Nothing like taking 3 exams...

Tyrant1919

On a saturday. 270, 620, 290 in that order.

I'm drivin' 2.5 hours to my test site and decided to take as many tests as possible. I've been studying 620 for about 3 weeks and I have been using Vista at home for more then a year, not to mention my work computer is Vista. I feel confident on the Vista Exam. For 270, just reviewed RIS. 290, brushed up on IIS, plan on reviewing NTFS permissions since that'll be hit plenty I'm sure.

I predict a pass for 620 and 920, and a fail for 270. Just gotta throw an oddball in there!

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undomiel

Well that sounds like a fun regime. Good luck with that! May I ask why the 270 and the 620 instead of just one or the other?

Slowhand

Good luck, it's a pain to live far from the testing center. I have to agree with undomiel, it seems a little strange to take both the XP exam and the Vista exam, since you only need one or the other for MCSE. In fact, the Vista exam covers not only the desktop OS exam for MCSE, it also covers the same for MCITP: Enterprise Administrator.

snadam

Tyrant1919 wrote:

Nothing like taking 3 exams...

unless you take 4...

good luck man!

Tyrant1919

I was originally going to study for 270, but after browsing these forums and people saying 620 seems easier, switched my main focus to that. I figured I might as well try 270, I guess it's an ego thing. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm sure it is.

I wouldn't be doing this if Microsoft didn't offer the 2nd shot. Just trying to maximize my use of travel time and gas pretty much. I'm mainly relying on my 4+ yrs experience and last two week cram session. Worst thing that could happen, I get to take a practice exam or two, or three. I plan on actually testing for at least 5 hours minimum.

I'll have to stop by Jack in the Box on the way back from Dallas as a celebration dinner since they don't have one in Abilene :^).

Tyrant1919

620 - 50~ minutes - 55 questions - Disapointing 792
270 - 90~ minutes - 50 questions - Satisfying 794
290 - 100~ minutes - 45 questions - Staggering 799

620 was a piece of cake. Not nearly as in depth as 270, not that I scored any better. It seems some questions were like this:

How can you do/fix/change random issue?

a. Some random feature also available in XP.
b. Some random feature also available in XP.
c. Something only available in Vista.
d. Some random feature also available in XP.

Correct answer being C of course.

290 did have a ton of sims considering it only has 45 questions. I'm guessing I had 4 full on sims, and 3 or so pick the right icon.

The prometric Center was amazingly good to my surprise. Richland College in Dallas.

Thanks for all the awesome posts of advice over the last few months. Onto 291 + 293, then finish with 294, 298, 299.

dynamik

Way to make the trip worthwhile! Congratulations

What did you prep for 620 with?

colebert

I want to see you take 294, 298, and 299 in the same day.

Tyrant1919

I don't think I'd be able to take all of those Buddy! (I'm not your buddy, guy! etc..) :^) 270, 290, 620 probably has the most overlap of any three I could think of. Besides maybe 270, 271, 272, but that's cheating.

620, I browse the forums, and when somebody passes they normally say what was covered the most. So I'd read through those sections in the MS press. And I'd take the included tests on the CD. Any questions that I'm fairly "WTF?!!" about, I'd research further. I pretty much skipped anything regarding hardware, networking, and general troubleshooting. So actually reading the forums, and hearing what was covered the most was probably key. So I should do the same.

620 - a lot On UAC, the most hit topic I believe. Wireless networking. Know how to configure two seperate nics on two different networks. Had a few on Mobile devices and syncing them. Know how to properly configure user accounts. Windows firewall. Windows Defender. IE7 secure mode. RSS feeds. Parental controls in Vista, IE7 security settings. Actually, now that I think about it, a bit of everything was covered. Half of it was common sense though. The questions were so short, I thought I was taking Vista+.

270 - Network troubleshooting, performance, printers, RIS Not as much as I thought there would have been), Dual booting, can't remember much else as I took this first.

290 - 4~ full sims, 3~ pick the right area of the picture, Security templates, know what things can be configured by a GPO. User/Comp account creation, Profiles, automated creation, groups. Builtin groups. Printers and priorities. Disk Management. Backups, backup recovery. Shadow Copies. Terminal Services was hit a bit.

If I do finish the mcse:s, I'll probably move to upgrading to 2008 Ent Admin since I'd only have to do two tests. I'm sure they'd be tough too.

dynamik

I'm not your guy, friend

I think you'll be able to do 291 and 293 the same day and then 298 and 299 the same day. No big deal

Tyrant1919

I think it'll be alright. I've spent literally 3 hours a day at home studying. Not to mention the unmeasured time at work spent. I haven't taken many lunches, I'll just stay in the office for an hour studying. But, it'll all pay off soon enough. One of my buddies stayed over for like 5 days, and he brought Smash Bro for the Wii. I was all over that ****, but I had to stop and study for my upcoming tests :^(.

I'll probably start doing the same thing for 291 and 293 towards the end of this week.

stupidboy

Tyrant1919 wrote:

I'm drivin' 2.5 hours to my test site and decided to take as many tests as possible.

Man 2.5 hours to a test site, I was moaning about 45 minutes to the local Prometric centre and 20 minutes to the local Pearson VUE.

I have only ever done two exams back to back before.

Well done on this.

nel

well done mate, congrats!

Tyrant1919

I'm not your mate, pal!

Thanks for the grats guys. There's a vue center here but they're being renovated or something lame. So I had to do the same thing for Security+. I think the prometric in Wichita Falls is closer, but I decided to go to one of the Dallas ones instead. Their setup was impressive. I'm wondering why Prometric has a bad rep compared to Vue.

snadam

dynamik wrote:

I'm not your guy, friend

I'm not your friend, Buddy!

that was a great episode

Anyway, congrats!!! 3 exams in one day is pretty tough regardless.

dynamik

snadam wrote:

that was a great episode

I'm not sure if anything will top this though: http://valleywag.com/375653/south-park-kills-10-youtube-memes-for-good

edit:

Totally forgot that was the same episode

Oh well, at least it includes the respective videos...

mikej412

Congratulations!

But now I have an urge for something from Jack in the Box -- and the nearest one is over 5 hours away near St. Louis

royal

mikej412 wrote:

Congratulations!

But now I have an urge for something from Jack in the Box -- and the nearest one is over 5 hours away near St. Louis

Better get going then!

Tyrant1919

I ended up not stopping at Jak in the Box on the way back. I saw it as I passed by, I was diggin a Jumbo Jack though. I was just tired pretty much and wanted to get home a.s.a.p.

wpj

Dude good work, i like your style, most I have taken on in a single day was 5 passed 4 of them.

Tyrant1919

What 5? I'm curious.

wpj

tyrant1919,

here is a breif history over the last few months prior to this I have not writen and exam in almost 6 years....new job new requirments...so I had to crack them down....I only have a few left to complete...last CRM exam argh! , a few exams on juniper Enterprise routing and a handful of HP SAN exams and then hold off until the summer when the next round of Beta's com out from MS.

ran out of time nad had time come back the next day for this one or it would have been 6 in the day
19-Mar-08 Integrating and Managing HP BladeSystem in the Enterprise Hewlett Packard Passed
11:00 AM HP0-K03

Here is a 5 day marathon but nothing like the beta day in december.......
18-Mar-08 Implementing Windows 2003 on HP ProLiant Clusters Hewlett Packard Passed
7:15 PM HP0-794
18-Mar-08 FWV, Specialist (JNCIS-FWV) Juniper Networks Passed
1:00 PM JN0-531
18-Mar-08 TS:MS Internet Security & Acceleration Serv 2006,Configuring Microsoft Passed
11:45 AM 070-351
18-Mar-08 NAV 5.0 Installation & Configuration Microsoft Passed
9:30 AM MB7-517
18-Mar-08 Retail Management System 2.0 Store Operations Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM MB5-537

another good day (3)
14-Mar-08 Retail Management System 2.0 Headquarters Microsoft Passed
10:15 AM MB5-538
14-Mar-08 CRM 3.0 Applications Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM MB2-423
14-Mar-08 FWV, Associate (JNCIA-FWV) Juniper Networks Passed
8:30 AM JN0-521

this was a long day (5).....half live half beta beta exams.....
10-Jan-08 PRO:Optimiz & Maintain a DB Admin Sol by Usi MS SQL Serv2005 Microsoft Passed
5:00 PM 070-444
10-Jan-08 PRO: Design a DB Server Infrastru by Using MS SQL Serv 2005 Microsoft Passed
4:30 PM 070-443
10-Jan-08 Windows Vista Connected Exp: Home Theater for Technologists Microsoft Tested
3:00 PM 071-625
10-Jan-08 Pro: Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator Microsoft Passed
1:00 PM 071-646
10-Jan-08 Pro: Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM 071-647

wrapped up a few....4/4
3-Jan-08 TS:Deploying & Maintaining Vista & Client Office Systm 07 DT Microsoft Passed
5:45 PM 070-624
3-Jan-08 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Implementation & Maintenance Microsoft Passed
5:30 PM 070-431
3-Jan-08 TS: Microsoft Forefront Client and Server, Configuring Microsoft Passed
10:45 AM 070-557
3-Jan-08 TS:Upgrading MCSE on Wndws Serv 2003 to Wndws Serv 2008 Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM 070-649

Can't get them all (5..passed 3..waiting on results of 1)
27-Dec-07 Designing Security for a Microsoft Win Server 2003 Network Microsoft Passed
5:30 PM 070-298
27-Dec-07 TS:Deploying & Maintaining Vista & Client Office Systm 07 DT Microsoft Failed
4:30 PM 070-624
27-Dec-07 Implementing MS Internet Security & Acceleration Server 2004 Microsoft Passed
3:15 PM 070-350
27-Dec-07 Windows Vista Connected Exp: Home Theater for Sales Professi Microsoft Tested
1:15 PM 071-626
27-Dec-07 Implementing Security in a MS Win Server 2003 Network Microsoft Passed
12:30 PM 070-299

this was another really long day...mostly beta was there 8:00am to 4:00pm after 2008 and the 284 exam systom config was a killer on my brain...4 out of 5
18-Dec-07 Implementing & Managing MS Exchange Server 2003 Microsoft Passed
4:30 PM 070-284
18-Dec-07 TS: MS System Center Configuration Manager, Configuring Microsoft Failed
4:30 PM 071-401
18-Dec-07 TS: Windows Server 2008 Applications, Configuring Microsoft Passed
2:15 PM 071-643
18-Dec-07 TS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring Microsoft Passed
12:30 PM 071-642
18-Dec-07 TS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM 071-640

bloody exchange was hard.....only passed 2 that day
17-Dec-07 Pro: Microsoft Desktop Support - Enterprise Microsoft Passed
11:15 AM 070-622
17-Dec-07 TS: Configuring Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft Failed
9:30 AM 070-236
17-Dec-07 Pro: Deploying Messaging Solutions w/MS Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM 070-238

11-Dec-07 TS: Configuring Windows Vista Client Microsoft Passed
1:30 PM 070-620
11-Dec-07 Pro:Designing Messaging Solutions with MS Exchange Serv 2007 Microsoft Passed
12:30 PM 070-237
11-Dec-07 Man&Maintain a MS Win Ser 03 Env for an MCSA Cert on W2K Microsoft Passed
8:30 AM 070-292

Tyrant1919

Hey, I'll tell you what man, if you can pass that many in such a short timeframe, that's outstanding. I'm sure the majority of the tests were takin on your experience and no real 'studying' for them. Grats buddy.

Slowhand

mikej412 wrote:

Congratulations!

But now I have an urge for something from Jack in the Box -- and the nearest one is over 5 hours away near St. Louis

Bring me back some curly fries.

cablegod

Cool, glad to hear it. I'm going for 293 and 294 back to back on Saturday morning. Then 298 and I'm done for about a month. I need a break.

wpj

Tyrant1919

yes mostly experiance to completed them along with exta assurance of second shot on th eMS side or I would not have gone so hard at them. but with a free second shot you can;t go wrong...

Exchange 2007 config was really the only one I had to study major for, and a bit on bdd after i droped it the first time.

best part is all exams were paid for my work so nothi8ng really out of pocket..or that would have also slowed me down..

good luck all and use the second shot and try them.....

Tyrant1919

Going for another triple shot May 10th. Going to see Jeff Dunham in Waco, and then staying in Dallas overnight to test on Saturday. Was tired of 'slacking' off with my studies but this will push me to study.

I plan on taking a break tonight and start studyin' the rest of 293 on Saturday. Try to focus on certificates hardcore, as that is my known week area. Sunday, lab up for the day to take a break from the crazzyness.

291 I've been focusing on, and I feel very confident with my DHCP/DNS/RRAS/Subneting knowledge. Was a DNS/DHCP admin in the AF afterall... and it's been fun studying actually.

622 I'll be taking as well, I feel the majority of it is just review. I'll focus on certificates as well and GPOs as I feel that's my weakness here.

Order I'm taking, 622, 291, 293. I feel a pass on 622 will 'carry' me through the rest. But a fail would be devistating to my momentum for the day. I'm betting pass on first two, fail on 293.

I'll letcha all know.

-DW

hetty

Good luck with the tests Tyrant.

Tyrant1919

Thanks Hetty.

After further reviewing 293, it seems almost like another version of 291, so this one makes sence to take together. Security+ topics were touched on a bit there too.

Mishra

Cool. It will be interesting to see if you can pass 3 exams by studying for a little over a month with previous experience.

You should think about making seperate pass/fail topics in the individual test topics (aka 291 forum) because you usually are pretty descriptive and it will be easier to find for people looking for those pass/fail topics.

Tyrant1919

I'll probably do that this time. I kinda did it at the beginning except for each one all in one post.

Anyways, now that I'm getting into more deeper subject in the MCSE track, I can now start to piece together all the things I saw as an admin in the Air Force. I just studied CAs and it now makes sence. I always wanted to get into System Administration but I never got lucky enough to be transfered there. There were 18 year olds being thrown in there straight from tech school. Basically a dream job for 90% of us here. Responsible for backups, SMS, exchange, AD, in one of the largest enterprise networks in the world. I'll settle with Network Services though with my DHCP, DNS, and Openview. It was enough to spark my interest further, although Sys Admin would have been better.