Self study MCSA/MCSE

blueagle78

Guys I'm studying for MCSA and then eventually I would like to be MCSE (that's the target anyway). I work in desktop/server support sort of role and been doing this for well over 4 years now so I've got plenty of hands-on experience in Microsoft XP, Windows 2003 server.
I'm studying for 70-290 right now, I'm half way through the book, got couple of Windows 2003 servers up and running in AD domain. I just would like to know how do you guys usually prepare for your exams when you are self-studying?
Any advise would be great appreciated.

KGhaleon

You should experiment with your domain controllers, try setting up WSUS, SMS, exchange, etc. I like to watch the video podcasts over at itidiots.com, so fun stuff can be found.

blueagle78

KG - Thanks for that little tip about itidiots.com. Never visited that site and didn't know it even existed and so far I've seen couple of videos on it and to be honest it seems fun and very informative.
Any more tips or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Megadeth4168

I read through a book, set up practice labs then do practice tests to see how well I understand the material.

I'm not recommending the following but....

One thing that I try to do when possible, is take new things I have learned and apply them at work. So far I haven't screwed anything up

blueagle78

Thanks for your friendly advise so far guys.
I've been reading on and off the 70-290 book for good few months now but since last couple of days I've been concentrating hard and trying to allocate at least 2 hours a day to my exam preparation.
How most of your normally set about getting your MCSE? Is it studying straight out for it or setting short targets like MCSA and then MCSE? Also which one is recommended? Many Thanks

Megadeth4168

I treated every exam as 1 at a time. I picked up the book(s) for the exam I was studying for, setup the labs and did the practice exams. I did not move on to studying another exam until I had finished the one I was working on.

Mishra

The best goal to go for is to try to learn the material until you can teach it. If a question asks,

What permissions should you use for local security on files and folders?

Share
FAT32
NTFS
Security

You should be able to teach someone else what the answer is and WHY. For a quick overview of that question, share permissions are used over a network not locally, there is not FAT32 permissions, security permissions is kind of an answer because technically you are applying security permissions to files and folders (this is absolutely the way Microsoft does their questions), but NTFS is the best answer as local to the machine you setup NTFS permissions to enable security for local users.

Goldmember

If you know the difference between FAT32 and NTFS you will be MCSE soon.

brad-

Try to set up a Virtual PC lab so you can do some excercises. I found it invaluable. For this, 1 DC and 1 client should be enough to run through the scenarios.

Know the following very well:

NTFS/Share permissions
Active Directory common tasks
Backup/Recovery
Performance Monitoring

Know a little bit of group policy.

I found trancenders to be very helpful also. Since you've got so much experience with it, you're probably ready to start practice testing.