Trancender

For anyone who has used the Transcender exams for study, are they much harder than the actual test? I've been using them for a couple weeks and been scoring between 70-80% consistently. I'm not sure if that means I'm ready.

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dynamik

I've found them to be a consistently a little more difficult. Why not try to get up to the 90-100% range though?

djhss68

My test is not until 2 weeks. That's what I'd like to be scoring. At least 90%.

dynamik

Well, if it puts things in perspective for you, you need 70% to pass an MS exam. It's up to you whether you study to pass the exam or if you study to learn the material

Tyrant1919

Learning the material? Is that an option still? :^D

djhss68

dynamik wrote: »

Well, if it puts things in perspective for you, you need 70% to pass an MS exam. It's up to you whether you study to pass the exam or if you study to learn the material

TBH, for this exam, I'm just in it to pass.

ian g

I found the Trancender tests very good. I signed up for the one-month access. Here's the problem in my opinion: They just don't have enough questions in their question bank. After I took the test a couple of times, I was starting to recognize questions I had answered previously. After about a week, I was scoring in the high 90's, mainly because the answers had become familiar.
They do a good job of simulating the style and content of the real thing, but I think you can get lured into a false sense of security. I wet into the exam this morning feeling really confident. After a few questions I started to sweat it - the test was MUCH harder than I expected. I suprised myself with an eventual 936.
Get Trancenders to get a feel for the test, especially if this is your first MS test. But it needs to be just a small part of your preparedness arsenal.

savior faire

Back in 2000, I used Transcender practice exams to prepare for the MCSD Cert track(VB 6 and SQL Server 7.0 and solutions architecture.
Back then they were very, very good and right on target.

I recently used them again for the SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence Exam 70-445. Transcender was bought out by Kaplan(I believe)... In my judgement, you will need other study materials to prep for the exam.

I scored 1000 in the 70-445 exam, but used other prep materials.

dynamik

I disagree that the question banks are too small. Yes, you will remember answers even after one run through, but they typically cover 3-4x the amount of questions on the actual exam. My 649 practice exam had 200 questions, and the exam had 47 or 48. As long as there are enough questions to cover the highlights of the material; that should be enough. Just be sure you can explain why each option is or isn't correct, and you'll learn the material. You won't get nearly as much out of them if you just memorize answers. They're just another tool; how you use them is up to you.

Paperclip

dynamik wrote: »

I disagree that the question banks are too small. Yes, you will remember answers even after one run through, but they typically cover 3-4x the amount of questions on the actual exam. My 649 practice exam had 200 questions, and the exam had 47 or 48. As long as there are enough questions to cover the highlights of the material; that should be enough. Just be sure you can explain why each option is or isn't correct, and you'll learn the material. You won't get nearly as much out of them if you just memorize answers. They're just another tool; how you use them is up to you.

Agreed. If you can hit 80-90% but also know why the answers are the way they are, you should be golden. But if you only know that's the answer because you saw the question before, well...

The Transcender explanations of the questions can be very useful. And if you still don't understand fully what it is talking about, then research that from another source.

dsilenzi

I had used Transcender for NT MCSE, and thats all I needed and I was a newbie to the field
Thats all I needed pretty much. Well, this test has the usually doz. questions not covered on Transcender directly! Last exam had very little on Sysprep, RIS and lot on boot Transcender was the opposite. Also if keep doing the practice questions U turn into a "robot"! Prob not doing the Q?s and reading the explanations would be better to do.
I def. would have to say Transcender needs much improvement, typical when a big Co., buys out a small co., things get worse! Bottom line U need other sources! Also when I left the room disappointed I immed wrote down the questions/areas I wasnt sure on! Hope this helps.