Why is the 270 hard?

SneakyStevie

Ok, so I have heard everybody say the 270 is hard, and I'm not blowing it off . I just would like to hear from some of the people who have already taken the 270 as to WHY it's a hard test.

The overall feeling I get is that the test is broad, and it requires an indepth knowledge of how to administrate and administer XP. But if somebody could tell me specifically (without violating non disclosure agreements) what they felt were the difficult parts, that would be .

For example: Are the questions abstract? Do they require knowledge of legacy and compeditor systems? Do they have many "Choose all that apply" questions? (Remember to not violate nda.)

Thanks!

dynamik

I struggled the most with the deployment stuff since I rarely do that. I think people are surprised at the difficultly since they figure they work with XP daily, so it'll be a piece of cake. I think most people are surprised with how much more there is to XP than they thought.

mrmcmint

There were a few hard parts for me.

Learning the different protocols such as L2TP, EAP-TLS etc and which was best for what, and mschap and mschap v2 and the rest of the vpn/dialup stuff. Then there is ris - implement this at home on a practise lab if you can as that will help you loads especially with the different answer files.

learning things that you may never do was also hard for me, eg printer pools. Does anyone actually do this? :BS:

There is an awful lot to learn. I am ing for the 291 at the moment, and is brings back memories of the xp exam thinking wow - there is a lot to learn!!
I think i scored a 763 on the xp exam which i was chuffed about - i didnt think i would have passed all the way through the exam.

wastedtime

dynamik wrote: »

I struggled the most with the deployment stuff since I rarely do that. I think people are surprised at the difficultly since they figure they work with XP daily, so it'll be a piece of cake. I think most people are surprised with how much more there is to XP than they thought.

Exactly, if I remember right this test was the closest I ever came to failing a test. (I believe I scored right on the pass mark)

bwcarty

My biggest issues were with the upgrade paths from all of the previous generations. I saw a lot more references to 98 and NT systems than I expected, and it has been many years since I've dealt with either of those.

RTmarc

dynamik wrote: »

I struggled the most with the deployment stuff since I rarely do that. I think people are surprised at the difficultly since they figure they work with XP daily, so it'll be a piece of cake. I think most people are surprised with how much more there is to XP than they thought.

This.

I, too, had a problem with the deployment area. I freely admit this was my first technical exam I ever took and I failed it the first time. I had that mentality described and it came back to bite me. Took it for a second time two weeks later after having been exposed to a Microsoft exam and blew it away.

I really think this exam is perceived as more difficult than it really is because 1) it is usually the starting point for most people and the first Microsoft series exam, 2) XP has a lot more features than people really know about, and 3) people use it on a daily basis.

JockVSJock

bwcarty wrote: »

My biggest issues were with the upgrade paths from all of the previous generations. I saw a lot more references to 98 and NT systems than I expected, and it has been many years since I've dealt with either of those.

If this is the case, what would be the best way to prepare for this?

TravR1

The only time they should bring up Windows 98 or NT is during an upgrade. You just need to remember what you can upgrade to Windows XP with and what requires a clean install. Also know how to back up the data if you need a clean install like USMT and FAST.

Almighty

I just started studying for the 70-270 exam myself. There seriously so much more to XP than I ever imagined.

So far I've purchased the MS Press self paced training kit book for studies. Does anyone have any suggestions to avoid any potential pit falls?

Todd Burrell

From what I've seen with the posts here, I am glad I chose to take 290 and 291 first. 291 covers a lot of material about PPTP and L2TP and IPSec, so if you can, you may want to take 290 and 291 first....

291 covered a great deal of VPN and all of the authentication protocols, so that might make 270 easier if you took 291 first...

Nyromith

IMO the exam is hard because there are a lot of questions (almost all) that refer to Server 2003 and the Active Directory administration, while the self-paced study guide teaches only from the XP point of view, so there is a huge gap between the studied material and the tested material. Now I'm preparing for the 70-270 as a first exam, and I think I made a mistake by choosing it first.

Brad-Man

My biggest hurdle was RAS and as someone stated earlier a lot of AD stuff, but I passed (thank god for 2nd shot!) with a 796.

Passed 290 with an 794, and 291 with a 810.

RobertKaucher

In my opinion it was because it was so broad. The exam was not very deep, but you needed to have been exposed to a broad range of technologies and situations in order to not be confused by the questions.

120nm4n

I believe it's more difficult that you would think because it's not just "Windows XP," it's "Windows XP in Active Directory." You need to have an understanding of Active Directory, not just XP itself (unlike the Vista client exam, which is Vista standalone). I've noticed a lot of people saying that RIS was the most difficult part. I would highly recommend setting up a lab and configuring RIS. I had to do an implementation for work, and found it pretty easy to work with once you get past a few caveats. Had I just read it in the book, I would have been EXTREMELY confused. (not saying that the people who found it difficult didn't lab or put in the time, that's just how it worked for me.)

SneakyStevie

Thanks to everybody who responded. So far the ideas that I have gotten are:

1. Install types - RIS, PXE and everything inbetween are covered on this test and people better understand them

2. Networking - Unlike the 620 series, the 270 asks about VPN and network protocalls

3. AD - Again, unlike the 620 series, the 270 asks about AD and how XP fits into an AD structure

4. General Questions - Some people have told me (not on this post) that the 270 will ask about anything and everything computer related

I signed up to take the test next week, and I'll report back then. Until then, thanks to everybody for your help!

chimax96

I barely passed this by the skin of my teeth. Along with what others have listed here, I'd like to add stuff you may already know, but for me I had to learn everything so:

Know Printers, how to enable Printing over the Internet (need to know which service I allude to here).
Printer Priority, Printer Pooling. When I took the test it included a WSUS question, which will probably be easy for you, but wasn't for me, since I've little exp with Server.
Understand the permissions relationships NTFS and File Level, which take precedence and so on.

I totally dropped the ball on most of the deployment questions, i recommend you do not! Hate RIS, but love it when you take the exam :P


It's interesting that I took the 70-270 and am working on the 70-290, while you're in the opposite boat. My instructor tells me most of 70-290 is 70-270 anyway, but I don't know if this is so.

SneakyStevie

chimax96 wrote: »

It's interesting that I took the 70-270 and am working on the 70-290, while you're in the opposite boat. My instructor tells me most of 70-290 is 70-270 anyway, but I don't know if this is so.

I'll send you a message after I take it. The 290 was also pretty broad.

Mishra

I think this test being the first introduction to any certification test at all makes a big difference on the difficulty.

jayesser

To be honest its no surprise its so hard. As you prob know - MS have constructed this exam so that you need to know a lot about most of the MCSE syllabus to pass just the XP exam alone. Its very much about the server environment that it works in so you have to be au fait with AD, Tunelling protocols, Security, IIS, Group Policy - the whole nine yards. As well as the client environment.

So the way i am going to tackle the exam is to use the recommended books for the AD exam, security exam etc etc so that hopefully i have more knowledge that i need so i can pass the exam. Before I used to use just XP books but i don think these are enough for me to pass xp by themselves.

Iceberg

SneakyStevie wrote: »

Thanks to everybody who responded. So far the ideas that I have gotten are:

1. Install types - RIS, PXE and everything inbetween are covered on this test and people better understand them

2. Networking - Unlike the 620 series, the 270 asks about VPN and network protocalls

3. AD - Again, unlike the 620 series, the 270 asks about AD and how XP fits into an AD structure

4. General Questions - Some people have told me (not on this post) that the 270 will ask about anything and everything computer related

I signed up to take the test next week, and I'll report back then. Until then, thanks to everybody for your help!

Good luck with your test mate, and let us know how was it!

I'm taking mine 270 on 18 of August too

tenrou

I'd say there is a bit of overlap between 290 and 270. The 270 covers a broad range of topic so people struggle to take it all in, most people will have used it at home and don't know much about it from a business standpoint and then get a bit of a shock.

I'd say this is where the 270 and the 620 differs. 620 covers Vista from a home user perspective and leaves a lot fo the business stuff to another exam where as the 270 has it all in one.