Failed 70-290...words of wisdom?

mikebrownit

Okay so I just failed the 70-290 exam.

Something strange happened when I was half way through, in the middle of a simulation. Upon clicking "Done" to go back out of the simulation I was presented with a nasty .Net Framework error and TC Flow test software completely locked up. The staff at the test center spent a good hour on the phone with Prometric trying to resolve the issue, finally they restarted the Prometric server at which point I was told the issue was fixed and I could now continue on from where I left off.

Has anyone else come across issues with the simulations on Microsoft exams like this?

I prepared for the exam by using the Microsoft 70-290 exam prep book as well as a course and test questions from Measure Up.

I was certain I had passed and in the back of my mind I'm thinking there was an issue with the simulation questions that may have attributed to me not passing the test.

Also what's the deal with test king, I heard they supply 1000 sample test questions, 40 of which you will probably find on the exam. To me this seems to defeat the purpose of learning the material.

Claymoore

mikebrownit wrote: »

Also what's the deal with test king, I heard they supply 1000 sample test questions, 40 of which you will probably find on the exam. To me this seems to defeat the purpose of learning the material.

It does defeat the purpose. Test King is a known brain **** site and the use their materials constitutes cheating and can cause you to be permanently banned from achieving MS certifications. If you have questions if a site or material is legitimate or not, check them on CertGuard.

http://www.CertGuard.com/Search.asp?Site=********.com

(Techexams hates ******** so much it even blocks the name in the url from CertGuard. Microsoft hates them so much they sued them.)

You should have a printout with a breakdown of your performance on the different exam objectives. Were there any areas in which you were particularly weak? If you were close to passing but weak in a couple of areas you could just focus on those objectives, turn your weaknesses into strengths, and pass the test the next time.

RobertKaucher

I highly recommend that you use TestOut for this exam. I thought it was very good. But if you cannot find a compy cheap, then make sure you perform labs on your own.

I suggest VMWare or Virtual PC. Install Server 2003, create a domain and learn to do common AD tasks perfectly. But this is very generic advice.

What were your worst 3 items on the score report?

mikebrownit

Thanks for the responses.

I have found my weak areas to be Disaster Recovery and Maintaining a Server Environment. The questions on Performance Console (counters, traces, alerts) I was a bit unsure on.

Something I was told about the simulations though. I was told that if you click the wrong tab, option, etc. you will lose marks. You have to click the exact sequence of steps to get the question right. So what I did was after finishing my exam I reviewed all the questions including the simulations. I clicked back into them and would double check other tabs, options etc. to make sure I didn't miss anything. I was told this is a big no no! Can anyone verify if this is true?

Super99

test out was the best for this exam.

bwcarty

mikebrownit wrote: »

Something I was told about the simulations though. I was told that if you click the wrong tab, option, etc. you will lose marks. You have to click the exact sequence of steps to get the question right. So what I did was after finishing my exam I reviewed all the questions including the simulations. I clicked back into them and would double check other tabs, options etc. to make sure I didn't miss anything. I was told this is a big no no! Can anyone verify if this is true?

As long as you meet all the requirements for the sim, extra clicks don't seem to matter. If you're really worried about the score of the sim, work through it, click the reset button, and then do it again without any of the extra clicks.

impelse

I do not bealive that the extra click will reduce your points, normally I click a lot on the tabs just for checking and recheking and I passed.

So keep studying, some of us failed some exams and after that I feel that I learned more in the second pass.

RobertKaucher

mikebrownit wrote: »

Something I was told about the simulations though. I was told that if you click the wrong tab, option, etc. you will lose marks. You have to click the exact sequence of steps to get the question right.

....
Can anyone verify if this is true?

No, that's not correct. Take a look at this page:

"Regardless of the performance-based item type, the candidate is evaluated on the accuracy of the end result, not the path that they took to complete the task."

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/exam.aspx#tab4

mikebrownit

RobertKaucher wrote: »

No, that's not correct. Take a look at this page:

"Regardless of the performance-based item type, the candidate is evaluated on the accuracy of the end result, not the path that they took to complete the task."

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/exam.aspx#tab4

That's good to know, it was just strange how the exam locked up when I was existing a simulation with a .Net framework error and the test center had to call Prometric which resulted in a restart of their "Prometric Server". But nonetheless I guess I did not know as much as I thought and its time to get back to work.

Super99

I was always told, "find your weakness and focus on that".

TheShadow

mikebrownit wrote: »

That's good to know, it was just strange how the exam locked up when I was existing a simulation with a .Net framework error and the test center had to call Prometric which resulted in a restart of their "Prometric Server". But nonetheless I guess I did not know as much as I thought and its time to get back to work.

Sometimes it just happens, they weren't Macs after all . Actually I was taking a Juniper exam a week or so ago and there were three Canon tech's there taking Canon exams. During my testing period all three machines locked up with .Net errors. The administrator just restarted the systems and they resumed where they left off. This was a new test center with nice equipment so I doubt it was a system problem. My system and those of other test takers were not affected.

Divine-Assault

Well I took the exam today and man was I lucky. I passed with a 700, the lowest score possible to pass lol. However I was angry at two of the simulations, I know how to do them but the simulation would say that "you are not able to do this in the simulation." To me the test seemed to focus in particular objectives and just ignores the others. I saw terminal services, folder shares, WSUS, and some others but I forgot. Just study on the areas you are weak and you should be fine.

kenny831

Congrats! I had to take this one a couple of times, because of issues with the sims. I did the work in the sims correctly but from the wrong angle. After changing the angle I passed with 800. Make sure you use Transcender/Selftestsoftware for the 291.

Divine-Assault

Thanks, for the study material, all I used was Testout. I have to say that the material covered in Testout was ABOVE satisfactory. The instructor had a nice clear voice and his handwriting is nice. VERY good simulations.

mikebrownit

Well I finally knocked this one out yesterday. Took me 3 times I'm happy to be over that hurdle now. I found this version of the test to be a lot harder than the previous two tries with questions I had never come across in the exam prep book or Measure Up material, like a question on DHCP server. Also the first time I wrote the exam I got 100% on the 'Managing and Maintaining Physical and Logical Devices' section, but on this exam that was my worst area which seemed strange to me. But nonetheless on to the next

RobertKaucher

Good work!

NetAdmin2436

mikebrownit wrote: »

Well I finally knocked this one out yesterday. Took me 3 times I'm happy to be over that hurdle now.

Your persistence is to be applauded. Congrats!

impelse

Congrats

Super99

Yes the drive crap messes me up because its not something I work with often enough.