Scheduled for 7/29

smg1138

Well, I finally pulled the trigger and scheduled 70-293 on 7/29. I've passed 70-291 and Security+ recently and have been studying for 293 for the past month, so I hope I'm in good shape. Any words of advice for my last week of studying?

smg1138

Should I focus on PKI and Clustering? I've heard the 293 is pretty heavily focused on those areas. Is that correct?

Technito

Not sure if you seen my post on my experience taking this exam last week. I had problems with my exam, but overall there was lots of PKI following RRAS. And most of the questions were tricky, so play close attention to those little extra details they throw in there. I had about 10 sims, which were also mostly PKI. I didn't see many questions on Clustering, maybe 4 or 5 which seemed pretty easy.



Edit: Forgot to wish you good luck! I'm retaking this exam this coming Wednesday, as well as tbgree00. Hopefully we'll all have this exam behind us before the month is out

tbgree00

I've been trying to study pki in hopes to sneak by this one. I'm not really ready for it but it's either take it Wednesday or late August. Good luck to you and if you find anything great for certificates post it!

Psoasman

Be familiar with clustering, NLB, IPSec, RRAS, and PKI. It helps to do some hands-on work with these areas.

Devilsbane

Psoasman wrote: »

Be familiar with clustering, NLB, IPSec, RRAS, and PKI. It helps to do some hands-on work with these areas.

Oh how I can't wait to hop back into the Microsoft world...(insert sarcasm here)

smg1138

Devilsbane wrote: »

Oh how I can't wait to hop back into the Microsoft world...(insert sarcasm here)

I know what you mean. PKI is pretty much the most boring thing I've ever studied. Gotta keep my eye on the prize though.

Technito

So what's the verdict?

smg1138

Technito wrote: »

So what's the verdict?

Epic failure. I got a 500 which is my lowest score ever on a MS exam. I just don't get it. I passed 70-291, Security+ and studied over a month for this test and it still owned me. I think I'm going to take a break from MS for a while. Feeling pretty discouraged at the moment.

Devilsbane

smg1138 wrote: »

Epic failure. I got a 500 which is my lowest score ever on a MS exam. I just don't get it. I passed 70-291, Security+ and studied over a month for this test and it still owned me. I think I'm going to take a break from MS for a while. Feeling pretty discouraged at the moment.

Thats pretty rough. Also a little scary for myself since I have also passed the 70-291, will have passed the security+ before I move to this exam, and also intended to take abount a month preparation.

What resources did you use?

Technito

smg1138 wrote: »

Epic failure. I got a 500 which is my lowest score ever on a MS exam. I just don't get it. I passed 70-291, Security+ and studied over a month for this test and it still owned me. I think I'm going to take a break from MS for a while. Feeling pretty discouraged at the moment.

Sorry to hear about your failure. But I wouldn't give up on it just yet. a 500 is 50%, so really that's still a good enough score where you should keep at it. Of 45 questions, each question is worth approximately 22.2 points. Therefore you missed this exam only by slightly less than 10 questions. If finances are not an issue, you should brush up on your weak areas and reschedule within a couple weeks. Because putting it off for longer than that will make it even harder to pass the next time. That was the mistake I almost made. I took 291 last November and just now taking 293. I had to study harder than I should have because I had practicallly forgotten all what I learned from 291. But in your case, while the information is still fresh you should get back to it. If there's any particular areas you seen on the exam that you feel you had trouble with, bring it up and I can try to help or point you in the right direction of material you need to look over. And I'm sure there are others here willing to help as well.

Devilsbane

Technito wrote: »

a 500 is 50%, so really that's still a good enough score where you should keep at it.

This is a common misconception. Microsoft doesn't just add up that you got 20 right out of 40 and give you a score of 500. Nobody really knows what they do, since they tell very little of it. They do say that they use test question (yep they use test test questions) that are worth no points. To bad they don't tell you when you are on a test test question and that it is worth no points.

Long story short, I think a score of 70% is not enough to pass. I like to use transcenders and be hitting 90%+, but I would accept 80's.

smg1138

Well, after taking a break, I'm thinking about giving this beast another shot. I'm just trying to figure out a new study plan now. Last time I studied mostly with TestOut, Exam Cram and some TechNet labs. That worked pretty well in the past, but I think I'm going to need more to pass this one. Any recommendations for additional study materials? Looking at my score report, I scored the lowest on "Plan and Implement Server Roles and Server Security" and "Plan, Implement, and Maintain routing and Remote Access". I know I need to focus on IPsec because there were a ton of tough questions on that. There's just so much material, it's hard to master it all.

tbgree00

If you have the extra money to burn the MCSE CBT Nuggets seem pretty awesome. I guess there is CBT in the TestOut though. Downloading VMware Player and creating a couple labs should be very helpful. Wedge's notes are a good refresher.

RRAS was my worst topic as well, which is strange since I thought I had a good handle on it. I think reviewing 20-291 notes on that would probably help out some. Maybe consider ordering the MSPress or Sybex book to cover your weak spots?

smg1138

I retook the 293 today and passed with an 823! I think that's the biggest turnaround I've ever had. I really think this test should be called Beast Sr. I think all the stuff on PKI, NLB, and clustering made it harder for me because I don't have many chances to work with those things in real life. Thank God for virtual machines. Now onward and upward to the 294!

Devilsbane

Congrats!

[Deleted User]

Congrats man!

Technito

Congratz on the pass, I knew you'd get through it this second time around. So big well done! I been working on 294, which I think it don't seem too difficult so far. So I don't think we'll have too many big worries on this exam. Although it's whole different bird compared to 293 and 291, but it's less broad. I think I might be ready to take it early September if all goes as planned. I'm almost finished with the 294 MS Press book and going to start the labbing this weekend. But anyhow, good luck and see in the 294 forum

willhi1979

Congrats! Any advice for those of us starting to get ready for it?

Devilsbane

willhi1979 wrote: »

Congrats! Any advice for those of us starting to get ready for it?

Yes, I think I'm going to need a lot of it. No experience with PKI or clustering which seem to be pretty important. And even my IPSec knowledge was just good enough to sneak by the 291.

Technito

willhi1979 wrote: »

Congrats! Any advice for those of us starting to get ready for it?

Devilsbane wrote: »

Yes, I think I'm going to need a lot of it. No experience with PKI or clustering which seem to be pretty important. And even my IPSec knowledge was just good enough to sneak by the 291.

Just like with any Microsoft exam, it's all about determining which information out of a ton of given information is relevant to your plans and implementations. I'm sure at this point we should already understand utilizing solutions that are cost effective, while using least amount of administrative effort and overhead as possible. More than ever you need to consider these traditions for this exam. 293 not only measures your skill-sets on each objective but also measure you from an architecture stand-point. This is also how this exam differ from 291 in addition to adding PKI, Clustering, etc.

As far as the objectives, it's hard to really give any advice without pointing you to a resource. But how about bringing up what particular misunderstandings you've come across? Such as problems with labbing or conflicting information you're reading. Just post it and hopefully someone will have an answer or can help you get a better understanding.