Hello - newbie :)

Scottee

Hi Guys

Just thought I would post a hello, as I am new here, although from what i've been reading so far, it looks really helpful here!

I currentl work as a trainer for a large residential cable broadband provider, training their first and second line telephone agents.

I have decided to start working towards a MCSA, as I feel a change of career is coming my way soon

I've been looking at some of TestOut's materials and wondered if anyone had any experience with them??

nel

Hi and welcome to the forum's!

Ive never used testout although other people on here have and many have said good things about them.

Most people for the mcsa use mspress, sybex or syngress (most commonly used i think) along with cbt nuggets and throw in the vmware of vpc for virtual labs. There are also some great resources on this website. and when you post here - you will always get a response. along with technet aswell.

I would look in each of the forums when deciding which books to go for because there's tons of reccomendations for each exam because just because you may have a mspress book it may not be the best resource for the exam prep wise.

btw. also plan out your exam route because there are some exams which can be used for the MCSA electives but not for the mcse (just incase you decide to go for it).

AND FINALLY.... at the min you get a second shot on all mcsa exams until july (i think) so get cracking!

Scottee

Yea, i think i got the exam route planned:

70-270 Installing, configuring and administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional

70-290 Managing and maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 environment

70-291 Implementing, managing and maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 network infrastructure

70-299 Implementing and Administering security in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 network

Which I beilve will put me in a position for the MCSE? Unless i've been reading up on it incorrectly lol

I also liked the look of 70-271/70-272 to get MCDST as well

I've got the Sybex book(s), so i'll be using them as a study guide alongside the Testout stuff.

I've also downloaded and installed Microsoft Virtual PC, and last night installed 2003 Server, so atleast I get some time to play.

Realistically, what sort of time scale should I be looking at before sitting the exam, I'll be studying maybe 2 hours in the day, another hour in the night, then 8 hours on the weekend. I was hoping to maybe be ready to sit the exam in 3 - 4 weeks time? Is that expecting to much?

NinjaBoy

Hi & welcome

I've used Testout material before and for the most part they're pretty good. However I would not recommend just using 1 form of study material. Good luck with your studies.

-ken