Best Practice Tests

Hi,

Which are the best practice tests for MS certs in your opinion ? MeasureUp, PrepLogic, Transcender, STS?

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I'm a huge proponent of Transcender. Their practice exams accurately reflect the actual test format. They include sims, drag-n-drops, and multiple choice questions, just like on the real exam. They include very detailed information for each question as to why each option was or wasn't correct. They also have a money-back guarantee, but it's a relatively short period, which might be a bit of a deterrent for purchasing bundles for some people.

I don't have experience with the others. I'm sure they're adequate learning tools, but they would be hard-pressed to top the Transcender experience. Also note that Kaplan owns both Transcender and Seft Test Software. The offerings appear to be identical, but STS is significantly cheaper. I believe you would essentially be getting watered-down Transcender exams if you went that route. I'm not sure what the exact difference is. Perhaps they're missing the sims or just have less questions over all.

What's with the sudden interest in MS Turgon? Are you already looking for something to fill the void after that lab pass later this year?

doom969

I like STS. They are cheaper, but very good still.
Sims and questions are accurate, very good explanations, and I have done 9 Ms exams so far, I find that I always score a bit higher iin the real exam than in the sts, Wich suits me

I have tried measure up but they where not on par. Cheap explanations, errors. You could get a one line explanation for a 10 line question,

Also, Material in some tests was very old in M-U. Finally since they are about the same price as STS...

Good luck in whatever Ms exam your going after !

dynamik

doom969 wrote:

I like STS. They are cheaper, but very good still.
Sims and questions are accurate, very good explanations, and I have done 9 Ms exams so far, I find that I always score a bit higher iin the real exam than in the sts, Wich suits me

Interesting. I'm going to contact Kaplan because now I'm curious as to what the difference is. I always just assumed that extra $30-50 got my something special

He makes a good point too. The Transcender exams have consistently been more difficult than the actual exam, and I prefer it that way.

[edit]
That department of Kaplan is closed on the weekends, so check back on Monday for the stunning conclusion.

Turgon

dynamik wrote:

I'm a huge proponent of Transcender. Their practice exams accurately reflect the actual test format. They include sims, drag-n-drops, and multiple choice questions, just like on the real exam. They include very detailed information for each question as to why each option was or wasn't correct. They also have a money-back guarantee, but it's a relatively short period, which might be a bit of a deterrent for purchasing bundles for some people.

I don't have experience with the others. I'm sure they're adequate learning tools, but they would be hard-pressed to top the Transcender experience. Also note that Kaplan owns both Transcender and Seft Test Software. The offerings appear to be identical, but STS is significantly cheaper. I believe you would essentially be getting watered-down Transcender exams if you went that route. I'm not sure what the exact difference is. Perhaps they're missing the sims or just have less questions over all.

What's with the sudden interest in MS Turgon? Are you already looking for something to fill the void after that lab pass later this year?

Im full up with the CCIE for the foreseeable but some forward planning for my cert backlog later this year is always good. A lab for Olive (Juniper) and MS would be helpful. Whoether I get near it in 2008 remains to be seen, I have a backlog of Solaris, Checkpoint, Juniper, PIX, Voice/SP, CLP, RHCE, CISSP just to name a few. I would like to do the Network Infrastructure test just to get up to speed with Server 2003 services transported by networks these days as Im NT MCSE and it's been over 4 years since I worked with 2003 server and Exchange 2003 as Im primarily network design focused these days, with some Solaris.

Goldmember

I heard Transcenders are almost like Braindumps, and in the past they copied actual MS exam questions....is this true?

From what I remember(during NT4 days) is Transcenders were essentially Braindumps.

Thiassi

Goldmember wrote:

I heard Transcenders are almost like Braindumps, and in the past they copied actual MS exam questions....is this true?

From what I remember(during NT4 days) is Transcenders were essentially Braindumps.

Yeah they were back then (apparently) but they're not anymore. They smartened up their act a few years back and now are genuine practice exams.

doom969

On other sites, Transcender are still considered Braindumps.
I also heard that its very common to find actual question from the transcender practice tests on the real exam.
I also heard that the explanations are excellent, and that they are harder than the actual exams.
Its a bit of a grey zone for me.
Maybe I should try them and see for myself.

Just my 0,02$, I never used Transcender so i wouldnt know.

dynamik

doom969 wrote:

On other sites, Transcender are still considered Braindumps.
I also heard that its very common to find actual question from the transcender practice tests on the real exam.
I also heard that the explanations are excellent, and that they are harder than the actual exams.
Its a bit of a grey zone for me.
Maybe I should try them and see for myself.

Just my 0,02$, I never used Transcender so i wouldnt know.

I'll tell your right now that you will fail abysmally if you just memorize answers in Transcender. The only potential overlap between the two is either fact recall or numerical questions. If I were to create a question that asks what ipconfig does or what is the minimum amount of memory required to install Windows Server 2003, all I can do is give the correct answer and three random ones. There's simply not a way to write an original question like that. It'll be like that in any practice test you use.

However, (and maybe for this reason) you very rarely get questions like this on the exam. You typically get the situational wall-of-text where you have to decipher what the problem is and what the best solution is. If anything, Transcender will familiarize you with the procedure needed to answer such a question. You may think, "I came across a similar problem where I had to subnet such and such a way...," but you still have to do the work on a different situation. If you can't subnet and understand the requirements in the question, you're hosed.

doom969

dynamik wrote:

If I were to create a question that asks what ipconfig does or what is the minimum amount of memory required to install Windows Server 2003, all I can do is give the correct answer and three random ones. There's simply not a way to write an original question like that. It'll be like that in any practice test you use.

point taken.
Besides, I should try them before offering my opinion.

What I wanted to express was that on TE transcenders are generally held in high esteem. On other sites, if you mention them, you're likely to get bashed.

Thiassi wrote:

Yeah they were back then (apparently) but they're not anymore. They smartened up their act a few years back and now are genuine practice exams.

I guess thats the reason why.

Thiassi

dynamik wrote:

I'll tell your right now that you will fail abysmally if you just memorize answers in Transcender.

I second that. I've used Transcenders for all my exams but there's no way in hell you'd pass an MS exam just by using them. They're secondary revision material after text/cbt material.