Failed 70-297

I'm frustrated, sick and tired of this.

Well, here's my story:
First of all I'm an IT trainer (MCT) with poor experience on the servers field (I began on this at the begining of this year) and my first problem is that I lack of field experience. Ok, I'm not extending too much this background info so, that's it.

I scheduled this exam for the first time on july 8th but because of technical problems at the prometric center, I rescheduled to july 10th. Again problems came even after 3 tries the same day. So I decided to reschedule on a different center on july 16th, sorpresively there were more technical problems and in this center apparently the guy in charge of prometric is not very experienced so it took him one week to give me a response, that in fact was a ticket to reschedule my exam again. This last time I rescheduled in another prometric center. But while I was waiting for a response from the last Prometric center, I began to study for the 70-284 exam so I left aside the 70-297. So when I got this last schedule I just studied for a couple hours (which I thought would be enough).

I took the exam a few hours ago and got frustrated first of all by my score: 651, which means I was 3 answers from the pass. On the first place this study case exams are annoying by themselves and adding the fact that some questions are too open and empty at the same time. Damn, I was kind of sure that I could pass at lest with a 715 or so. It's very confusing some times because some answers contradict some situations of the information about the company but at the same time are correct.

I guess I took it too lightly on the first place, after all this is my first fail. I Thought I knew the material and maybe I do but some questions and answers made me think a lot. These kind of exams are more like comprehension reading than design. Well I left nothing but to keep studying and retaking it next week.

If you guys have any advice, it's welcome.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

dynamik

Don't let it get you down. This exam format throws everyone for a loop. Did you practice with Transcender or anything else that gave you some idea what to expect? I didn't spend a whole lot of time with it for 298, but I was glad to run through a few mock case studies to get a feel for the format. It would have been much more difficult walking into that without any practice. Consider picking up their practice exam if you haven't. You're extremely close; I'm sure you'll get it next time.

Krank

Thanks dynamik, I did use practice Exams and knew what to expect so I guess I felt too confident. You're kind of an example to follow (I don't know if it's the correct expresion) but you and several guys from here are really talented and I want to follow your steps on the IT field.

cacharo

Krank wrote:

Thanks dynamik, I did use practice Exams and knew what to expect so I guess I felt too confident. You're kind of an example to follow (I don't know if it's the correct expresion) but you and several guys from here are really talented and I want to follow your steps on the IT field.

Krank,

It can be frustrating seeing certain people like Dynamik progress so quickly, and it may even push you so hard that you don't prepare as well as you should have for a test. I feel this happened for me and I failed a test I shouldn't have because of it. Sometimes you see someone like Astorrs put up a test every week and a half and feel that is obtainable to anyone. It simply isn't. Just take solace in the fact that being among our peers @TE is making you progress much faster than you ever could alone. Now make a list of what you need to work on in the next week or so, go in confident, and walk out with your MCSE!

royal

cacharo wrote:

Krank wrote:

Thanks dynamik, I did use practice Exams and knew what to expect so I guess I felt too confident. You're kind of an example to follow (I don't know if it's the correct expresion) but you and several guys from here are really talented and I want to follow your steps on the IT field.

Krank,

It can be frustrating seeing certain people like Dynamik progress so quickly

Stop frustrating people Dynamik!

cacharo

He does make it easy to schedule a test with, being that he takes one every other week.

Krank

All I wanted to do was become an MCSE before July finishes. Obviously I can't by now and I'm not getting a raise. It just simply got out of my hands since Prometric started **** me off. Now a couple ladies at the offices of Prometric know me because of the times I called complaining and rescheduling. At least I got a sort of "Prometric second shot" in exchange for the times I rescheduled and the time they made me lose.

Well I'm still studying for the exam, I scheduled it for tuesday 29th. Hopefully I'll sit for the 70-284 the first week of august and finally becoming an MCSE. Next I'd be on the MCDBA road and then I'll be thinking about MCITP Enterprise Administrator... Yeah, I like to dream.

Slowhand

Krank wrote:

Well I'm still studying for the exam, I scheduled it for tuesday 29th. Hopefully I'll sit for the 70-284 the first week of august and finally becoming an MCSE. Next I'd be on the MCDBA road and then I'll be thinking about MCITP Enterprise Administrator... Yeah, I like to dream.

Nothing wrong with dreaming big, but you have to be prepared to fail. . . big, and a lot, before you succeed. The most important thing is to keep going, no matter what. I'm in the same boat, trying to accomplish a whole lot in a relatively short amount of time. MCSE, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, CCNP. . . and that's just before I transfer and begin hitting school "for real", so to speak. Keep going, you're very close, and once you've got that MCSE, it's only the upgrade and the PRO exam to go. You can do it, and we'll all be looking forward to that "I PASSED!!!" post from you on the 29th.

dynamik

I'm flattered some of you guys look up to me; it's nice to have someone or something to chase after. I'm glad I could be a target for some of you. There's a lot of guys here that I look up to, and they're a great source of motivation.

However, you guys need to check your statistics. I'm averaging an exam about every 1.5 months. If you consider that I bought the Transcender MCSE pack over four years ago, my numbers are really abysmal

What's the deal with the raise? You had to finish by the end of July?

It sounds like you're just feeling a bit down from the Prometric hassle, your first fail, etc. Just stick with it. A lot of people fail, but they seem to make it eventually. Make sure you're not just rushing into the retake. If you're not ready, racking up another fail or two isn't going to help matters. Suffering a setback sucks, but there's no reason to let it continually affect you.

Krank

Well I'm getting the raise whenever I get the MCSE, no matter how long it takes, but the fact is that I do need the money. With this I'll be getting the raise by the end of August, (considering that I'd get the MCSE in early August).

I don't think I'm in a rush, I think I can make it next tuesday. Actually, I thought I could make it yesterday, it's just that this month has been the worst so far. I'm kind of in a bad luck period. The important thing here is that I don't let it take down. I'm standing, facing forward to keep going my way through this all.

Thanks for the support!

jbaello

I'm also going to be taking 70-297 soon, case study hmmm? does this means you are given a long scenario then they start asking you a bunch of questions? I remember this back in College.

Can someone please tell me what resource to use for practice exam? is Transcender enough? how do I pass this case study exams? do you need to write down the details of the case? I need a sample of this.

jbaello

Sorry to post on your threat Krank, but I'm curious how many questions do I have and how long?

Krank

Don't worry jbaello, well first of all I finally passed the exam with a nice score, 945. So I'm heading to Exchange and hopefully, I'll sit for it next week.

Now about the exam itself. Well, this exam has 6 testlets with variable number of questions (from 4 to 11 or 12). There are 40 questions, dispite the exam says there are 46, each introduction to the testlet is counted as a question. In the case study you can read the background of the enterprise, what they do, how they do it, who does it, and of course, the servers, services and infrastructure they have. Then you can read the problematic, interviews with CEO, CIO, users, etc. Next you can read what they want to implement or deploy, their rules, security and Active Directory and Network Infrastructure issues.

The questions only ask the way you should do something like: "how many forests and domains should you use?", "where should you place the DNS server?", "how would you permit remote access?", etc. As all the Microsoft exams, there are tricky answers and you have to consider reading carefully because a word is enough to fail or pass (tell me about it).

Oh I was forgeting, depending on the number of questions per testlet, the time is assigned to you. For example: you have 6 questions, with 20 minutes. As the time is testlet-based, if the time finishes, so the testlet does and you can't go back.

dynamik

You slaughtered it! You were really out for blood on this attempt

Congratulations and good luck with Exchange!

undomiel

Congratulations on the pass! Glad to see you bounced back and recovered fighting. Just one more to go, right? Go for it! I'll be looking for that claiming your MCSE post.

jbaello

The questions seems to be lacking alot of information, so I would assume this information that lacks will be based upon reading the "case study" can I re-read this case when I start the actual questions? anyway I can see the scenario or you can only read it once?

Congrats man!!! very sweet, doesn't this make you a MCSE already? why not Exchange 2007? you would love 07 man, it is a very good and stable product except for OWA, but again I found some issue with my linksys router...

Krank

Thanks. Well next it's Exchange 2003 and that's if for the MCSE. Eventually I'll update the certifications I get but first of all, as I need money, I'm getting some Premiere Certifications.

About your questions, jbaello, you can check the case study every time you want as long as the time for that testlet doesn't finishes. And yeah, the questions lack a LOT of information but the answers give an idea of what they want. In fact you could answer without even reading the questions LOL.

Ok, I'll resume my Exchange studies. I hope this exam won't be too hard. Could anyone give me an advice or something I need to know for this exam (70-284)?

snadam

dynamik wrote:

You slaughtered it! You were really out for blood on this attempt

Congratulations and good luck with Exchange!

+1 DAYUUUM!!!! way to take your revenge!

jbaello

I saw Silver Bullet old posts, he was asking if it's possible all in all to skip reading the case study and just focus on the questions is this possible?

undomiel

On the 298 you could jump straight into the questions and then flip back and forth between the question and the actual case. I'm going to assume it is the same for the 297, no reason to assume otherwise. It is handy. I generally looked at the question first and then skimmed the case study for key words. Then I focused on those areas. Skimmed several times to make sure I didn't miss anything. Then I answered the question. Don't forget to read the answers first. Sometimes you can answer the question without even looking at the case because 3 out 4 answers don't even apply.

Krank

Yeah, it's totally the same than 70-298, you can go right to the questions and skip the case study. And I also agree with undomiel, if you read the questions first you can know if some answers are wrong without skimming the case study.

jbaello

Does anyone know how much time is alotted for this exam? and how many case study and questions per case study they give you? IMHO I think if your going to do a case study it won't hurt to provide a hard copy of the case study itself, then surrender it back to the proctor instead of the digital window for the case study.

I am looking to take the exam this coming Sunday, if everything goes as planned, my approach will be read the case stufy 1st take note of important details/requirements, then start the questions and go back when things is not clear. Please let me know if my approach will be doable.

Krank

The time for this is 150 minutes (if my memory doesn't fail). There are 6 case study with a variable number of questions as I posted before in this thread (I don't know if you readed it).

About reading the whole case study I guess it's not very doable unless you read too quickly and have plenty read comprehension.

jbaello

Does ctrl F works on the case study? I cannot see myself passing this without 1st analyzing the case study, I see blood...

More likely I'll run out of time and probably finish 4/5 case study instead, wish can cause me failing...

astorrs

jbaello wrote:

Does ctrl F works on the case study? I cannot see myself passing this without 1st analyzing the case study, I see blood...

More likely I'll run out of time and probably finish 4/5 case study instead, wish can cause me failing...

I found reading the questions first and then skimming the case study details (you can always make notes on your scratch pad) for the answers worked well for me.

undomiel

At least for the 298 the time is broken down into small chunks for each case study. It isn't an over-arching amount of time for the whole of the case studies. So you can have one case study be 15 minutes while another is 25 minutes. I definitely recommend the looking at the question then flipping to the case study. Flipping back and forth is as easy as a single click. Some times you can answer a question without even looking at the case study because the answers presented are so ridiculous.

Mishko

Hi people! I am new here as u can see

I have MCSA, and now I am trying to prepare 70-297, and find it very hard, but I find this forum and I just want to say THANKS to all of YOU!
Reading posts here helped me a LOT!

I will give it a shot in two weeks so keep fingers crossed for me!

jyrki.arpiainen

Mishko wrote: »

Hi people! I am new here as u can see
I have MCSA, and now I am trying to prepare 70-297, and find it very hard, but I find this forum and I just want to say THANKS to all of YOU!
Reading posts here helped me a LOT!

I will give it a shot in two weeks so keep fingers crossed for me!

Old post but i'll comment anyways as there might still be other ppl. who read this forums without having a need to comment anything.. . .
I also have MCSA right now, and after that i have passed 70-299, 70-294, and 70-293 in this order.

As 294 covers technical details and functions of AD very well and 293 is "planning and maintaining 2003 networks" they not just help passing 297 but are almost mandatory.
I think i managed to choose nice order for my exams, 299 is security exam and covered lots of AD material as well..

But taking 297 right after MCSA sounds a bit like "mission impossible".

I am studing this 297 at the moment and have tried TestOut practise exam couple times. So far my experiences have been that in given time i have not managed to even read case scenario! Just something like half of the text and after that there is those questions and coming back to check details from case scenarios again..
Which means that with my reading speed i would need about 30 minutes more time / scenario to actually read all info and answer questions.

So obviously that approach is out of question.. i wonder if non english speakers have more time in this exam also?
And if that's the case how much it is procentually? Testout practise exam seems to ignore that situation.

Another question: what if i change my tactic with this exam so that i take one try and go to exam to just read case scenarios, then take another exam soon enough and continue from there?
Eventually even i get this speed reading test passed..

I'd like to avoid using any braindumps. I haven't used them to this point so far and i like to keep it that way.
Even so if it takes months per exam and several tries. So far it has worked but this 297 is tough as it's format assumes that you can pick needed information out of big amount of text by quick "look" or something.. .

earweed

First off, welcome to TE!
Unfortunately M$ doesn't allow more time to non-english speakers which is why they attempt to have the exam available in different languages. Please don't resort to Brain **** as that may come back to bite you in your a$$. Taking the test and then retaking it would only help you if the same questions are repeated, which they usually aren't. If the questions were repeated then braindumps would just be that much more successful.
Good luck in your studies and I wish you success on this exam.

jyrki.arpiainen

earweed wrote: »

First off, welcome to TE!

Thanks!

earweed wrote: »

Unfortunately M$ doesn't allow more time to non-english speakers which is why they attempt to have the exam available in different languages. Please don't resort to Brain **** as that may come back to bite you in your a$$.

Exactly my point. I'm not lucky enough to be most convincing person at this planet and my whole point to study certifications is to prove that i really know this stuff.
I need to prove it to potential employers of course, but not just those, its for myself too. Passing this honestly with hard work definitely helps me gain more self-assurance which might eventually start to glow out too..

earweed wrote: »

Taking the test and then retaking it would only help you if the same questions are repeated, which they usually aren't. If the questions were repeated then braindumps would just be that much more successful.
Good luck in your studies and I wish you success on this exam.

Yeah, thanks again -i bet that i need to retake this few times at least but then again -it feels sweeter when i finally pass it someday!

First try is next week! So far i have read couple books about designing AD and done lots of training with virtual machines..
Plus some AD / network infrastructure related work in real environment in one of our government organizations. Considering that i am trainee they let me do pretty much everything i know i can do. Anyhow.. i'm not very optimistic about this test.

jyrki.arpiainen

earweed wrote: »

Unfortunately M$ doesn't allow more time to non-english speakers which is why they attempt to have the exam available in different languages.

Yeah, there is some of the biggest included but how many languages there is in the world? Thousands.
It's clear that there is no chance to get different exam versions ever for every language so giving compensation is the only answer for people from small countries.

I noticed in the first try that this exam indeed had extra time for non native english speakers, just like all other exams that i have had.
It would be odd from MS to have different approach with just one exam.. especially when it contains huge amount of reading.

I took 2nd. shot today and got it through!

This exam had 180 min. total time, i think.
Exam itself had 160 min. This one i remember for sure. And 40 Q's.

Other MCP tests had 30min extra and i think that it was same with this one but it was shared between all testlets. Though now i don't know which was original time limit for native english speakers. And how many questions they had..

That extratime was a real life saver. I used almost all time in two testlets and it was still not enough for another two. So i couldn't read all info in case scenarios.
But that's been the case with everyone else too so this compensation is there for a reason.

This should't be plain speed reading exams.
Without extra time i would't had any hope to get this designing test done. Unless maybe after try number 10 or so.. . .