Passed with 810

Dracula28

Took the exam today, 12 PM CET. Had a lot of questions about DNS and DHCP, most on DNS. Some on RRAS and WSUS, plus the occasional security question here and there. After two and a half hours, I finally finished the exam, and was met by the Congratulations screen

This is my second score over 80%, the last one was on 290 (871). On my all three previous exams (Win 98, 210 and 270 all taken 4 years ago or prior) I barely squeezed by, so I'm really content with scoring over 80% yet again.

Totally there were 47 questions, and only one of them was simulation question, which seems to be the norm on 291. I think I had at least 5 sims on 290.

I used the following study method:

Read through the training kit two times, doing all the excercises.
Read through it a third time, writing an exam cram, and did all the excercises again.
On the second and third time I also watched cbt nuggets on the various topics, I don't think I could have passed this exam without the cbt nuggets.
Used the exam cram to do all sorts of practice labs.
Took several Transcender test exams.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice on questions I was wondering about.

I'm not sure what to do next, I'm contemplating 293, but I only have 4 weeks of study I can do, before I'm going on a two weeks vacation, so I don't know if thats sufficient. The other two options are either 620 or A+ and Network+ to complete the MCSA. In any case, glad that I've gotten the beast out of the way, learnt a lot studying for this exam, but damn its one tough exam.

bertieb

Way to go, that's a good score! Thoroughly deserved based on your solid preparation I'd say

dynamik

I'd look at that as almost 90%.

Congratulations

Are you familiar with NLB/Clustering and Certificates/PKI at all? 293 shares a lot of material with 291, so a month is reasonable if you're willing to work for it. 620 would probably be the easiest though.

sprkymrk

bertieb wrote:

Way to go, that's a good score! Thoroughly deserved based on your solid preparation I'd say

+1

Megadeth4168

Congrats!

Vex10

Good job on the pass

snadam

glad to see your hard work payed off!

Slowhand

Congrats on slaying the Beast. If given the choice, I'd do 70-620 instead of A+/Network+, if it's for the sole reason of getting your elective requirement for MCSA. The 70-620 counts as an elective for MCSA, MCSE, and as the workstation OS exam for MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. Taking A+ and Network+ has advantages, since they're recognized certs in the industry, but they're entry-level certs and you'd be looking at three exams instead of the one for 70-620. But definitely shoot for getting 70-293 out of the way as soon as possible, while the 70-291 information is still fresh in your mind, as a lot of the material carries over.

Dracula28

Thanks guys. I've decided to go for 293, it'll be one hell of a month, but if I put in an effort, I think I might be able to take the exam just before my vacation. 620 must be done in any case, but with so much overlapping between 291 and 293, it is better to do as you guys advice, with the 291 material fresh in my mind, and everything.

I might study for A+ and Network + while I'm on vacation, they should not be too hard, I have a good understating of pc hardware, and I learnt a lot about networks while studying for 291, of course some basic level stuff was not covered, but I think I should be able to pick that up quite easily. I want to get these two certs out of the way, because I think it would help me in the long run to have some knowledge about the issues covered in these two certs study materials.

nel

congrats man!

go on and slay the 293 aswell!

1MeanAdmin

Congrats!
Great score too!

Dracula28

Thanks guys. Microsoft have already updated my transcript. Last time around, I had to send them several e-mails, and it took nearly a month for them to do so, but this time around, it only took the weekend. Impressive work by Microsoft there.