Passed

GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
Sat the 70-290 this morning. Around 40 questions, roughly 10 sims. Felt pretty confident during the test (end score doesn't reflect, but it's a pass). Sims were the easiest part of the exam IMO. Passed with a 756.

Training Materials: MS Press book and labs, CBT Nuggets, and various free/demo practice exams (i.e. PrepLogic, Transcender, SelfTest, etc).

Now on to the 291 to wrap up my MCSA.

Comments

  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Congrats on the pass!
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
  • DevilsbaneDevilsbane Member Posts: 4,214 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Congrats. I would guess that the 70-291 is up to bat next?
    Decide what to be and go be it.
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Devilsbane wrote: »
    Congrats. I would guess that the 70-291 is up to bat next?

    You got it. Probably will take a week off from studying and then back on the grind to wrap up the MCSA.
  • DevilsbaneDevilsbane Member Posts: 4,214 ■■■■■■■■□□
    GosU-TecH wrote: »
    You got it. Probably will take a week off from studying and then back on the grind to wrap up the MCSA.

    Sounds like a plan. Are you intending on MCSE as well or are you going to be content with the A?
    Decide what to be and go be it.
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Devilsbane wrote: »
    Sounds like a plan. Are you intending on MCSE as well or are you going to be content with the A?

    I'm pretty sure I'll continue on to the MCSE. I've heard good things about the content for the remaining exams so I'm interested to see what the additional exams have to offer.
  • peanutnogginpeanutnoggin Member Posts: 1,096 ■■■□□□□□□□
    CONGRATS on the pass... good luck on your 291!

    -Peanut
    We cannot have a superior democracy with an inferior education system!

    -Mayor Cory Booker
  • varelgvarelg Banned Posts: 790
    Awesome! Congratulations on the achievement! icon_cheers.gif
    Any details on the lab setup that you used for preparation of 290 and will use for prep on 291? If you virtualized your lab completely, how many virtual machines did you run simultaneously and how much RAM did you have on that physical machine?
  • krauserkrauser Member Posts: 95 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Congratulations, good luck with the Beast.
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    varelg wrote: »
    Awesome! Congratulations on the achievement! icon_cheers.gif
    Any details on the lab setup that you used for preparation of 290 and will use for prep on 291? If you virtualized your lab completely, how many virtual machines did you run simultaneously and how much RAM did you have on that physical machine?

    I used VMWare Workstation and setup a team consisting of 2 servers setup with just the eval version of Server 03. One server was set as a DC and the other was just a standard server (not a DC, but didn't bother to install any additional roles). The physical machine has 2GB of RAM. I will probably just use the same setup for the 291 as well. Might add a 3rd for a client workstation (XP), but wasn't really needed for the labbing I did for the 290.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Senior Member Posts: 0 ■■■■□□□□□□
    GosU-TecH wrote: »
    I used VMWare Workstation and setup a team consisting of 2 servers setup with just the eval version of Server 03. One server was set as a DC and the other was just a standard server (not a DC, but didn't bother to install any additional roles). The physical machine has 2GB of RAM. I will probably just use the same setup for the 291 as well. Might add a 3rd for a client workstation (XP), but wasn't really needed for the labbing I did for the 290.

    Congrats! Just curious, how is the 401 exam? I may end up taking that eventually.
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    xmalachi wrote: »
    Congrats! Just curious, how is the 401 exam? I may end up taking that eventually.

    The 401 exam IMO was real easy, but it was also the exam I was the most prepared for. I had an advantage there as I use SCCM on a daily basis at work and work sent me to the 6451A course for training. A few weeks after the training I decided to go for the exam. Also overdid it and used the Admin Companion book and watched the CBT Nuggets videos. There's no sims, but you'll definitely want to get your hands on the product if you haven't or don't use it already. The virtual labs on TechNet are pretty good too.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Senior Member Posts: 0 ■■■■□□□□□□
    GosU-TecH wrote: »
    The 401 exam IMO was real easy, but it was also the exam I was the most prepared for. I had an advantage there as I use SCCM on a daily basis at work and work sent me to the 6451A course for training. A few weeks after the training I decided to go for the exam. Also overdid it and used the Admin Companion book and watched the CBT Nuggets videos. There's no sims, but you'll definitely want to get your hands on the product if you haven't or don't use it already. The virtual labs on TechNet are pretty good too.

    Appreciate the mini-review! I will be working with it quite a bit at my new job so I figured that might be a fun exam to tear into.
  • ssampierssampier Member Posts: 224
    Congratulations! I passed this morning too.

    70-291 is fun, you'll love RRAS.

    If you're going for the full MCSE, you may want to study 70-291/70-293 concurrently. I hear they are a lot alike.
    Future Plans:

    JNCIA Firewall
    CCNA:Security
    CCNP

    More security exams and then the world.
  • DevilsbaneDevilsbane Member Posts: 4,214 ■■■■■■■■□□
    ssampier wrote: »
    If you're going for the full MCSE, you may want to study 70-291/70-293 concurrently. I hear they are a lot alike.

    They are alike, but I still wouldn't study them at the exact same time. A back to back approach would be very helpful though. (I split mine with Security+ because I wanted to make sure I had it before the end of the year. I'm sure that I lost a little, but reading it again should bring it all back.)
    Decide what to be and go be it.
  • varelgvarelg Banned Posts: 790
    ssampier wrote: »
    Congratulations! I passed this morning too.
    Alright people! We have a 290 party here, candidates passing the exam left and right! icon_cheers.gificon_cheers.gif Good show, congratulations!
    I noticed ssampler got 3 out of 4 exams necessary to get the MCSA. Which one did you attempt at first?
  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    GosU-TecH wrote: »
    I used VMWare Workstation and setup a team consisting of 2 servers setup with just the eval version of Server 03. One server was set as a DC and the other was just a standard server (not a DC, but didn't bother to install any additional roles). The physical machine has 2GB of RAM. I will probably just use the same setup for the 291 as well. Might add a 3rd for a client workstation (XP), but wasn't really needed for the labbing I did for the 290.
    With only 2 GB RAM that third VM is gonna slow your performance way down. The comp I used while studying for the 70-640/642 only had 2GB and anything over 2 VMs and you're slowed down to a turtles pace.
    I've got a new comp now (just for labbing) that is a lot better and I'll be upgrading from 4GB to 12 GB on it soon. I've gone over to the dark side completely and I'm using Hyper-V for all my VMs and once again labbing is fun.
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    earweed wrote: »
    With only 2 GB RAM that third VM is gonna slow your performance way down. The comp I used while studying for the 70-640/642 only had 2GB and anything over 2 VMs and you're slowed down to a turtles pace.
    I've got a new comp now (just for labbing) that is a lot better and I'll be upgrading from 4GB to 12 GB on it soon. I've gone over to the dark side completely and I'm using Hyper-V for all my VMs and once again labbing is fun.

    Yea, if it was really needed I could upgrade the RAM, but I doubt I'll even add a third VM for XP.
  • ssampierssampier Member Posts: 224
    varelg wrote: »
    Alright people! We have a 290 party here, candidates passing the exam left and right! icon_cheers.gificon_cheers.gif Good show, congratulations!
    I noticed ssampler got 3 out of 4 exams necessary to get the MCSA. Which one did you attempt at first?

    You don't want to know. My cert path was less than ideal (fueled by arrogance and ignorance). I first tried 70-299 because I figured it shouldn't be that hard icon_silent.gif I studied the book top and bottom for months and failed.

    Two weeks studying later I took the 70-270 Windows XP. After passing that for some reason I purchased a 70-291 book before 70-290. So I studied again for 2 weeks and (barely passed) 70-291. Again, 2 weeks studying later and I passed 70-290.

    The moral of the story: while you can take MS exams in any order they do build on each other (and I have seen 70-290 type questions on 70-291).
    Future Plans:

    JNCIA Firewall
    CCNA:Security
    CCNP

    More security exams and then the world.
  • varelgvarelg Banned Posts: 790
    ssampier wrote: »
    You don't want to know. My cert path was less than ideal (fueled by arrogance and ignorance). I first tried 70-299 because I figured it shouldn't be that hard icon_silent.gif I studied the book top and bottom for months and failed.

    Two weeks studying later I took the 70-270 Windows XP. After passing that for some reason I purchased a 70-291 book before 70-290. So I studied again for 2 weeks and (barely passed) 70-291. Again, 2 weeks studying later and I passed 70-290.

    The moral of the story: while you can take MS exams in any order they do build on each other (and I have seen 70-290 type questions on 70-291).

    Interesting story ssampier, thanks for sharing.:) Now, if you can go back in time and start all over, which of the 4 exams would you start with?
  • GosU-TecHGosU-TecH Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
    varelg wrote: »
    Interesting story ssampier, thanks for sharing.:) Now, if you can go back in time and start all over, which of the 4 exams would you start with?

    I'd be willing to bet he would've gone 270, 290, 291 in that order.
  • ssampierssampier Member Posts: 224
    Sorry to hijack your thread there. Congratulations again.

    70-291 is a bit harder than 70-290, but we know you can do it. icon_thumright.gif
    Future Plans:

    JNCIA Firewall
    CCNA:Security
    CCNP

    More security exams and then the world.
  • poriggityporiggity Member Posts: 87 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Congrats on the pass.. I just passed 270, and I am now starting to study on 290...
    Scott
    A+, 70-270, and working on 70-290 now. Certs are good.
    claymoore wrote:
    If you're unzipping your fly to show off your A+, N+ and Sec+, I'm going to ask if it's cold in here.
Sign In or Register to comment.