This feels great!

dynamik

(That's what she said)

What a relief! I finally wrapped up my MCSE:S today.

299 was 30 questions, and I wrapped that up in about 45 minutes for an 871. It looks like I missed about four questions. I felt pretty confident when I submitted it, so I wasn't too surprised. You'll be in pretty good shape for this if you've gone through 291 and 293. I watched CBT Nuggets, skimmed the MS Press book, and made a pathetic attempt at Transcender (I only did about 2.5/4 sections). This was a pretty balanced exam, so just review the exam objectives to see what you have to focus on.

298 was 5 testlets which each consisted of 5-9 questions and ran 15-30 minutes. There were 34 questions total. Each testlet is timed individually, and you can't go back and review after you've gone on to the next testlet. I've seen people complain about the lack of time, but I wasn't anticipating any problems because I have good reading comprehension and felt like I knew the material well. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. You can take the difficulty of a typical MS question and multiply it by about 20 (19.7 to be exact) for a testlet.

I thought you'd just read a page or two of info for the case study and answer a few questions. There's probably a dozen or more sections where you review the existing infrastructure, problem statements, statements by C-level execs, business plans, security plans, lan and wan diagrams, etc. There is a ton of info to get through (most of it is irrelevant to the questions), and that 15-30 minutes disappears pretty damn quick. My biggest problem was not remembering where some information was discussed and having to spend a lot of time digging through the various sections looking for it. I probably should have used my little whiteboard to make some notes, but I hadn't used it thus far, so why start now, right?

I felt really shaky on this one. I had no problems with the material from a technical standpoint, but I was rarely 100% sure on an answer. They through everything (i.e. legacy OSes) at you, and while an answer can seem right, there's always a nagging doubt that you missed some obscure piece of information that would drastically change their requirements. There were probably 5 or 6 questions I went back and changed when I came across other information while doing a different question. I spent as much time as I reasonably could going back through all the information. Every testlet fell into less than five minutes remaining, and a couple went under one.

This was nerve-racking. I was begging for a 700 when I submitted that last question. I really wasn't optimistic at all. I ended up getting a 946. It wasn't the 700 I was hoping for, but I guess I'll take it

Same thing for this one. This was all over the place, so be sure to follow the exam objectives closely. I watched CBT Nuggets, skimmed the MS Press book, and made an even less serious attempt at this Transcender test (I only did 4/12 case studies). I did this both in a little over two weeks, so I was really burned out. I didn't even bother reviewing yesterday. The MS Press book is really hard to read (it'd make a great reference though). It's pretty much hundreds of pages of lists, and most of it is common sense (at least if you've been paying attention thus far). Don't worry about remembering every little piece of information, and focus on the broader issues.

Now I'm going to focus on Ninja Gaiden II and 71-652.

Slowhand

dynamik wrote:

(That's what she said)

I was about to say. . .

Congrats on passing, and the new MCSE: Security designation. Sounds like the test was quite a ride, we'll have to see if I do as well when my time comes. Have fun with that Ninja Gaiden II game, you've earned it.

ULWiz

Congrats on the MCSE title

undomiel

There's the write-up I was looking for! Good job on your MCSE:S, I hope not to be too many months behind you. So time for job searching?

cacharo

Congrats!!

You are really an inspiration, thanks for all the great insight.

As someone who needs those last 2 tests, would you still study for them at the same time and take them on the same day?

doom969

A BIG and well deserved congrats !
You plan to keep your job or do a bit of job search with your new certs ?
Have you gotten a raise ?
Have a few beers tonight , you deserve it !

Daniel333

w007!

royal

Congrats!

snadam

cacharo wrote:

Congrats!!

You are really an inspiration, thanks for all the great insight.

As someone who needs those last 2 tests, would you still study for them at the same time and take them on the same day?

+1

You are a test MACHINE! excellent writeup and ill be using this for reference as well. Great, now Im 4 exams behind again...

big congrats here!

sthomas

Nice job!

wheely

Congrats!

I'm hoping to have mine before the end of the year.

dynamik

I'm not going to look for a new job right away. I really want to get a VCP and now that Hyper-V MCTS. I'm actually going to work my ass off for that one, so I don't upset Beaver. I'm already 33% through the free learning, and I'll probably go through the $40 package and actually install it this weekend. I'd like to get a little more well-rounded before I move on, so I'm also looking at the Linux+, CCNA, CWNA, and Exchange 2007 MCTS. However, I want to find something else around the end of Summer, so I don't think there's time to squeeze that all in. I'm just going to focus on that beta virtualization exam for the time being and then go from there.

Cacharo: I'd say go for them simultaneously and test on the same day. 299 fills in some areas, particularly with IIS and EFS, that 291 and 293 don't cover in such depth. Once you've got the 299 material down, there's little, if anything new for 298, at least from a technical stand-point. 298 just brings it all together. A lot of design considerations are discussed along the way, so I didn't find much of the 298 material to be new either. If you thought previous MS exams tested your reading comprehension, you haven't seen anything yet. I could have effortlessly answered each question in 298 if it was presented in a (relatively) straight-forward fashion like their typical questions. The difficultly lies in sifting through all the information and trying to fulfill all the requirements.

Doom: I just came back from a two-week vacation that inadvertently involved lots of drinking, so I think I'm just going to chill with a coke tonight and let my liver continue it's recovery.

Snadam: Sweet hat!

Everyone else: Thanks!

Also, there's this annoying little note at the beginning of the case studies that says there may be more than one correct answer. WTF is that? Why don't you just give my the typical check boxes and let me choose all that apply? I second guess myself enough. I don't need another correct answer mixed in with the single-selection type questions! I guess that increases your chances to get it right, but it certainly doesn't appear to do much for your sanity!

Slowhand

dynamik wrote:

Also, there's this annoying little note at the beginning of the case studies that says there may be more than one correct answer. WTF is that? Why don't you just give my the typical check boxes and let me choose all that apply? I second guess myself enough. I don't need another correct answer mixed in with the single-selection type questions! I guess that increases your chances to get it right, but it certainly doesn't appear to do much for your sanity!

Having to choose one out of four, when two may be correct? Well. . . on a scale of one to seven, (three being the highest,) I give that new format a twelve.

undomiel

Sounds like fun to me! I love testing.

nel

Congrats dynamik, you deserve it man!

HeroPsycho

(Tried this once before, but it didn't seem to catch on.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rE0EakhG8

Congrats!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF!

NetAdmin2436

Congrats man!

Nice to see some more certs come to Minnesnowta.

shednik

Congrats Dynamik!!!

Mishra

Horray MCSE and security. Cisco has a second shot offer now so you might want to go down the CCNA route. It expires in October. At least thats what I'm going to do, but I'm just trying to make you a follower of someone with lesser certs.

dynamik

CCENT is on for the 26th (I'm a Cisco noob, so I'm taking baby steps. Plus, it'll be funny to have a Cisco cert Mike doesn't).

I think I'll just pass it the first time though. Otherwise, I'd have to track down that information, register for a code, cancel and reregister my exam, etc. That's a lot of work

Thanks for bringing that to my attention though. I'll keep that in mind for ICND2.

Mishra

dynamik wrote:

CCENT is on for the 26th (I'm a Cisco noob, so I'm taking baby steps. Plus, it'll be funny to have a Cisco cert Mike doesn't).

I think I'll just pass it the first time though. Otherwise, I'd have to track down that information, register for a code, cancel and reregister my exam, etc. That's a lot of work

Thanks for bringing that to my attention though. I'll keep that in mind for ICND2.

Oh no. You are getting it now? I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding! Go on vacation again or something...

Man you are going to beat me to these certs everytime aren't you.

dynamik

Mishra wrote:

Oh no. You are getting it now? I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding! Go on vacation again or something...

Are you sure that's what you want? Vacation = More study time. Work slows me down

Mishra wrote:

Man you are going to beat me to these certs everytime aren't you.

That's up to you; it sounds like it's time for you to pick up the pace

Mishra

dynamik wrote:

Mishra wrote:

Oh no. You are getting it now? I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding! Go on vacation again or something...

Are you sure that's what you want? Vacation = More study time. Work slows me down

Mishra wrote:

Man you are going to beat me to these certs everytime aren't you.

That's up to you; it sounds like it's time for you to pick up the pace

I'm buying a house right now. Horray!

cacharo

Mishra wrote:

Go on vacation again or something...

cacharo wrote:

Congrats!!

You are really an inspiration

Seriously.
You are quickly moving past inspiration and getting to the point where we all resent you for being a cert demon and making us all depressed.

dynamik

Sorry

+1 for no kids and renting I guess

cacharo

dynamik wrote:

+1 for no kids and renting I guess

I'd add a few zeros to that.

bleScreened

BELATED CONGRATS!!!!

sprkymrk

Seriously nice job!

shon541

That's just insane!

Congrats! Makes me want to pick up the pace!!