MCSE finished in 3 months

70-270 - 02/04/09
70-290 - 03/26/09
70-291 - 03/30/09
70-620 - 04/13/09
70-293 - 04/27/09
70-294 - 05/05/09
70-297 - 05/12/09

I did well for all the test but I passed 297 with a 700 just a few hours ago. The style was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Mainly used the MS Press books, cbt nuggets for a couple, and sybex for 293. With that I now have several MS certs and only 2 test from the MCITP:EA.

I only studied for about 3 or 4 days per test really and mainly only in the afternoon. I have 3 years experience as a system admin so I put a lot of faith into that. That and the fact I knew I had the 2nd chance voucher in case I did fail any of the test.

My overall impression is that the test could have more focus on real work applications (I have never used RRAS before) but it is good if you think about that it is testing on what could your business do with Windows 2003 and not what will it end up doing really.

My main drive for getting it so quickly was that I had just moved to San Francisco looking for a job and needed it on my resume. Thankfully I got a job after only 3 test but I still wanted to knock it out of the way. I could have probably gotten it in 2 months if I didn't play so much Left 4 Dead but shooting zombies (or killing humans as a zombie) is so much more fun than studying.

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Comments

ULWiz

I am going to ignore some of these stupid posts people are posting. You should be proud of your accomplishment. Finishing the MCSE is not a easy thing. I am struggling just getting my MCSA done but also left IT for a long time. I only got 291 left but decided to focus on the CCENT/CCNA track first. I recently just got back into IT again and decided to start my IT certifications. Last year i attained 3 certs and look forward to learning more about various technologies.

Best of luck and CONGRATS again on the MCSE.

mad82

Thanks again everybody. I really didn't think people would get that angry on it and really I don't blame them. They might have family to take care of which should come over studying and if they aren't in a situation like I was to knock out some certs in a short time it will take you a while.

I went back home last month and not much had changed cert wise with my old team because honestly they have no need for it. If I was still there, I probably would have never gotten it.

rterrasi

Well, finishing the MCSE is a fantastic accomplishment, let alone doing it in 3 months. The only black eye on it would be if an individual used ****. You learn nothing that way.

Years ago, I was attending a tech college in California and taking the Windows 2000 course. In more than once instance, we were handed "supplemental" study material to take the actual test. At work, while I was going through it, a co worker was looking over my shoulder and recognized it as a "****". When I asked him what he meant, he went into a detailed explanation of what it was. Not only did I dispose of it, I let my fellow class mates know what it was. None of them cared; they just wanted the cert. These were the same individuals who got certified, but could not even do a full install of 2000 server and other tasks ( I am not kidding). Although I never bothered to certify, at least I knew what the heck I was doing.

My immediate goal is to obtain my MCSA then MCSE. I will take at least 5 weeks for each exam to study and pass the test. Might take longer, but to each their own huh?

RobertKaucher

rterrasi wrote: »

My immediate goal is to obtain my MCSA then MCSE. I will take at least 5 weeks for each exam to study and pass the test. Might take longer, but to each their own huh?

Well keep in mind that at the time mad was unemployed... he had more time and motivation to study than most. Add that to his experience and you can see why he passed so quickly.

I have a friend who passed the 291 on his second try with a score in the low 900s. He credits the score to having 2 weeks of basically 8 hours a day to study for it. He was in the same position as Mad.

I'll keep my score of 748 and my job....

Satcom

mad82 wrote: »

Being unemployed in one of the highest cost of living cities in the country gives you motivation. I never even thought about getting my MCSE back when I had a job.

sounds like a motivator to me .. congrats

Turgon

Slowhand wrote: »

I took my A+ in a day, and if I had the same relative amount of experience and skill with Cisco networks that I do with stand-alone microcomputers, I'd take the CCIE R&S written and lab exams over a weekend.

That's quite a stretch!

I agree with the general principle but one has to be careful of the comparision with CCIE. The testing there is less kind to experienced folks. I can attest to this after obtaining MCSE in 1999 and CCNP in 2001.

While experience helps, everyone needs to accumulate sufficient hours to prepare specifically for the test because of the messed up nature of what is being examined on the part of the candidate. The time required is a variable there but a lot of what you need to demonstrate on lab day isn't learned particularly well in the field no matter how proficient you are there. If it was I imagine thousands of experienced engineers such as myself and Mike would be done by now. Some people do fast track it, but the numbers who will sail through after just a weekend of cramming I think you could fit into an elevator. Many great engineers I would learn a good deal from have been obliterated on lab day due to relying on experience at the expense of significant time out to prepare specifically for the test. They are still great engineers though. A three month stint is a heck of an accomplishment requiring lots of configuration experience going in and significant employer support to prepare. Uber configurators working big networks at the TDA level but remaining very hands on each day have a shot at that if they have the energy. Some instructors are decently placed too as when they are not teaching cisco at a low level they are preparing training materials and when not doing either there is slack time to do lots of practice labs.

Slowhand

Turgon wrote: »

That's quite a stretch!

I agree with the general principle but one has to be careful of the comparision with CCIE. The testing there is less kind to experienced folks. I can attest to this after obtaining MCSE in 1999 and CCNP in 2001.

The meaning here isn't to compare apples to oranges or bottle rockets to V2 launchers. The point is that, if I'd had the type of hands-on lab-experience and book-knowledge it takes to pass the CCIE written and lab exams, I could walk in and take both today. (Kind of redundant, isn't it?) It was more of a statement pertaining to the amount of time spend formally studying - in my case of the A+, none at all - versus what people expect you to spend since it's assumed you're starting from scratch when you decide, "today I'm going to sit down and start studying for the <blank> exam."

Turgon

Slowhand wrote: »

The meaning here isn't to compare apples to oranges or bottle rockets to V2 launchers. The point is that, if I'd had the type of hands-on lab-experience and book-knowledge it takes to pass the CCIE written and lab exams, I could walk in and take both today. (Kind of redundant, isn't it?) It was more of a statement pertaining to the amount of time spend formally studying - in my case of the A+, none at all - versus what people expect you to spend since it's assumed you're starting from scratch when you decide, "today I'm going to sit down and start studying for the <blank> exam."

I understand your point but it's not not really applicable to the CCIE lab exam I'm afraid. The problem is it is very difficult to clear that exam unless you prepare specifically for it no matter how much experience you have. Trust me many engineers with skills to die for have tried to leverage what they already know with just a light review only to tank the test. For other exams you do get more mileage though.

Slowhand

Turgon wrote: »

I understand your point but it's not not really applicable to the CCIE lab exam I'm afraid. The problem is it is very difficult to clear that exam unless you prepare specifically for it no matter how much experience you have. Trust me many engineers with skills to die for have tried to leverage what they already know with just a light review only to tank the test. For other exams you do get more mileage though.

I still think our communication-towers aren't quite on the same frequency, and understandibly so. Your point about the CCIE exam being unique in that no network engineer in their right mind should have a production-environment that looks like the lab-rack is dead-on. (Then again, if my production-environment looked like my lab, I'd probably be fired for causing a fire/toxic hazard in the office.) I'm using the CCIE as a metaphor, since it is a well-known difficult exam, not as a direct, literal comparison to A+. I think we can both agree that, if a person just happened to be enough of a lab-rat to have the type of lab-experience and had read those big, thick Cisco Press books, they could pass the exam without any further formal preparation; an experienced engineer with no lab-time is definitely going to fail, as you mentioned, since the lab is designed specifically to test a broad range of skills and a real environment requires whatever skills happen to fit the given situation.

Think of it as technical non-answers to a hypothetical questions:

"How hard is the <blank> exam?"
"That all depends. If you know everything you need to know to pass it, it's really easy. If you don't know enough, it's really hard."

"How long does it take to study for <blank> certification?"
"If you know enough to pass right now, no time at all. Otherwise, it takes exactly as long as you need to read the books and practice enough to pass."

Turgon

Slowhand wrote: »

I still think our communication-towers aren't quite on the same frequency, and understandibly so. Your point about the CCIE exam being unique in that no network engineer in their right mind should have a production-environment that looks like the lab-rack is dead-on. (Then again, if my production-environment looked like my lab, I'd probably be fired for causing a fire/toxic hazard in the office.) I'm using the CCIE as a metaphor, since it is a well-known difficult exam, not as a direct, literal comparison to A+. I think we can both agree that, if a person just happened to be enough of a lab-rat to have the type of lab-experience and had read those big, thick Cisco Press books, they could pass the exam without any further formal preparation; an experienced engineer with no lab-time is definitely going to fail, as you mentioned, since the lab is designed specifically to test a broad range of skills and a real environment requires whatever skills happen to fit the given situation.

Think of it as technical non-answers to a hypothetical questions:

"How hard is the <blank> exam?"
"That all depends. If you know everything you need to know to pass it, it's really easy. If you don't know enough, it's really hard."

"How long does it take to study for <blank> certification?"
"If you know enough to pass right now, no time at all. Otherwise, it takes exactly as long as you need to read the books and practice enough to pass."

hehehe..well with that going for them, yes they could pass, but I think if someone had that type of lab-rat experience they could only have acquired it through preparation for the exam and not through OTJ. Experience helps a lot but without plenty of preparation for the exam itself it's most likely not going to get you through.