294 Exam Review - Passed 842

Claymoore

The official title of this exam may be Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure, but I think the unofficial name should be exam 70-294: Group Policy and a Couple of Other Questions.

Like some other folks, I was looking forward to this test - especially after the challenges of 291 and 293. After all, Users, Groups, OUs and Group Policy are what we work with every day - unlike DNS stub zones or certificate servers. Experience can cause issues when you are faced with a 'Right Way' vs 'Microsoft Way' choice in an exam, but I think Microsoft has done a good job bringing the 'right way' and 'MS Way' closer together. However, experience is not always a direct substitute for good, old-fashioned studying.

Study Materials Used:
O'Reilly MCSE Core Exams in a Nutshell
Exam Cram 294

Study Materials Purchased but not Used:
MS Press 294 Training Kit
Measure Up Practice Exams

My study pattern for the previous tests was to use the O'Reilly book as a quick overview and then use the MS Press book (or Syngress for 293) to get more depth on my weaker areas, sometimes followed by Exam Cram for a different view, but always wrapped up with a practice test (in study mode) to put me in the testing frame of mind. For 294 I felt so comfortable after reading the O'Reilly book that I skipped to the Exam Cram and didn't even bother with a practice test. I guess my time was more valuable than a higher score.

If you want to know what to study for each section, I suggest you look at everything through Group Policy tinted glasses. It's like adding 'in bed' to the end of the fortune cookie fortune, just add 'for proper Group Policy function' to the end of every exam objective listed for 294. Sure you might need to know something about site links, but more importantly you should also think about how different sites affect group policy setting for users in those sites. Of course separating out OUs makes for easier delegation of authority, but the exciting part is how Group Policy can be applied to those OUs. Get the idea? If you don't work with group policy every day, I strongly suggest you get some lab time with the GPMC. Not just to practice changing settings, but to have a strong picture in your mind of how GP is implented at different points in the hierarchy and how inhertance and other policies affect the overall resultant set of policies.

Next week - 297 to finish the MCSE update

dynamik

Claymoore wrote:

If you want to know what to study for each section, I suggest you look at everything through Group Policy tinted glasses. It's like adding 'in bed' to the end of the fortune cookie fortune, just add 'for proper Group Policy function' to the end of every exam objective listed for 294.

That describes it perfectly. Congratulations on the pass!