70-290 Failed Test Miserably

Hello, I took the 70-290 exam today and dropped the ball, face mask plowed into the ground and one cleats in the back. Wow, I have never made such a bad score on any Microsoft exams. The 70-290 was slam full of simulations. He is what I used to prepare.
1: Prep Logic 70-290 Practice Exams - Not bad tests , but not enough simulations
2: MeasureUp 70-290 Exams online -30 day subscriptions- The simulations worked for about 4 days and then stopped working. The word tests worked fine. MeasureUP support pretty much sucks! Requested refund!
3: Read and used the Microsoft Press book 70-290 > This not too bad a book.
4: Two Systems with Windows 2003 R2 > I do not believe I used this part as much as I should have.
5: I used the Windows 2003 Microsoft A Day as a System Administrator. This pretty good stuff. Learned a lot here.
6: Studied Mega Guides and read and read.
I do take full responsibilities for my dropping the ball. I have been studying since late March. I am going to step back,evaluate and re-group.
My question for today is, Where can someone for some good Simulations to practice with.
Thank You
mustang7173
1: Prep Logic 70-290 Practice Exams - Not bad tests , but not enough simulations
2: MeasureUp 70-290 Exams online -30 day subscriptions- The simulations worked for about 4 days and then stopped working. The word tests worked fine. MeasureUP support pretty much sucks! Requested refund!
3: Read and used the Microsoft Press book 70-290 > This not too bad a book.
4: Two Systems with Windows 2003 R2 > I do not believe I used this part as much as I should have.
5: I used the Windows 2003 Microsoft A Day as a System Administrator. This pretty good stuff. Learned a lot here.
6: Studied Mega Guides and read and read.
I do take full responsibilities for my dropping the ball. I have been studying since late March. I am going to step back,evaluate and re-group.
My question for today is, Where can someone for some good Simulations to practice with.
Thank You
mustang7173
Comments
How did you drop the ball?
I didn't find the simulations tripped me up, I found them to be almost gimme's since the console is locked down so much that you could poke around to decide what they wanted. I used transcender, it had questions and simulations that were similar to the real test.
I felt like I dropped the ball by not using my Windows Server Lab setup enough. Maybe I relied on the practice test too much! Also, Measure Up's online simulation just stopped working. I could not get it to work on three different computers. Contacted tech support and they were no help. I did get a refund on that one!! I also used Prep Logic's testing and that was OK. The simulations, yes, I did notice that part and I did poke around that part. I will be looking at Transcenders testing. Are any testing programs that provide much more on simulations that questions? Any recommendations or ad-vice?
Thank You for your response!
mustang7173
What score did you recieve, if you don't mind me asking?
Also, what areas do you feel you lacked most in? Did you feel there was more questions in any specific area?
I'm taking this on Friday you see, not feeling confident though. I have no working experience with 2003 so it's hardly supprising I'm not feeling confident
Thanks
This reminds me of the story when I took the exam.
Moral of the story is to study hard and have some confidence in yourself. Crossing the fingers for luck seems to help too
Interesting how alike our stories our, will be more interesting if I walk in to the centre on Friday and they tell me they're experiencing technical difficulties, hopefully has the same happy ending...
It's definately pass-able without working experience, it's just that I'm using my (3 years working) knowledge of XP as a comparison to my (no working experience) knowledge of 2003. It puts a knock in my confidence.
Why didn't you create a lab enviornment?
What I mean by "working experience" is having that fluency that you develop only by working with something day in day out
A very valuable topic to learn, it will come up on probably every other test you take, at least a question.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Will be leaving my house this time tomorrow and making my way to the exam centre
Plenty of cramming tonight me thinks!
This can be said about any test. Many people on here would say that A+ is easy. But if my mother went in and took it she would fail miserably, even with some study. Everything is difficult until you know and understand it, and then it is easy.
Congrats on your pass.
Nope, Nor Cal. The Real California
Darn yankee. So Cal, is best Cal
Good luck mustang7173
Ohhhh, it's on...
I took the 70-290 exam for the second time today and hit the wall at 535 points. The 70-290 had its fair share of simulations. I did notice a lot of share questions. He is what I used to prepare for the second round.
1: Transcenders 70-290 – Nice test Package
2: Used the CBTNuggets – A really good video package
3: Prep Logic 70-290 Practice Exams – I did receive my refund. Their policy is good.
4: Read and reviewed the Microsoft Press book 70-290
5: Windows 2003 Microsoft A Day as a System Administrator.
6: Microsoft MSDN E-Training- Used some
7: Added a third used Power Edge Systems to my lab setup with Windows 2003 R2 > As one member stated, Why did you not setup and use the lab? I do have lab setup, but not use it as much as I should have. I have added the third system so I can install Terminal Server. I did use the lab systems while I did my Transcenders practice test to see how they processed the answers.
In Retrospect,
I know that I will be reminded by Tech Exams members to you my lab setup since I do not have an opportunity for real world experience. I now agree tremendously. It will be done, Master! One of my colleagues stated that I did increase my score from 411 to 535. If I take the test two more times, I should cross the 700 threshold. Yea, right! What is your credit card number?
Thank You for all of your comments.
mustang7173
Transcenders are good for that. Get a quick tesst and then you can examine the details of how your mind went down the wrong path. If you still aren't sure (or think they are wrong) use the feedback feature. 1. Maybe they are wrong. 2. They get back to you after 2 or 3 days with some more information, usually specific to what you're having the problem with.
And don't forget to ask other TE members. A valuable asset that I used.
According to the printout, I was pretty low on the network access section. The last exam was eat with share questions. One question I do remember was about a group e-mail distribution. User A was in a security group and they wanted to know how they can send out emails to different groups with least amount admin. Something like. I have not seen much info on the distribution groups. More of the security groups. The transcenders test is not bad. It helps with what if and how it got there.
Thank you
mudtang7173