Passed...barely

Took the test today and scored a 700. Doesn't get much closer than that.
I used Sybex, ExamCram, TestOut, VMWare, and Transcender (oh, and this site of course!)

I think I may need to change my plan of attack for the 291. I haven't ordered anything yet (books,etc...)
I'm worried about the beast.

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earweed

Congrats!
Remember the cert doesn't specify a score, just that you succeeded.

pml1

Congrats! I passed last much with not much more than that. I've been using the MS Press book to prep for 291. So far it's pretty dead on.

slinuxuzer

I noticed you didnt say Cbt nuggets, your going to need these for 291 more than you know, their expensive but worth it. I have got to be one of their top salesmen. I used them for all of Mcse and they really help you understand the content, there is nothing like watching someone set up things. stay with transcender and mspress and vmware, but you have to add cbt nuggets imo.

Good luck

Reseven

Thanks guys.
Feels good to have it over with.

If anything caught me off guard I think it may have been the complexity of some of the sims.

I had 2 that felt downright ugly in the managing and maintaining users, computers, and groups area. That was my weakest area. I knew that going in and should have spent more time with that material.

To be fair, there were a few sims that were very straight forward.

I scored perfect in the managing and maintaining physical and logical devices area. No problems there.

On the drive home I thought about my game plan for the 291. The MSPress book did come to mind. I think I'll give it a go. Not so sure about the sybex book. I did like the lab stuff in there. The ExamCram books have been with me since my first test (A+) so I'd feel a little strange not going with them again. I first used Transcender for my 270. I though they were great for that. This time around it felt like the questions weren't as difficult as the actual test questions. I'll probably stick with them though. VMWare is a must.

I didn't even think about CBT until you mentioned them slinuxuzer. I've steered clear of them because of the price. I just had a look at their website and it's not as expensive as I thought. I think I'm adding that to the pool of knowledge.

I'll start placing orders this weekend. Until then I'm going to put some quality time into Metro 2033.

Oh, good luck Northbr1dge.:)

slinuxuzer

Cool, 291 and 294 are probably the two tests for the entire series that Cbt nuggets are most needed for. I learned so much from the 291 test and it just so happens thats alot of the stuff you use on a daily basis as a network admin. Good luck with your future tests.

petedude

I should wait until my pass posts, but. . .

Scraped by today with a 700 as well, after about two and a half weeks of studying. Normally I'd spend more time on an exam than this, but with other family and educational commitments looming, not to mention practice exams driving me nuts (more in a moment) I wanted to finish ASAP.

Used an older Exam Cram book, ExamForce (which includes the newer Exam Cram e-book) and TechNet primarily. I can't recommend Exam Cram or ExamForce products for the 290 unless you have background with Windows Server products and lots of patience. Exam Cram products don't go into enough detail and ExamForce's 290 software is glitchy-- with lotsa update bugs and interface rough spots.

Also had access to VMs and live equipment to practice on.

If I had more time to study, I would have:
-- bought a Terminal Services book and read it
-- probably bought either the Sybex book or the MS Press e-book for the 290
-- possibly finished reading the Group Policy book I have

Study tips? All I'll say is this: in any MCSA/MCSE 2003 studies, if you encounter some command line thingy in your studies, try it out at least once if at all possible in the best test (non-production!) setting you can whip up.

unclejohnny

slinuxuzer wrote: »

I noticed you didnt say Cbt nuggets, your going to need these for 291 more than you know, their expensive but worth it. I have got to be one of their top salesmen. I used them for all of Mcse and they really help you understand the content, there is nothing like watching someone set up things. stay with transcender and mspress and vmware, but you have to add cbt nuggets imo.

Good luck

I completely agree about making the investment in CBT nuggets. The 291 nugget on subnetting is almost worth the purchase price. I also believe you need to setup some sort of lab environment to test some principles.