First Attempt 270: How long is there enough time

susuandme

Hi everyone

Is there enough time for the exam, I heard the exam is only 90
minutes with more than 50 questions, that is just little more
than 2 minutes for each of those huge essay type questions.

I do not have experitise with long essay questions, what
are some tips on how to read these Long essay questions
to reduce the time spent on each question. so Ican
finish the exam.

I barely had enough time to fnish a plus. so I will
probably get destroyed on this exam without being fore armed
with advice help to spend less time on each question tips.
thanks all

undomiel

Read through the questions all the way, and the answers all the way. If you skim you will most likely lose. Note keywords that completely change a meaning like "not." You may find them both in the answers as well as the question. My tactic is to work out the best answer and mark the question for review later if I'm not confident, and then when I review it I give myself a really good reason why I am changing the answer if I change it at all. Many times even though I may mark 10 or 12 question I end up changing only 1 and just maybe 2 answers. Make sure you study well ahead of time and know your stuff. Don't brush it off just because it is XP. I consider this one to be one of the most difficult MS exams especially if you haven't taken an MS exam before. Do some labs on things you haven't worked with before either. Stick to this and you should be fine and have no issues with the time limit!

amp2030

Well your experience may be different, but I took 270 two weeks ago and I had 64 questions and 4 hours, so between 3 and 4 minutes a question. Sure, some are long, but some are short too so I think that should be plenty of time on average.

dynamik

amp2030 wrote:

Well your experience may be different, but I took 270 two weeks ago and I had 64 questions and 4 hours, so between 3 and 4 minutes a question. Sure, some are long, but some are short too so I think that should be plenty of time on average.

Yea, you get a ridiculous amount of time. I've never even come close to using half of it on any of the exams.

bwcarty

Yeah, I've never seen a MS exam with so little time. When I took 70-270, I had at least 2.5 hours, maybe even more. I've always had enough time to answer all the questions and go back through each question to double check myself.

RomBUS

I think you're talking about the practice exams, they usually give you that much time.

I was given 64 questions as well, with at least 3 hours

susuandme

I was wondering, if most if not all of the mcp queestions are
tricky, or just complicated, and whether the correct
answer is most often the "longest answer".

Also can two answers confidently be eliminated from the test on average, thus giving you a 50 50 chance. thankyou.

This will be my first test so I am nervous and usually sweat it out on these type of tests.

susuandme

I heard only the right answers on the 270 test count towards
your grade, is this correct, or do they take off points for
wrong answers as well.


thanks

dynamik

No points are deducted for wrong answers, so make an attempt on everything.

I think you'll be messing up your results if you simply go with the longest answer. The tests are designed much better than that. If I don't know the answer, I can typically eliminate two of the options, but it really depends on how much you know and how well you've prepared.

Did you sign up with the second shot promotion? If not, and you're that nervous, you may want to cancel and reschedule with that offer.

susuandme

yes I've signed up for 2nd shot,

I'm not doing well on these test questions I've been doing, particularly because of the COMPLICATED WAY they phrase the questions, and the amount of technical terms they throw in also to throw you, so the question sounds not straight forward at all.

So I begin to read into the question more than there is. Especially GPO, OU's, Domain Controllers type questions where they go round and round for two paragraphs long, so your so confused after reading the question, then comes the answers, which are also Trick and confusing. This is the problem.

I'm not good at essay type questions, its hard enough without them throwing in tricky terms and misleads. Any advice would be great, I am also terrible on Share and NTFS permissions which are very misleading as well. I do not see myself doing well on this test mainly because the book is straightforward material, but the questions are not. thanks rick

dynamik

Unfortunately, those questions are representative of the actual exam questions. If you have trouble keeping track of all the information in your head, get a scratch piece of paper and make notes, diagrams, etc. You'll get erasable boards to do the same when you take the exam.

bwcarty

What practice exams are you using? Some are closer to the Microsoft style than others, and I've found that Transcender exams are very close the Microsoft style in the way they give extra information, use key/trigger words, etc.

One thing I did on my last cert exam was to use the dry erase board to write down all the question numbers in one of two columns as I answered them. In column 1 were the question numbers that I was 95-100% certain I had completely correct. Column 2 had everything else. Also, next to each question number, I put a short note about the content of the question. At the end of the exam during review time, I was able to match up the questions that had similar content and review those items together.

susuandme

I use transcender type style questions, passport cd, sybex cd questions which are much easier, this board and other material.

I can usually eliminte 1 or 2 Answers, but its very strange, I always pick the wrong answer out of the final 2 answers, what does that tell you ?

Any advice, please

amp2030

susuandme wrote:

I use transcender type style questions, passport cd, sybex cd questions which are much easier, this board and other material.

I can usually eliminte 1 or 2 Answers, but its very strange, I always pick the wrong answer out of the final 2 answers, what does that tell you ?

Any advice, please

Well, if that's the trend, eliminate down to 2 answers, pick one, but submit the other

Just kidding, you'll do fine, just make use of the second shot offer from Microsoft and think of it as a free trial test.

For permission type questions, there's really only one rule to remember: most restrictive one applies. That is, if user A is in a group that allows access to a resource and in another group that denies access, user A is denied. For combining share and ntfs permissions, again, most restrictive applies. And always a deny overrides an allow.

bwcarty

susuandme wrote:

I use transcender type style questions, passport cd, sybex cd questions which are much easier, this board and other material.

The overall style and format of the Transcender tests are very similar to the real thing. Use the answer explanations after you take the test to figure out why you picked the wrong answer. Once you understand the explanations, you'll know what you really need to study and what you missed because you misread the question or answer.

Sie

You have plenty of time dont worry.

I tend to read the whole question and ALL the answers.

I then look at what each answer achieves and check to see if this matches what they are asking for.

Always read all the answers though even if the first seems right!!

I_Have_404

Hello, and congrats to all of you who took and passed the 70-270! I'm studying for it right now. I'm using The book by Dave Field called:70-270 Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional, 2nd Edition along with the Sybex MCSA/MCSE Third Edition book. My problem is that the Dave Field book has chapter review questions but no answers. The book says (Answers to the textbook questions are available from your instructor) But my tutor does not have them. My school just supplies the books. I'm going to keep searching, but I was hoping someone out there might be using the same book and can direct me to the answers and where they found them to save me a bit of time. I checked Microsoft and they just want you to buy the book.

Thanks!

Also I have mixed feelings about this test and how difficult it is suppose to be. I hear so many horror stories about it and how evil it is but on the flip side I have a fellow student of mine who just passed the test this week with only a little more than 2 weeks of study time, and he failed the A+ the first go around. so is it really as bad as they say?

amp2030

It's not really that bad, they do try to confuse you though. The questions are not always straightforward: they will give you plenty of info not useful for what you actually need to do to answer the question, and then the wrong answers will be related to the useless info. Just take your time, make sure you understand what it actually asks you, and pick the answer that accomplishes that.