Failed!

johnnyboy1979

Failed the test today. Really disappointed. Was much harder than I thought it would be. Really wanna do the exam again but I think I need some additional study material. I used the 2272c course book and some online exams. Obviously that wasn't anywhere near good enough.

Can anyone give me any advice a) on what study books cd's etc I can use and b) best practices for studying /revision.

Thanks in advance.

dynamik

That's too bad. What was your score?

This one is much more difficult than most people anticipate. I used the MS Press book and Transcender. You might want to also give CBT Nuggets a shot. I didn't use them for this exam because I wasn't aware of them at the time, but I've used them on most of my other exams.

Gundamtdk

In other post, I stated don't underestimate 70-270 it's a lot harder than it looks.

On my exam, there was a question dealing with Unix and Windows XP!

stlsmoore

Yea I'm only scoring in the 60% range on my practice exams. I know all the topics but I always seem to miss questions because of one little thing I over look during the question. So I don't know if it's my test taking skills that needs to be improved or what. Once I look at the wrong answer I quickly realize why it's wrong. Especially on multiple answer questions

SWM

In my experience you need 90% or above on your practice questions before taking the exam. I also failed 270 on my first try. It was tougher than I thought.

I guess like most of us, we work with XP daily and think we know it all. MS proves that they can serve up exam questions on topics that are not anticipated or required in normal use.

Good luck next time....

Did you book with a second shot ???

eltoro

I also failed on my first try. Study up and use cbt nuggets if you can. you will definitely pass your second time.

Good luck!

Daniel333

johnnyboy1979,

I just passed the test and what I did...

Sybex Book (ran every lab and question)
Microsoft Book
CBTNuggets
TestOut
www.vtc.com
Official Microsoft Web Class - 2285

Don't be afraid to snag questions from the old 2000 professional (70-210) tests too! Almost identical stuff there.


Just because it's an XP exam, don't let that fool you. It's a test about XP in a 2003 environment. I managed a 905 and took me about 6 months. Some of the harder stuff I did in my test labs were set up domains with 2003 Server Small business (MUCH easer than using normal 2003 server) . Installed programs via group policy.

Some random stuff I tried, Shared files with Linux and a Mac. I spent a hour or two trying to break offline files. I set up a RIS on a 2000 and 2003 server. I also upgraded NT/98 machines to XP, ran an XP uninstall. I installed wrong drivers on purpose and crashed it just so I could remove them from the recovery console. Tried to break 16bit apps too (I used Dida 16 bit edition). Set up printer sharing with win98, 2k and Vista and then update the drivers, interesting stuff there. File sharing too, why WOULDN'T you use NTFS?

Of course I set up DNS and WINS for communication and goofed with that. I also played with Novell on my Net+ so I was good to go there.

In hind site I really should have found more resources on IIS and Security templates, the materials in the Microsoft/Sybex/CBTNuggets just didn't cut it. Make some of your own security templates, find them on google.com and run compares and stuff. Probably should view the IIS training on www.vtc.com, it's for NT4 but still most of it applies. That is what I did right after the exam because I was kicking myself about it.

good luck, you'll own next time!

johnnyboy1979

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. I scored 519 so missed out by a fair bit. I'd only been studying for a month or so thinking it wouldn't be too difficult, how wrong I was! There was loads of question about IIS and security templates and stuff, something that I'd only really skimmed over whilst studying. Not booked a retake yet, gonna really study hard this time.

stlsmoore

Yes I also want to say thank you, I'm going to go ahead and buy the Sybex and Microsoft book and go through both of those. I have some Microsoft book from ITT Tech but it sucked.

mvastarelli

One of the things I've learned after taking a few MS tests is that unlike, say CompTIA, it's really not possible (nor recommended) to simply cram a book before taking the test. A lot of the questions are worded such that you have to have experience dealing with the problems they present rather than what the book answer would have been. This becomes *very* obvious when you start taking tests from their MCTS branch.

Like all tests though they're generally very easy if you know the material, and extraordinarily difficult if you don't. 270 is no exception.

Chris1984

eltoro wrote:

I also failed on my first try. Study up and use CBT Nuggets if you can. you will definitely pass your second time.

Good luck!

Everybody tells something about CBT Nuggets.
Do you mean the real 70-270 - videos that you have to pay for or the free videos on that site in general?

undomiel

I just want to second mvastarelli here. There is just absolutely nothing like real world experience for preparing for any of these exams, even the CompTIA ones.

RycheRulz

Took the test twice, failed it twice. First time, I took it on short notice, because I took Windows 95 waaaayyy back in the day (June 199 and passed it with no prep at all. Figured XP would kinda be the same way. WRONGO!!! Got a 640 something.

2nd time (using the 2nd shot thingy) was just crappy timing. Had the test scheduled, and then had a personal family emergency happen, which sucked up 2 months of my time. So, had NO time to study. Failed it worse than the first time.

This time around, I have plenty of time, no personal drama going on, and will make sure I'm prepared. Gonna use the MS Press training kit, Transcender and maybe Sybex. I won't schedule the test until I know I'm ready. Last time, I scheduled the test, and then HOPED I was ready.

Just FYI, I have A+, Network+ and Win95 certs and a BS in Comp Sci (Aug 1994). I sorely underestimated the difficulty of the questions, and paid the price (literally and figuratively). Trying to get MSCA, but off to a less than auspcious start.