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For those about to take the exam!
cclose27
Member Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hi everyone, first time poster, long time reader;
I live in Australia, and currently I'm attending a 4 month course that allows us to get qualifications in certain IT fields. My course covered A+ hardware and software, MCP (2151/2152) and Help Desk Analyst.
I just want to say that half way through my course I got stuck - I failed the MCP (70-215) exam. I got a score *near* the pass mark but it wasn't enough. I was bummed to say the least.
I want to let people know about what I did to study at each attempt I made to pass.
The first time I took the exam I had 2 text books - 2151b and 2152c (the 'b' and 'c' are just editions, do not pay attention to them!), I only studied what was in the 2152 book, and the note from class. (To my horror later on in the year I would discover that a teacher misinformed me, and in fact, 2151 was examinable, and related to the exam...) Studying in this manner got me 10% away from a pass.
I took a month or so off and tried again, this time I went to borders and purchased a big 'phone book' as I call it, a huge textbook that explained windows 2000 in more...'human' words than Microsofts writers did. I also managed to get a practice exam suite that contained over 300 questions, being me I tried to remember each question and answer, almost as if it was a script.
I also studied ONLY the 2152 book as well. I got 5% away from a pass that time...
My point here is, do not remember practice questions, they may change something towards the end, like by putting a "not" in the question!!
So just yesterday (almost 2 months after the 2nd attempt) I took advantage of Microsofts '2 for 1 deal' (if you failed when I did the 2nd sitting, you get a 3rd for free, hmmm what does that say about this exam? It's hard!). I went in there with more study behind me than I had ever had in my life - I had the exam on friday, and I took the week off work, I studied from sunday (as soon as I could start) between 5 and 6 hours a day until thursday, then on friday morning I went over all the notes I'd taken from the prior days. (And at the end of each chapter I'd go over the chapters notes too). My method was to read ALL the textbooks 2151 and 2152 and a bit of the one I bought at Borders, and do some prac exams just to remind me of what the questions were like. I took notes of EVERYTHING that I didn't know - I think this is the key!
And I'd go over those notes after each chapter to revise.
So this time I had 2151 and 2152, I was loaded, and the additional reading on the student CD's that come with the book, they actually didn't help much, but I passed this time!
Everyone else in my class had passed first try, and gotten jobs with crazy salaries, to them it was nothing, but I've just studied more than I ever have in my whole life, and this means something to me!
Hope my methods help you guys out, imagine you've failed twice!
(I only *just* passed - I got 715)...
I am happy today!
I live in Australia, and currently I'm attending a 4 month course that allows us to get qualifications in certain IT fields. My course covered A+ hardware and software, MCP (2151/2152) and Help Desk Analyst.
I just want to say that half way through my course I got stuck - I failed the MCP (70-215) exam. I got a score *near* the pass mark but it wasn't enough. I was bummed to say the least.
I want to let people know about what I did to study at each attempt I made to pass.
The first time I took the exam I had 2 text books - 2151b and 2152c (the 'b' and 'c' are just editions, do not pay attention to them!), I only studied what was in the 2152 book, and the note from class. (To my horror later on in the year I would discover that a teacher misinformed me, and in fact, 2151 was examinable, and related to the exam...) Studying in this manner got me 10% away from a pass.
I took a month or so off and tried again, this time I went to borders and purchased a big 'phone book' as I call it, a huge textbook that explained windows 2000 in more...'human' words than Microsofts writers did. I also managed to get a practice exam suite that contained over 300 questions, being me I tried to remember each question and answer, almost as if it was a script.
I also studied ONLY the 2152 book as well. I got 5% away from a pass that time...
My point here is, do not remember practice questions, they may change something towards the end, like by putting a "not" in the question!!
So just yesterday (almost 2 months after the 2nd attempt) I took advantage of Microsofts '2 for 1 deal' (if you failed when I did the 2nd sitting, you get a 3rd for free, hmmm what does that say about this exam? It's hard!). I went in there with more study behind me than I had ever had in my life - I had the exam on friday, and I took the week off work, I studied from sunday (as soon as I could start) between 5 and 6 hours a day until thursday, then on friday morning I went over all the notes I'd taken from the prior days. (And at the end of each chapter I'd go over the chapters notes too). My method was to read ALL the textbooks 2151 and 2152 and a bit of the one I bought at Borders, and do some prac exams just to remind me of what the questions were like. I took notes of EVERYTHING that I didn't know - I think this is the key!
And I'd go over those notes after each chapter to revise.
So this time I had 2151 and 2152, I was loaded, and the additional reading on the student CD's that come with the book, they actually didn't help much, but I passed this time!
Everyone else in my class had passed first try, and gotten jobs with crazy salaries, to them it was nothing, but I've just studied more than I ever have in my whole life, and this means something to me!
Hope my methods help you guys out, imagine you've failed twice!
(I only *just* passed - I got 715)...
I am happy today!
________