretty cheaply.

RobertKaucher

Just to add my two cents... All the books and videos mentioned are great, but don't forget to look at the MS ISA site for simulations. Very good stuff that will really boost your ability to actually use and configure ISA.

jbaello

I download the trial version from microsoft, and will attempt perform it in my home lab.

Thanks!

jbaello

I haven't checked yet, but is there a certification for ISA 2006? a MCTS would be nice to specialize in this product, if so is usable as an elective towards MCSE 2003?

Hope everyone is having a good fun break this holiday!

RobertKaucher

jbaello wrote:

I haven't checked yet, but is there a certification for ISA 2006? a MCTS would be nice to specialize in this product, if so is usable as an elective towards MCSE 2003?

Hope everyone is having a good fun break this holiday!

There is the 70-351 for ISA 2006 but I don't think it can be used as an elective for the MCSA/E. Semms odd, but I have not found it listed as a valid elective. Also the exam seems to have objectives relating to integration with Forefront. So you might not pass if you only rely on only studies for the 350.

Also, I highly recommend actually deploying it in your home environment! Nothing better than trying to get all of my home devices (TiVo, SlingBox, Exchange, NAS) working correctly to really learn what can go wrong.

All-in-all I thought the test the easiest of the ones I took for my MCSE Security. The reason being even if I did not know the answer I was able to rule out answers because they made no sense. So I would say good foundation in the material covered in 291 + actually working with ISA 2004/2006 = pass. Good luck!

HeroPsycho

Just FYI, 70-351 does count as an elective for MCSE 2003: Security.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-351.mspx

You'll see it serves as an elective for all the Security specializations or plain jane MCSE/MCSA certs.

AndrewNP

Any other good tips/ free practice exams or whatever I can use?

I am going for my 70-350 next week.

HeroPsycho

I used Transcenders, and they worked great.

FYI, I would take the ISA 2006 exam. If you can pass the ISA 2004 exam, you can pass ISA 2006. You gain MCTS certification and it still meets elective requirements for MCSE: Security.

Also, in contrary to what I read above, the Tom Shinder books are great for exam prep. They're not organized to cover the information by exam outline headings, but they cover everything you would need to pass the exam. I used the ISA 2004 book and Transcenders for ISA 2004, and I passed with I think a 900. I looked at the ISA 2004 book from MSPress after I took the exam, and no contest, the Shinder book was far better.

FYI, I took the ISA 2006 exam about a year later and spent a few hours brushing up on ISA by blowing through my ISA 2004 Transcenders and skimming a few sections of the Shinder ISA 2004 book, and I passed with an 850.

doom969

+1 I agree that if you can pass ISA 2004 you should be able to pass ISA 2006.

Those 2 products are very much alike, so much in fact Microsoft recommends using the Material from 70-350 to study for 70-351.
I did ISA 2004 last year and it wasnt a hard exam. I bet ISA2006 isnt that hard either. If its anything like 2004, there was a lot of common sense questions. (I'll know soon enough, I'm booked to sit this one next week.)
I used the mspress book and it was alright, but its one of those exam where handson is requires and is THE best ressource. imo.

Expect to see questions about admin roles, publish types, lots of vpn questions, a bit of monitoring, access rules, both positive and negative caching, carp, nlb, i do not beleive there will be sims...

Microsoft wrote:

Although Microsoft Learning does not provide learning materials specific to Exam 70-351 on ISA Server 2006, the materials released for Exam 70-350 on ISA 2004 are excellent resources to help you prepare for Exam 70-351.

Here - http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-351.mspx

AndrewNP

I am now going to see if I can change my booking.

I suppose the other thing I can do is if I cant change my booking and pass 70-350 easily I will try and book in for 70-351 and just do that too.

HeroPsycho

That would take care of both electives for MCSE 2003: Security. You would only need to pass 70-298 to achieve that.

AndrewNP

HeroPsycho wrote:

That would take care of both electives for MCSE 2003: Security. You would only need to pass 70-298 to achieve that.

I have already done 70-298

Doing 70-350 and 351 seams like a good idea - saves studding since it sounds like the same material. For me I have already passed sec+ with a 858 so I am pretty happy with that and I think its good to have at least one vendor neutral cert.

_maurice

HeroPsycho wrote:

I used Transcenders, and they worked great.

FYI, I would take the ISA 2006 exam. If you can pass the ISA 2004 exam, you can pass ISA 2006. You gain MCTS certification and it still meets elective requirements for MCSE: Security.

.

Does the 70-351 give you MCTS certification? Can't find it here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcts/default.mspx

astorrs

Credit toward certification
When you pass Exam 70-351: TS: Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006, Configuring, you complete the requirements for the following certification:

• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006, Configuration

The MCTS "roll-up" page you linked to is missing a couple.

jamesp1983

just a side question:

if i take the 350, i will get my Security designation, correct?

dynamik

Yea, if you did 298 instead of 297.

jamesp1983

dynamik wrote:

Yea, if you did 298 instead of 297.

okay, that's what I thought. I did do 298. thanks!

jamesp1983

i have to take this one for my job. Is this a relatively difficult test? I've done a fair amount of security research.

jamesp1983

Well, I bombed attempt #1 of this exam. I've used Self Test, lab work, and the MS Press book. Any other options? Is transcender good for this exam? I need to knock this one out, but finding time with work and getting wedding plans situated is a difficult situation. I haven't been able to find much on this exam.

HeroPsycho

jimmypizzle83 wrote: »

Well, I bombed attempt #1 of this exam. I've used Self Test, lab work, and the MS Press book. Any other options? Is transcender good for this exam? I need to knock this one out, but finding time with work and getting wedding plans situated is a difficult situation. I haven't been able to find much on this exam.

Read the Shinder book!

Transcender is pretty good, too.

jamesp1983

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Read the Shinder book!

Transcender is pretty good, too.

Ya, I just bought that off of amazon. Hopefully, that book will give me the help I need.

jamesp1983

round 2 tomorrow! i reread the ms press book, and ran through transcender and self test.

jamesp1983

darnit, i failed again. 657 this time instead of 485. I showed a lot of improvement in all areas except in configuring web caching. I'll hammer away on that area and try to knock this thing out on the 15th. This time I reread the MSPress book, used Selftest and Transcender, and made some notes for quick review before the test. I have to have it done by the 17th for work, no pressure! I just received the Shinder book so I think I'll read that. I've seen some people say it's not good for the exam, but I hope they're wrong. Has anyone here used the 2004 shinder book for the 350?

jamesp1983

would you guys use the shinder book or CBT Nuggets for the 350?

HeroPsycho

Shinder book without a doubt. I tried both the CBT nuggets and Train Signal. The Shinder book worked A LOT better for me.

jamesp1983

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Shinder book without a doubt. I tried both the CBT nuggets and Train Signal. The Shinder book worked A LOT better for me.

thank you sir!