Passed - 940
jayIT
Member Posts: 11 ■□□□□□□□□□
I took it yesterday and passed with a 940. I must say I was VERY surprised at my high score. I had 43 questions, about 5 sims, and 3 hours to take it. By the time I was finished, I had marked about 10 that I was unsure of. In my review, I did go back and make changes to a few of the marked questions, but I had to pee so bad I just decided to end the test and be done with it! I was shocked that I passed at all, let alone with a 940.
A couple of things:
I have about 4 years experience working with Server 2000 and AD, and 1 year with 2003. I have also taken a week long class for the 70-290 about 10 months ago, but I already knew much of the basic material covered. My study items included, MS Press 70-290, this website and the practice questions here, and the 10 question Trancender demo. I took the MS Press practice test about 5 times, and did pretty bad on all but the last couple. The practice questions were much harder than the actual exam questions (and much more confusing).
The exam questions were more straight forward than many other tests that I've taken. They were less complex than most of the practice stuff. Some questions had me wondering "is it really that simple?" I must admit, I probably got lucky on a few questions that I had no idea how to answer, but the answer just looked the "most logical." There were a few random questions that I'm not sure you would know even if you read the whole book. That's just the way it is though. If it looks like the right answer, choose it.
The sims were not bad. I would recommend practicing many scenarios in AD for users, groups, etc. It would definitely help to know some basic Group Policy linking. Know as much as you can about NTFS and Sharing permissions. Practice, practice, practice. I think most people already understand that these types of questions are the highlight of the exam.
I also had many questions having to do with Terminal Services. I was a bit surprised by this, since I mainly focussed on AD during my studying. Also, some backup questions, of course.
With a few exceptions, everything on the test was what I expected. I was still very unsure of how I did until I saw my score.
My best advice: Don't stress the small stuff like printers, RAID, WSUS, and hardware. Yes, you will see a few of these questions, so you should know the basics, but whether or not you pass or fail will be determined by knowing the BIG topics mentioned above. Download, VMserver and install the MS Server 2003 180-day demo that comes with MS Press. Also install a VM XP workstation. Play with the two until you you feel comfortable, pray, take the test, celebrate your passing score.
Good luck!
What should I take next? I have A+, Net+, 70-290.
A couple of things:
I have about 4 years experience working with Server 2000 and AD, and 1 year with 2003. I have also taken a week long class for the 70-290 about 10 months ago, but I already knew much of the basic material covered. My study items included, MS Press 70-290, this website and the practice questions here, and the 10 question Trancender demo. I took the MS Press practice test about 5 times, and did pretty bad on all but the last couple. The practice questions were much harder than the actual exam questions (and much more confusing).
The exam questions were more straight forward than many other tests that I've taken. They were less complex than most of the practice stuff. Some questions had me wondering "is it really that simple?" I must admit, I probably got lucky on a few questions that I had no idea how to answer, but the answer just looked the "most logical." There were a few random questions that I'm not sure you would know even if you read the whole book. That's just the way it is though. If it looks like the right answer, choose it.
The sims were not bad. I would recommend practicing many scenarios in AD for users, groups, etc. It would definitely help to know some basic Group Policy linking. Know as much as you can about NTFS and Sharing permissions. Practice, practice, practice. I think most people already understand that these types of questions are the highlight of the exam.
I also had many questions having to do with Terminal Services. I was a bit surprised by this, since I mainly focussed on AD during my studying. Also, some backup questions, of course.
With a few exceptions, everything on the test was what I expected. I was still very unsure of how I did until I saw my score.
My best advice: Don't stress the small stuff like printers, RAID, WSUS, and hardware. Yes, you will see a few of these questions, so you should know the basics, but whether or not you pass or fail will be determined by knowing the BIG topics mentioned above. Download, VMserver and install the MS Server 2003 180-day demo that comes with MS Press. Also install a VM XP workstation. Play with the two until you you feel comfortable, pray, take the test, celebrate your passing score.
Good luck!
What should I take next? I have A+, Net+, 70-290.
Comments
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kriscamaro68
Member Posts: 1,186 ■■■■■■■□□□
If I where you I would take the 70-270 next. In that test you deal with ris and sec templates and local gpo's and unattended installed and all that good stuff and permissions so you will be hitting a few of the same topics. Then jump to the 291 and so on. -
genXrcist
Member Posts: 531
Phew!! I've been worrying about all those little things but your the second one to post that those are only lightly touched. Awesome!
Congratulations and I hope to post a passing score on Thursday.
1) CCNP Goal: by August 2012 -
jonathan_hebert
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
I'll have to agree with you on that in regards to the Vista exam I took a few months ago. That was my first MS exam and the practice tests that came with the MS press book were much more difficult than the actual exam. I am taking my 70-290 in about 2 hours from now, and have been using a set of practice exams from an MCSE boot camp. I was told that the bank of questions are VERY similar to the actual exam, and they are MUCH easier than the MS practice exams.
Congratulations!