Newly Minted MCSA: M

Passed this morning with a 765. Not the best score but those ISA questions threw me for a loop. Brought my Exchange Security score way down.

No worries though!

Seems strange to be a newly minted MCSA: M given Exh2K3 Mainstream support ended in April of 2009.

Oh well, a lot of companies, mine included, are still running this and probably will until they have to migrate. I thought it was worth the time to get certified in it.

Still up in the air about the 70-285, is it like the 70-293/294/297 exams? I found those three exams very difficult, having failed each x2 before passing on the 3rd attempts. I don't really want to go through that again on the 70-285.

Any advice from 70-285 takers/Exchange admins out there?

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Comments

earweed

Congrats on the new cert!

genXrcist

Thanks bro!

dynamik

genXrcist wrote: »

Thanks bro!

Yea, congrats buddy!

But why are you posting here? Don't you have a couple of exams to be taking today?

genXrcist

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, congrats buddy!

But why are you posting here? Don't you have a couple of exams to be taking today?

Mr. Dynamik! So good to hear from you, I hope all is well down in Baton Rouge?

Actually, I've passed the 70-298 & 70-299 so all I have left for the Security designation is the Security+ exam but I'm gonna wait until after June 30th to take that given the 2nd Shot special going on with MS right now.

Actually in the middle of studying for the 70-649, pretty interesting stuff! Feels good to be studying newer material, finally feel like I'm about caught up with the times!

Any word on your CISSP referral?

snadam

Congrats!!!

dynamik

Wow, I actually knew that. I literally just read one of your other posts saying you were going to take them before posting that

BR's not too bad. It's definitely a much smaller city than I was anticipating. I miss getting all the shows and things like that.

It definitely feels good to get caught up.

I haven't even submitted my endorsement request. I'm swamped with work and school. I'll do that in a month or so when things lighten up. Getting the exam behind me was the big part. I'm not looking for a new job or anything, so I'm not too concerned with getting that process done quickly.

Devilsbane

Congrats on the pass.

Claymoore

genXrcist wrote: »

Still up in the air about the 70-285, is it like the 70-293/294/297 exams? I found those three exams very difficult, having failed each x2 before passing on the 3rd attempts. I don't really want to go through that again on the 70-285.

Any advice from 70-285 takers/Exchange admins out there?

First, Congrats!

Second, unless you really want the MCSE:M as a specialization to set you apart from other MCSEs, don't bother with the 285. Not a lot of 2003 design work out there, and the 2003 certs don't count for any partner specializations any more.

The 285 is a design exam like 297 or 298 with case studies followed by questions. Just to be extra challenging, there is no training material for the exam beyond an online course from Microsoft. I used that course - MS was offering a choice of free courses at the time - and barely passed. My strategy was to skip the case studies entirely and just answer the questions, but I was doped to the gills on codeine following a root canal the day before and I had a second shot so I didn't care if I failed.