Passed with 842!! Now MCSA!!

Really happy!

Just got back from testing centre, and I am still very shocked at how simple a lot of the questions were! I was expecting the level of detail to be much higher. I actually struggled more with the 290! Maybe I got lucky with the question pool - who knows.

As per previous posts really, content was mostly DNS and RRAS, with a few DHCP and WSUS thrown in too. My strongest area was RRAS surprisingly! The one area I have never used before in a live environment. Next strongest was name resolution, my weakest area was security at approx 50% - need to brush up on this clearly!

I studied for approx 3 months using CBT Nuggets, but also made excellent use of the 291 resources sticky that Royal posted. There were some very good explanations of DNS on there, in fact this alone cleared up most issues I had with DNS. I also had a demo of selftest software and preplogic. I also made sure I labbed up as much as i could and I am glad I did.

My plan now is to get the 2 windows 7 beta exams out of the way on oct 15th, then move straight onto 293.

As always - thanks to everyone on this site!

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Comments

dales

Congrats on the pass, Strangely I did rather well in RRAS too, even though I've never used it in anger (much like everyone else I suspect).

Anyway congratulations, well earned beer I thinks

dancreaney

Congrats dude, thats awesome.

impelse

Congrats

mrmcmint

Thanks guys!

Yep - I think a beer or two is in order tonight!

tribe_menx

Take a bow

Psoasman

Congrats on passing. Yeah!!

mikedisd2

mrmcmint wrote: »

Just got back from testing centre, and I am still very shocked at how simple a lot of the questions were! I was expecting the level of detail to be much higher. I actually struggled more with the 290! Maybe I got lucky with the question pool - who knows.

Well done on a great score. I found the same thing; the questions have been updated and are now very short and general; 3 hours is way too much time. I don't think this exam deserves the "Beast" title anymore. Maybe "Whimpering Ferret" is more apt.

mrmcmint

Haha yes maybe! It's certainly no beast, although that said - it's only easy if you have studied and know the material! Working in a live environment certainly helps.

tribe_menx

Is you going to shoot for MCSE ?

mrmcmint

I am indeed! I just need to get these 2 windows 7 exams out of the way first.

Not too sure what exam to take though after 293 and 294.

Ideally I would like it out of the way this year, but I can't see it happening somehow...

When are you taking your 293 anyway?

RobertKaucher

Don't take too long to go for the 293. There is so much overlap that with a good score like you got on the 291, I would say give yourself 2 weeks of prep for the 293 at most. If you do more you'll end up having to restudy stuff that's fresh right now.

mrmcmint

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Don't take too long to go for the 293. There is so much overlap that with a good score like you got on the 291, I would say give yourself 2 weeks of prep for the 293 at most. If you do more you'll end up having to restudy stuff that's fresh right now.

Thanks for the advice. I have heard similar as well, however I need to study for the 2 windows 7 exams first which I take in 2 weeks, but as soon as these 2 are done I will be jumping straight back to the 293 again.

2 weeks study eh? I know nothing at all about PKI or CA's!

win2k8

Congrats. Did you have a lot of IPSec related stuff or mostly ACLs and security group policies/templates for security?

win2k8

mrmcmint

win2k8 wrote: »

Congrats. Did you have a lot of IPSec related stuff or mostly ACLs and security group policies/templates for security?

win2k8

Thankfully hardly any ipsec stuff, make sure you know the 3 default policies. Nothing much on security templates either. I think you will be surprised when you take the exam how little detail there is. I actually left the building wishing it was harder so that I could have used more of what I had learned!

win2k8

In reality I do not even know that many people in the real world who use IPSec for their internal infrastructure. 3rd party encryption/authentication that I've encountered IMO.

win2k8

Bulletz

Congrats mate, thats really great...