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
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
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