Offer any suggestions for a new MS exam taker???

Hey everyone, I just recently passed my Net+ and I alredy had my A+ from last year. I am now ready to start preparing for thr MCSA.

Out of the three required exams: 70-218, 70-215, and 70-210....can any one suggest an order in taking the exams that would be easier or more benficial? Or should I just take the Pro then Server and lastly the Environment?

Lastly, can someone point me to some good preparation tools (ie. study guides, practice exams, books)?

Thanks for any help!
Anthony

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Cross

Welcome to Microsoft. Your first step is;

Go to;
www.amazon.com
www.half.com
www.bookpool.com

And buy the MS Press Kit books for the 70-210 and 70-215 exam.
The Professional and Server exam. That should take you no more than 6 to 8 weeks to prep and pass. The exams are very direct and clear.

If you are not familiar with Microsoft platforms, it will take you a bit more time.

Also measure yourself with the test and prep questions offered to you here from our very own site of TechExams.net

Best of luck to you

AnthonyJD81

thanks for the input. I am very familiar with MS windows. I have had my classes when i was in school for 2000 server and ADS. Right now, would be defining what i already know more and brushing up some.

I have been looking at the Self-paced books...is that what you were refering to?

Here are a few links on ebay at what i am looking at right now but i may jsut wait for the show this weekend and get the books there...i dunno yet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3517&item=3400323850&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3517&item=3400976366&rd=1

Also I am looking into purchasing a test machine or two for scenarios and extensive practicing. I already have the network hardware and medium needed but not the pc's. What do you think of these two?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31507&item=3400715167&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31497&item=3400188922&rd=1

thanks a lot for taking the time to check these out for me. If i get outbid, i will just buy everything individually at the computer show this weekend and assemble myself...prolly save more money that way anyways!

Webmaster

I just took a quick peek at the machines at ebay, those will do just fine

About once a year I remember this great tool very useful for these kind of studies: www.vmware.com, using this software I used to run 3 NT 4 servers all with Exchange 5.5 installed + an NT 4 workstation on just 2 physical machines... supports linux as well.

randycgaz

Definitely 70-210 first, then 70-215, then 70-218.
I took the 210 last year and passed, and last month the A+.

I'm studying for the Network+ right now. I will probably take it within the next month. Then I was going to skip the rest of the Microsoft stuff and go for the iNet+, but will follow the suggestion of someone on the TechExams Network+ forum and take the 215 server after that. Then the 218.
My worry is that Microsoft will retire the cert right after I finish,(for XP mcsa) making it invalid.

Webmaster

randycgaz wrote:

My worry is that Microsoft will retire the cert right after I finish,(for XP mcsa) making it invalid.

You really don't have to worry about MS certs being retired or invalid. (MCSA 2000 can never be replaced by MCSA XP, XP is just a client....) Eventually MS will probably require people to take a couple of Win 2003 exams to remain MCSA, but you will always stay MCSA 2000; maybe not for MS but certainly for the companies running Windows 2000. Since the MCSA cert is new and this is the first 'version', we're not able to look to the past to see how MS handled it but with MCSE NT 4 you had the option to take 1 accelerated exam (70-240) to pass all the 4 core 2000 exams in one take.... (actually four mini exams) then you'd only had to take 1 design exam and assuming the electives were still valid that would be all you needed to do to upgrade from MCSE NT 4 to 2000. But those that didn't upgrade are still MCSE NT 4....

You don't need to recertify for the same OS, but for the cert itself in combination with a newer OS.

Johan

Azriel924

Congrats on passing the A+ and Net+, they are good building blocks for the MS series you mentioned. As for order, take 70-210 to get your basic understanding of Win2K, then 70-215 for the Server edition of Win2k, then 70-218 for more advanced 2000 Server skills. I have used both Sybex and MS books for study and prefer Sybex. The MOC does give you a more step by step approach to the materials so you may like them better than I. MS has already announced that the Windows 2000 track will not be retired and you will only need 1 test to go from MCSA in Win2K to MCSA in Server 2003/XP track so you aren't wasting your time by studying this way. If the past histoy of OS adoption holds true, there will be a need for Win2K skills for years to come. I personally know of businesses still running Win95 desktops with NT servers with no plans to upgrade soon. Good luck in your quest for knowledge.

AnthonyJD81

Hey thanks for the tidbit! I haven't had any time the last few weeks to beign preparing for the MCSA. I have purchased a few machines to use a lab pcs to practice. I will probally start studying in the next week or two. The server exam counts as a class for my school so by spending $$250 for the exam and study materials, I save myself $1500 for the class

Good luck to you too! Let us know how you make out on 2000 Server!