Taking it tomorrow

tbgree00

My date with the test (destiny?) is tomorrow. I wish that I could have scheduled it another day to allow me a fair chance at taking a second shot if needed but that was the earliest date in my town. It's my birthday so I could either be in a very good mood or it could be a rough day. Either way I can have cupcakes so no real complaints!

I feel I have a pretty decent handle on the main topics on the test and have paid extra attention to WSUS 3.0 and kept a running list of the dos prompt commands I came across. I've kept detailed notes of the CBT Nuggets, fleshed them out with reading, and have taken notes from the questions I don't know on measureup. I think I can pass it, the only thing that freaks me out is that I didn't buy a dedicated book for the test. I used the MCSE in a nutshell and technet to fill out the gaps in the nuggets.

Oh yeah, I also got a dedicated server running esxi to host my lab and have been playing alone with that some. I clicked along with the nuggets but I don't know how helpful that was.

I guess my question is for people who have studied with the nuggets. What did he miss that was covered better in the MSPress book? I have it on hold at the library for this evening so I can do some last minute prep. Anything I should really look at?

Devilsbane

Sounds like you should be alright. Happy birthday! My test still isn't for almost 3 weeks, but I'm already getting ancy about it. On the one hand I just want to take it, I understand a lot of the material already. But on the other hand, I'm concerned that 3 weeks isn't enough time for me to completely master ipsec, rras, and dns.

I spent about 4 or 5 hours studying last night, so if I can keep that up the "beast" might turn out to be a rabbit like in Monty Python.

Good luck

phoeneous

Best of luck, I take mine tomorrow also. Care to share your notes?

earweed

Good luck both of you!

skyline

Sure you'll ace it tomorrow

Good Luck

tbgree00

I have around 40 pages worth of notes in a Onenote 2010 notebook. I can't share that via the forum due to invalid file type and to copy that into a word document makes the file size too big. I can send either of them to an email address if you want to PM me.

I've never seen people share notes before but I assume it's kosher on here.

Devilsbane

Many people have shared their notes before. What isn't ok to share would be things the break the NDA. Certainly the stuff that you felt important enough to write down from your books/videos is fair game if you choose to share it.

tbgree00

I passed with a 785. It was probably the hardest test I've ever taken in my life. When I sit a certification test I use one of my two white boards to take note of every question I don't immediately know or can't quickly get a good idea on. This time over half of the questions made it to the board.

I'm going to enjoy my birthday tonight and then probably start gathering the "topics to know" and looking over them for the 293 tomorrow.

skyline

Congrats..

Devilsbane

tbgree00 wrote: »

I'm going to enjoy my birthday tonight and then probably start gathering the "topics to know" and looking over them for the 293 tomorrow.

Sounds like a plan.

Congrats on the passing score.

earweed

Congrats!

phoeneous

tbgree00 wrote: »

I passed with a 785. It was probably the hardest test I've ever taken in my life. When I sit a certification test I use one of my two white boards to take note of every question I don't immediately know or can't quickly get a good idea on. This time over half of the questions made it to the board.

I'm going to enjoy my birthday tonight and then probably start gathering the "topics to know" and looking over them for the 293 tomorrow.

Congrats! I'm going for Security+ after this then 293. See you in that forum

tbgree00

phoeneous wrote: »

Congrats! I'm going for Security+ after this then 293. See you in that forum

I thought about that but I think I need to keep the MS train rolling. I'm used to their question style. If it's November and I have to choose between trying to get Sec+ the 298 I will take Sec+. I am hoping I'll have everything done by that time, though.

Next year I will enjoy having a life and only try to get the VCP and possibly upgrade the MCSE. Taking this many tests is for the birds.

Devilsbane

tbgree00 wrote: »

Taking this many tests is for the birds.

I actually kind of enjoy it. But then again I also enjoy learning new things. I think the biggest trick is setting realistic goals and having reasonable expectations. If I take a week longer than I had intended, not a big deal. I set a goal to have MCSA before June 30th back in February. Things came up and assuming I pass my 291 on the first time, I'll have it on July 10th. I'm ok with that.

Some nights I can get 3-4 hours of studying done. Others I barely get any. I take the good with the bad and move on.

I've set some pretty insane goals for myself this year, but if I can keep this attitude up, it shouldn't be a problem. And then like you, next year I can take some time off. More for my family than myself.

phoeneous

tbgree00 wrote: »

Taking this many tests is for the birds.

I havent studied this much for an exam since ICND2. I really like the material in 291 because it's stuff I'm not used to working with like advanced dns stuff, ipsec, and netsh commands. I cant wait for 293, 294, and 297 because I really want to get into the deep active directory and clustering stuff. The only reason why Im doing Sec+ next month is to take a break from ms. Having to do 270, 290, and 291 all in a row is making my brain hurt. I think it'll be a good refresher for me. Besides my degree is in infosec so I think I'll do good on the test.

Happy bday by the way

Reseven

Congratz and happy b-day!!

J.Q

Congrats! Cool, you gave yourself a gift of a passing score! Happy belated birthday.