70-297 and general MS Design Exams - Anyone taken them yet?

pjrouse

Hi,

Im studying for the 70-297 exam - Designing a Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Active Directory® and Network Infrastructure

Has anyone here taken this or any other MS network design exams?

Do they take the same format as say the OS exams such as the 70-210 - ie multiple choice

Or do they differ at all ?

Many Thanks

Paul

gofer

The 70-297 is a multiple choice exam like the others. You will be given 4 scenarios to read and answer a series of questions on. Unlike the Infrastructure exam for 2000, the 2003 exam times each scenario individually depending on the number of questions. In my personal opinion I think the 2003 exam is much more difficult in the matter of time constraints being placed on each individual scenario and the amount of data you will have to peruse and the format the data is presented in on the 297 exam. Since the 2000 exam still qualifies you as an MCSE 2003, it is my opinion that it is the easier road to take - and requires the same knowledge as the 297 exam.

pjrouse

gofer wrote:

The 70-297 is a multiple choice exam like the others. You will be given 4 scenarios to read and answer a series of questions on. Unlike the Infrastructure exam for 2000, the 2003 exam times each scenario individually depending on the number of questions. In my personal opinion I think the 2003 exam is much more difficult in the matter of time constraints being placed on each individual scenario and the amount of data you will have to peruse and the format the data is presented in on the 297 exam. Since the 2000 exam still qualifies you as an MCSE 2003, it is my opinion that it is the easier road to take - and requires the same knowledge as the 297 exam.

Thanks for the info,

Ive taken some online courseware and bought a couple of books for this exam. I've invested the last 2 weeks in learning and after taking some test exams i've determined I'm nowhere near ready to take it.

I think I will get 70-290 out of the way and then some others first (and hope to pick up my MCSA) before tackling this again.

I'm sure a lot of the knowledge I have picked up will be useful for the other exams but as my experience of and exposure to large networks is limited (I have only ever worked on a single domain 60 user network), I think I will tackle some of the other exams first.

Would you agree that the design exam is one of the last ones people take when going for their MCSE?

Thanks

Paul

gofer

It was the last one I took and I would hope it would be the last most take since it rolls all of the other things you are supposed to know into a single test. Picture yourself walking into a business that's having problems. You interview a group of people to find out what they have in place and where they want to be. You discuss their requirements, then come up with a solution that will best fit their business model, whether it is upgrading the network, configuring remote access, etc. I thought the questions on the exam were quite fair and not off-the-wall, I'd never do it that way. My only gripe about the new test is you are severely limited in the time allowed per scenario to view all of the data and come up with a solution and answers to their questions.