The contemporary 70-270 exam

thelordharry

Hi Guys.

Hopefully this will be an intelligent question as I've searched all the other threads in this part of the forum and haven't found the answer I was hoping for...

Basically, if I were to sit the 70-270 exam today, what would I expect to find in it?

I am fully aware of the syllabus for the 270 exam and it's requirements but, the reason I ask this seeming 'old chestnut' of a question is that XP has obviously changed from it's inception to present day SP3. As it's such a mature operating system, many of my colleagues who are already qualified have loaned me their testing materials (Transcender/The King of Tests/Boson etc) but these are between three to nearly ten years old!

I appreciate basic concepts like NTFS and share permissions don't change but what about such other concepts like ICF which was replaced by Windows Firewall? Floppy drives are all but non-existent these days but will they feature in the exam?

Obviously, my best option would be to study *everything* but it would be really helpful if any of you folk who have sat the exam recently could enlighten me Is it based on SP3 and current hardware standards or will I still potentially see a legacy question about ICF in there too?

Thank you in advance

Claymoore

I can't tell you what is on the 270 exam for a couple of reasons. One, that would be violating the NDA that we all agreed to when we took the exam. Two, I took the 270 a few years ago - you know, back when it was relevant. Instead of asking us to help you ****, or using the 'King' of braindumps to **** on the exam, ask yourself why you are taking an exam on a 9 year old operating system when there are contemporary client OS exams you could be taking?

thelordharry

OK, my reasons for taking the XP exam are that my company have asked me to take it (our client still runs XP-SP3 and will for the foreseeable) and are paying for the exam. When I have it under my belt and then possibly the 271 and 272, then I'll think about moving onto Windows 7 and new OSs.

One thing I'd like to be perfectly clear on though is that I am not asking for help to **** but perhaps my original question came across that way so I apologise. I have spent a few months (since early October) both studying the Sybex XP v.3 book, along with watching several CBTs, along with quite a few years of actually supporting the OS. I bought a netbook specifically so I could study on my commute to and from work. I have invested a lot of my own personal time to legitamately study this exam and now feel ready to take it. However, I have never sat a Microsoft exam before and do not know what to expect, hence my use of testing material loaned to me by my colleagues, to give me a guide. Perhaps a little naive of me but like I say, I'm new to the game and didn't realise the controversial nature of the brain **** stuff.

I hope I have explained myself and that I'm not asking anything untoward. However, exams ARE expensive and I'd like to maximise my study by making sure I study relevant text....hence my question as to what an exam taken today would test on (i.e. SP3 or will I see a ICF question slipped in as well).

Whilst I entirely appreciate that a forum like this must get a fair proprotion of people who come on here and ask for help cheating (paper MCP), I hope I do not fall into that category.

Psoasman

thelordharry wrote: »

Whilst I entirely appreciate that a forum like this must get a fair proprotion of people who come on here and ask for help cheating (paper MCP), I hope I do not fall into that category.

As long as you are not using braindumps, you won't. It's amazing and rather amusing how fast posts get modified when a person unwittingly posts about using one of the well-known braindumps. I am not saying you are using a BD, though.

One of the best ways to study is to look up the exam objectives, make sure you understand what they are asking and how to do it. Set up a lab, you can get free evaluation copies of XP easily. Get a good book, the MS press book is fairly good, but long at 1400+pages. Some of the good, legit practice tests are transcender, testout, Ucertify.

thelordharry

I also get the impression that the exam will probably centre around SP2 now as SP3 wasn't really a major leap forward, rather a roll-up of security/patches etc. Good, as that's what I've studied for. Well, I've got my exam booked for the end of the month, continually get 85%+ on the Transcender exams and Testout Navigator exams and have just bought some exam cram books from Amazon for peanuts that I'm sure will also help....PLUS, my exam is being paid for by my company who have a volume licence agreement for exams with MS so it'll be onwards and upwards to the server exam next (like I say, my company runs an XP/2K3 environment with no plans to upgrade in the near future).

Like I say, I now realise the controversial nature of the BDs and won't use them (don't need them either). I now understand they're actual questions from the exams that someone up to no good can just memorise to potentially pass the exam if they come up. However, approximated questions like the Transcender ones can be used as a learning tool to highlight areas of weakness that can be further studied. That suits me fine...I'm doing all this because I want to have an encyclopedic, guru-like knowledge of XP and how to technically support it....not because I want a certificate. That's like entering a marathon, getting a taxi most of the way around and then collecting the medal at the end. What's the point?

thelordharry

Hooray! Took the exam today and passed with a 900 score.

I'd like to thank Claymoore for spurring me on as well. Whether intentional or not, the categorical assumptions made in response to my original post were a catalyst for me to really do well in the exam via legitimate means which I'm pleased to say I feel I've done.

Onwards and upwards to perhaps, something a little more contemporary?

Devilsbane

The test does get updated along the way, but don't expect new content.

I'm not sure if I got any of these on the 270 (probably not since it is an XP test) but I have had questions on the 2003 track that reference widows Vista even though it wasn't released at the time of the initial creation.

Study for the test today just like you would have 5 years ago, and you will have no trouble.

Claymoore

Congratulations! FWIW, you even beat my score.

Now that you have some momentum, move on to Windows 7/Server 2008 MCTS and MCITP exams.

thelordharry

That's just what I was thinking. Recession-proof my career in support, get letters in the older systems like XP and then bring them up to date with current client and server technologies....especially as my company pay for the exams as well