Passed 70-291, too easy to call it the beast!
sratakhin
Member Posts: 818
Three days ago I passed the 70-291 exam with a score of 875.
It took me about a month and a half to prepare, and on average, I spent about one hour on weekdays and four hours on weekends. In the middle of preparation, I didn't feel like reading and labbing, so I took about a week or two off.
Here is the breakdown of my score:
IP Addressing - 100%
DNS - 100%
Network Security - about 75%
RRAS - about 85%
Network Infrastructure - 100%.
My weakest area (not surprised here) was IPSec. To understand all the necessary details, I would at least spend a week playing with different scenarios in my lab, but I didn't have time and interest to do it. I also scored 85% on RRAS, probably due to a few questions related to Demand-dial routing. Who needs it anyway?
I used the official MS Press book (skimmed it in the last week before the test), but it was the original edition. A lot of reviewers on Amazon claim that it's bad, but I don't think so. After completely reading 70-291 by Craig Zacker, I felt like it wouldn't be enough. Sure, MS Press book had a lot of things Zacker didn't even mention. I also bought O'Reilly guide to MCSE exams (about 100 pages are devoted to 291), and it was a waste of time. I skimmed it on the way to the test center, and it had a 100 pages of definitions and basic concepts. The last source I used was TestOut. They have great labs and the material doesn't make me want to sleep.
Most of the questions were about configuring IP addresses. I also had a few questions on WSUS, Security Templates, GPO (I thought it was tested in 294?), and command-line tools.
My next goal is 70-680, after which I'll work on 648 and 646.
It took me about a month and a half to prepare, and on average, I spent about one hour on weekdays and four hours on weekends. In the middle of preparation, I didn't feel like reading and labbing, so I took about a week or two off.
Here is the breakdown of my score:
IP Addressing - 100%
DNS - 100%
Network Security - about 75%
RRAS - about 85%
Network Infrastructure - 100%.
My weakest area (not surprised here) was IPSec. To understand all the necessary details, I would at least spend a week playing with different scenarios in my lab, but I didn't have time and interest to do it. I also scored 85% on RRAS, probably due to a few questions related to Demand-dial routing. Who needs it anyway?
I used the official MS Press book (skimmed it in the last week before the test), but it was the original edition. A lot of reviewers on Amazon claim that it's bad, but I don't think so. After completely reading 70-291 by Craig Zacker, I felt like it wouldn't be enough. Sure, MS Press book had a lot of things Zacker didn't even mention. I also bought O'Reilly guide to MCSE exams (about 100 pages are devoted to 291), and it was a waste of time. I skimmed it on the way to the test center, and it had a 100 pages of definitions and basic concepts. The last source I used was TestOut. They have great labs and the material doesn't make me want to sleep.
Most of the questions were about configuring IP addresses. I also had a few questions on WSUS, Security Templates, GPO (I thought it was tested in 294?), and command-line tools.
My next goal is 70-680, after which I'll work on 648 and 646.
Comments
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Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats on pass!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63 -
ptilsen
Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congrats! Looks like you're on track to have dual MCSAs and an MCITP before it retires. Great job.
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sratakhin
Member Posts: 818
Thank you. Yes, this is my plan. After that, I'll probably start preparing for VCP. I just read a few chapters in Lowe's book and there is not much that I don't already know.
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mishy
Member Posts: 209 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats on the pass. I am going to be facing the beast soon, I think you found it easy because you have CCNA, Net+ and Sec+ but for some us 291 is the real intro to networking. I did my Network + a long time ago so I can consider everything forgotten by now.
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sratakhin
Member Posts: 818
Thank you. Yes, a lot of stuff on 291 covered what I already knew. The few areas that I didn't have extensive experience with were IPSec, DNS and RRAS.