New to forum - 2008 R2 questions

Statically

Hi guys, new to the forum, have used some of the resources from this page for a short while and really appreciate the help it's given... I appreciate it's a deadish topic but hope some of the people in the know are still active.

My problem is I know the M$ book now reasonably well and it's only details and syntax I really need to stick in my head.... but I've gone to take a practice test from the accompanying CD and have been left disheartened. I've been in IT for 6 years now, I do know my stuff, mainly worked on 03 servers but been recently been setting up 08R2 servers so know my way around them well enough. The problem is after taking the practice am left feeling nowhere near ready, and excuse my desperation but "how the hell am I supposed to take an exam which requires such a high percentage to pass when the material I need to pass isn't in the book?!?!?"

The questions are related to the subject but it seems you need such a higher level of understanding than is given in the book and they aren't problems I come across in my job regularly. I'm dedicated now to getting the cert and want to hopefully move to a multinational organisation but need at least one exam to progress, anyways I digress.... I just need some advice from heads who have done a lot of these new exams on what to do. With the practice exam it says in the references to look at the Vista study book, will I need to do a client book as well (would obviously do Win7)? Now with the addition of the R2 questions I don't know how to attack the exam and learn everything I need to learn to pass, and I want to do it soon as I've put certification off for long enough.

Any help would be greatly appreciated (or if anyone has a position for a genuinely hard worker in the UK who you can train then please feel free to PM.... worth a shot I suppose)

Many thanks.

Sam

earweed

First off it's usually best to do the client exam first or at least have the knowledge to pass the client exam.
The measure up test included with the book is usually harder than the actual exam but is still a fairly good gage of how you'll do on the real exam. i recommend you utilize some of the technet articles listed in this resource thread and also to get the Sybex book as it complements the MS Press book quite well.
Don't get discouraged by your practice test score just do some more studying in the areas you've done poorly on. I'd also like to stress that you lab as much as you can for this exam. You will learn the material more thoroughly and on a deeper level by labbing while studying.

LCA

Statically,

I agree with your remarks. I would like to add to me the exam questions aren't always representative of real life practical experience.

Re the MS Press Self-Paced Training Kits I'm no great fan of these books, they're aren't detailed enough, in fact they're not close enough. I do not use these books for studying MS exams. As Earweed notes the MeasureUp questions are useful, but for me that where for my study methods the usefulness of these books starts and finishes.

I've found over and over again having completed 3 MS exams that what Technet provides is pretty much the level of knowledge that is equivalent to what is needed to pass the exams. Though I must add at the moment I'm studying for 70-643 (which is no pushover by any stretch) the Technet information on IIS and on the main IIS website isn't great. For this I'm reading two very good books one is the Professional IIS 7 Wrox Press book and Stanek's fine book on IIS 7 from MS Press.

Re videos the CBT Nuggets Server 2008 series by Conrad are good to get the idea how to do stuff but on their own again aren't detailed enough to rely on for exam study.

Statically

Thanks to the both of you, any moral support or advice is always greatly appreciated. I think I will get the sybex book and the 7 book, is it worth getting the Microsoft self paced 7 book or something different like the sybex?

Will continue reading up on the technet stuff as well. The mobo on my Pc died at home so will get some more memory for my laptop for more lab work as I currently have nothing juicy enough to virtualize.

I watched one of the CBT nuggets videos and although I feel it would be a good way to learn something for the real world in a general sense, would not prepare for the sort of questions I am now expecting.

Thanks though guys, trying to juggle work, other commitments and studying is tough but I really am determined.... but feel it is even further away than expected! I just hate not having a qualification in what I have been working in all my adult life.