Taking the 70-290

I will be taking the 70-290 in the next 2-3 weeks. Just posting this here for me to keep a log of my studies & to write a "review" of the exam after I take it. (& pass!!!)

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skrpune

Good luck! I'll be taking mine tomorrow morning...not exactly sure if I'm totally ready, but then again I never think I'm ready!

What resources are you using?

Breadfan

I will be taking the exam in the next few weeks as well. I feel I am "almost" there so far as being ready to take it. Permissions (both NTFS and shared folders) and groups seem to be my weak points (and maybe Term Server. I can create, modify, etc. but when I do the questions relating to these topics, I get them wrong

I am using MS Press (sooooo Boring that I started using Sybex) but go back and forth for doing labs and questions. Also, using CBT Nuggets and VMware WS with 2 2003 SP1 Servers and one XP client

I am trying to nail it down by domain/objectives and then move on to next Domain once I feel I have "mastered" the topics.

What are you using and how are you preparing? Let us know how well you do when you pass

vCole

I will be using the CBT Nugget for 70-290. Also, which book(s) are the best for 70-290?

skrpune

The MS Press book does the job I suppose, but it's certainly not great. There are published errata, but there are still other errors...and it asks questions in the exam review section on topics that aren't even mentioned in the "meaty" part of the book, GAH! That ticks me off.

Haven't tried one out myself, but I've heard good things about Sybex books for MCSA exams. I might pick one up for the 291 - I'll need whatever help I can get for the beast!

Not sure how indepth CBT Nuggets goes, but I have been using TestOut (which is WAY drier) for 290, and I found that was a bit light on the details...which is what I kinda expect with most cbt's. I used CBT Nuggets for A+ & Network+ and they were really good to give me a base comfort level. Using both TestOut and the MS Press book, along with playing around with virtual installs, has gotten me to a point where I'm fairly confident - just not quite sure if I'm as ready as I wanna be.

Tyrant1919

I had to look up the requirements for MCSA to see if you'd get it after 290 and 291. Looks like you will. MCDST counts as an elective. And 70-621 counts as 70-620, which counts as a client exam.

vCole

Thanks for all the info guys! & good luck skrpune!

Hallucinate

I am taking the 290 test on Friday. The only study material I have been using are the MS Press books (it comes with measureup test simulator), Testout, and VMWare. I feel like I am ready, but I guess I will know for sure in a couple of days. I'll let you know if it was enough.

vCole

Hallucinate wrote: »

I am taking the 290 test on Friday. The only study material I have been using are the MS Press books (it comes with measureup test simulator), Testout, and VMWare. I feel like I am ready, but I guess I will know for sure in a couple of days. I'll let you know if it was enough.

thanks!

Paperclip

I'm taking it June 6. I've watched almost all of the Nuggets, the guy is pretty entertaining.

skrpune

Paperclip wrote: »

I'm taking it June 6. I've watched almost all of the Nuggets, the guy is pretty entertaining.

James Conrad is great, he did the A+ videos too. Some people will say he's too silly and not serious enough, but I like his approach. He almost tricks you into learning! He's much more lively than the folks on the TestOut videos, who really need to get a little more excited about the subject matter.

Good luck Hallucinate & Paperclip!

And thanks for the well wishes FadeToBright!

Paperclip

Thanks skrprune and good luck to you too!

Keep your eye on James' drawings near the beginning on a part about RAID1. I think he tried to sneak a subliminal pneumonic device in there, lol.

mrmcmint

skrpune - totally agree with you. James Conrad is excellent, he is my IT 'hero'.
If you read his profile on the nuggets website it shows you what he has and what he has done. Inspiring! Compared to the testout videos, the people on there are so slow i thought i had a problem with my laptop lol!

Good luck on the 290 BTW, i still havn't thanked you for the tech notes for the 620 exam - they proved very useful.

Let us know how you did!!! - That goes for everyone else taking it too

jankes11

I'm going to take my exam tomorrow,hopefully evyrything is gonna be fine - fingers crossed !

jankes11

everything ofcourse

skrpune

mrmcmint wrote: »

Good luck on the 290 BTW, i still havn't thanked you for the tech notes for the 620 exam - they proved very useful.

Wait, what? Are you talking about the technotes here? I made a set of notes forever ago & posted them up over at ProProfs...are those what you're talking about? Forgive me for being so dense, I'm tired and used up all my brain power on my exam this morning!

mrmcmint wrote: »

Let us know how you did!!! - That goes for everyone else taking it too

Yahoo, I passed!

Got a score of 844. Still kinda wondering how I did that. I tanked on "Manage & Maintain Access to Resources" (~50%

) and "Manage and Implement Disaster Recovery" (~60-65%), but I was strong on everything else so I guess it evened out. I totally guessed on a couple and did some educated guesses on others, and then I was totally surprised by the final pass/score screen. ( I was not confident that I passed, and I was halfway expecting to see a score of 697!

)

Me tired and brain hurty, but me happy. Too bad I gotta go to class this afternoon, or I'd be doing some serious celebrating right now!! Damn priorities...guess I gotta do some more

before I can get all

...

Breadfan

Congrats Skrpune...Well Done!

I hope to have that same feeling (and that score aint too shabby either) in a few weeks.

How many questions and sims did you have?

Oh yea, forgot to thank you as well for the notes on the 70-620 exam as well on the Proprofs.com site (your notes are the ONLY reason I registered there) and helped me pass that exam

What is next for you 70-291? Good luck....and don't forget to celebrate...

skrpune

Thanks breadfan! I had 44 questions & 4 sims. I ALMOST messed up on two of them - I definitely did not sleep enough and missed some details, so I'm really glad I went back to review them. I ended up totally redoing those two so I could complete all the goals of the sims.

Yup, 291 is up next. I'll try to get started with that in the next week or two - unfortunatey no student discounts for CBT Nuggets, so I'll probably be getting TestOut again to supplement the MS Press book for that one.

Oh, and I've got to stay sober for a few hours but then I'm definitely doing some celebrating this evening after class!

vCole

skrpune wrote: »

Thanks breadfan! I had 44 questions & 4 sims. I ALMOST messed up on two of them - I definitely did not sleep enough and missed some details, so I'm really glad I went back to review them. I ended up totally redoing those two so I could complete all the goals of the sims.

Yup, 291 is up next. I'll try to get started with that in the next week or two - unfortunatey no student discounts for CBT Nuggets, so I'll probably be getting TestOut again to supplement the MS Press book for that one.

Oh, and I've got to stay sober for a few hours but then I'm definitely doing some celebrating this evening after class!

Congrats Skrpune!

dynamik

skrpune wrote: »

...guess I gotta do some more before I can get all ...

Is there some rule that you have to go to class sober?

Congrats on the pass!

skrpune

Thanks, Fade & dynamik!

dynamik wrote: »

Is there some rule that you have to go to class sober?

Well, if you asked me that back when I was 21, I would have said no & would have pointed you to the stash of liquor in the geology club lounge room (one of the perks of being a geeky club president!). I barely remember my groundwater hydrology class...

...but now that I'm all adult-like, I suppose I should say yes. Although if I didn't have a meeting with a prof today and if I wasn't working at 8am tomorrow, I'd probably be tanked already!

Paperclip

Fortunately for this reason, I have found a place that offers appointments on Saturdays.

vCole

Paperclip wrote: »

Fortunately for this reason, I have found a place that offers appointments on Saturdays.

Same here

hunterbhai

Along with others in this thread i shall also be taking the 70-290 exam within the next two weeks. Got the feeling that i'm no where near prepared for it at this stage so it might be later than what i think at this stage.

I've not got hold of the nuggets but i've done good reading from Microsoft coursware books but will have to see how things pan out in the near future.