List what materials you've used to pass this test pls..

goemonate

I hope this thread would help anyone who is going to start 70-270!
at least for me!!

Puffy Elvis

I am currently studying for the 70-270 and hope to take it within a week or so. I've gone through a plethora of study materials searching for the a decent book or two. The following are my impressions...

WinXP by Lisa Donald pub. by Sybex:
Without a doubt, one of the most useless books ever written. Lisa Donald as proven yet again to posses the ability to copy information from Microsoft's Resource Kits and make it less understandable and devoid of explanation. Simply look at the XP resource kit on Microsoft’s website and you'll find everything present in the Sybex book but with greater explanation and understanding. Lisa Donald is another technical writer that thinks writing certification books shouldn't include imparting understanding to the audience.

ExamCram2 pub by Que:
I typically like ExamCram2 books, but this is one is less useful. In a sense, it's not really the books fault... instead, the very nature of the XP exam seems to invalidate the approach of the Exam Cram series. The XP exam requires more than anything else, a through familiarity with the endless options and configurations available in XP. ExamCram2 really fails to touch on the nuances and details required for the 70-270. In addition, it fails to convey a strong understanding of the more difficult procedures such as setting up RIS.

WinXP by Simmons pub by Osborne:
Osborne has been rather hit or miss with its study guides. As always, books by strong authors such as Richard Deal (who wrote the CCNA guide) are very good, where authors such as Michael Pastore (who wrote the A+ guide) produced a book that isn't even suitable for toilet paper. Fortunately in this case Curt Simmons wrote an excellent book and Osborne has another hit. This book is well written- new terms are explained, both procedures and explanations are complete and Simmons does something rare in certification guides these days... he actually explains things. To top it all off, the book appears to be VERY complete. Although I haven't finished it yet (I'm on chapter 10 of 13) the additional source checking I always perform while studying shows that little is lacking in this One-Stop-Shopping guide.

The Microsoft published XP guide I haven't read extensively, although I did read the chapter on RIS in the bookstore and although better written than the Sybex garbage, fails to compare with the Osborne edition. The general criticism of Microsoft books is that they fail to provide the necessary in-depth explanations and in my limited exposure to this particular Microsoft guide it seems to be no different.

As far as practice exam questions go, I'm a little out of my league since I haven't sat for the exam yet. In general, I've found transcender's to be the best (Self-Test too). I have a set of Measure-Up questions that the local training school uses and regards highly, though others tend to give them mixed reviews. I personally have found Prep-Logic questions marginally useful- they just seem to miss the mark somehow. Lastly, Boson practice tests tend to vary greatly in quality- don't buy any until someone tells you that say test #2 is great but #1 and #3 are crap or something like that. I used Boson for CCNA and found them helpful while for Network+ they were terrible.

Hope this helps...

Richard

garv221

I used Exam Cram2 with prep logic tests...I thought it was a good book and it covered everything I needed to know...

PawNtheSandman

I am waiting for the Exam Cram 2 book in the mail.
I also have access to Measure-Up.

Any other tools someone can suggest?

garv221

In all honesty the Exam Cram2 book & the prep logic tests were enough. I bought the full version of the Prep Logic and read the book. I just took a quiz everyday for 2 weeks and studied the areas that needed work.

keef-richards

I passed my 70-270 in April - my 2 cents for what its worth is to read 1-2 books on the exam - have a look through these forums to find which book ppl recommend - think Sybex or MS books are most popular.

Transcenders I feel are the key to passing the exams - they helped me no end with a lot of practice questions that are VERY similar to questions you will get in the actual exam. In fact there were about at least 8 questions that were almost identical to the questions I had in the transcenders - as long as you learn why you got questions wrong I dont see a reason why you wont pass

sab4you

Yeah, the exam cram book was enough for me - just read the book and took the test. I liked the book but I didnt use any others so I cannot compare for you. All I can say is it worked for me.

It all depends on your skill level already - if one book is teaching you alot of info you didnt know, then I suggest you also get a second source because I have found different books may also provide slightly different info which may be useful for you on the test.

Best bet is having the OS in question and being able to use it on a regular basis or at least to try out things you maybe learning in the book(s)

bankies1965

PC with XP

TechNotes on this Site

Mike Myers 70-270 passport book

Transcenders - I failed first time with 672 and used Transcenders for a month before my resit and upped my score to 865.