MCDST 70-271 question

I recently purchased both books for the exam (271 and 272) but my question is can I read the 271 book and take the 271 test?

Or should I read both books before taking either exam?

I want to know because I plan to read the first book, study, and take the first exam. Then read the second book, study, and take the second exam. But if this is a bad idea please let me know!

Thanks!

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Psoasman

I did the 271 after taking the 270- they are very similar in material. The microsoft press book for the 271 is pretty good.
I would look through the exam objectives for both the 271/272 and make sure you are comfortable with the material. Set up a test computer and go through the hands-on exercises.

infamousthieve

I haven't studied for the 270 exam yet, but I'm going for the MCDST one. So essentially it is okay for me to read the 271 book and be able to ace the 271 exam before reading the 272 book?

I checked over the objectives and they seem alright... I just want to double check and make sure from you guys who did take the exam that I'm clear to go, haha. I don't want to be surprised or anything

Devilsbane

Most people will study for one test at a time and then move on to another when finished. Others will group up some tests.

I don't know that it makes much difference. Personally I like to take down one test at a time, while I don't think the 271 and 272 will give conflicting information, I would still like to not clutter up my head.

(Note that if you were studying for both the CCNA and MCSA at the same time, Microsoft will sometimes have a different definition than Cisco and you could be screwed up.)

Psoasman

I think you can safely study for the 271 with the MS book and take the exam. the 271 covers more of the installation, configuring of XP, while 272 covers IE, some basic MS office concepts, email, outlook express. Interestingly enough, the 271 and have 270 books have some chapters that are almost word for word.
I think both of these exams are complimentary to each other.

laloosh

That's exactly what I did: I read the 271 MS Press book cover-to-cover and did all the practice tests / exercises / lab scenarios as I went along. I then spent a couple weeks taking the practice tests on the CD to find my weak spots, went back to the book to brush up and took some more practice tests.

After passing the 271, I did the same for the 272 book, although not quite as intensely. You'll find a lot of crossover information between the two books, which helps reduce the amount of time you'll spend reading, but there's still plenty of new stuff to learn.

Good luck!