Woohoo! It's been a while coming I suppose but I finally sat this one today and got 936. Studied hard for this one thanks mostly to it's reputation, but it shows that hard work really does pay off.
I used the MS Press book (2nd Ed) and carried out all the exercises (several times) and used CBT Nuggets to help. Also had a copy of the ExamCram2 book that I bought several years ago and used for review purposes.
I also played with various setups using virtual servers and made a point of breaking DNS/DHCP/RRAS/IPSEC in every way I could think of. As ever, this site rocks and Royals sticky about other resources was invaluable. Thankfully I've got loads of experience in most of the topics so didn't find any part too bad although the in's and out's of RRAS was very tedious for me to learn. This exam was nowhere near as bad as I expected, though it is certainly no 'gimme', so if you plan to take it study hard on the usual topics (DNS/DHCP/RRAS/IPSEC) and you'll get through.
With the MCSA stepping stone in the bag I'll take a few days out and then get on with the 70-293 and try to up the momentum a touch. Once that one is out of the way I'm hoping it's downhill from there. Thankfully I seem to be getting a bit closer to the MCSE in small (but satisfying) steps and I'm starting to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel which I'll hopefully get to around Feb next year. What a journey this is turning out to be.
Good luck to all who take on this test in the future and thanks to all who have posted useful comments - as usual on the TE forums there are too many names of members who offer fantastic advice to mention
