70-210 - Newbie to the forums here....

Author

Newbie to the forums here....

tennyson

2003-04-15, 1:56 pm

Hi Everyone,

I am an IT Manager that has about two years experience administering a 30-40 terminal network with Windows 2K Professional (9 years experience in the IT field). We run NT 4.0 Server (sigh, oh how I loathe budget cuts), but the majority of the terminals are Windows 2K Pro.

I've currently just finished a 5-day prep course for the 70-210 since I eventually want to get my MCSE. Unfortunately because of time restraints, I begin my night classes for the 70-215 on the 21st of April (a week from yesterday).

I've been studying faithfully for nearly two weeks prior to the class, and ever since (in addition to my two years exposure to Win 2K Professional). My question is this: should I schedule the exam soon (right now, I'm thinking about the 25th) , because I don't want to start intermingling exams and classes of different material.

After seeing this site, I've already found some great study info and tips. You can be sure I'll be visitng more often in the coming days. Thanks in advance!

Spid

2003-04-15, 6:48 pm

Hi tennyson,

Welcome to the forum!

I don't know if I'd worry a whole lot about taking classes for one exam while preparing to take another. There is a lot of overlap between the 4 core exams. In fact, there is so much overlap between the 210 and 215 exams that many people study for both exams at once. I think if you've prepared for either 210 or 215 and take that exam, you've got 60% or more of the material covered for the other exam.

Only you can make the call on to whether taking the exam on 4/25 is too soon or not. With your experience and the fact that you've already taken a 5 day prep course, and have been studying for 2 weeks already, 10 days to prepare for the exam is probably enough time.

What books, etc.. are you using to study and are you using any kind of practice test engine to prepare? If so, how are you scoring? If you are scoring well and feel confident, book the exam ! (Some people like "lighting the fire" under their behinds to keep them motivated)

Best of luck in your studies!! Let us know if you have any questions and again, Welcome to the forum!

tennyson

2003-04-15, 7:07 pm

Spid,

Thanks for the warm welcome!

After reading your relpy, I realize that I made a mistake in my original post. The course that I'm going to be taking this upcoming Monday is NOT for the 70-215 exam, but rather the 70-218. The prep course I just finished covered both 210 and 215 material. That being said, I would have to take the Windows 2000 Pro and Server exams prior to being tested on the 70-218.

Regardless, you still gave me a little bit of insight. In addition to the prep test, I bought the MCSE Training Kit by Microsoft, but have only recently begun looking at that. Unfortunately, I have tried a few of the demo practice tests, but I'm not sure how to really gauge my progress. I must say that I am not scoring passing grades on the demo (passing is 80%, I'm averaging 60-70%). However, these are only 5 question demos, in addition to beign multiple choice. I've heard that Microsoft has recently switched from multiple choice to simulated situation problems.

Anyway, I'm not a big proponent of pre-exams, as that usually leads to trying memorize certain pieces of info rather than storing them for practical use. We'll see.

To end this long post, thanks again. I know the first test, regardless of what it is, is always a mental victory or loss. Hopefully I can post here with some good news and an MCP after my name soon!

Spid

2003-04-15, 7:34 pm

Sounds like you've got a plan.

The 218 exam is pretty cool. It's the "something's wrong or not working how can you fix it" kind of exam. I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was very straight forward and fair, but the questions were pretty wordy at times. That exam will touch on subject material covered in all of the core exams together. (There's that overlap again)

I agree with taking the 210 and 215 exams prior to taking the 218. It's by no means a requirement, you can take the exams in any order, but at least you'd have those 2 under your belt and can concentrate more on the GPO and DNS troubleshooting aspects that 218 hammers you on when you begin studying for it.

As for those "new" simulation questions, I ran into several of those on the 217 exam. They were a pain to navigate through and not very fun in general. Got to, got to, got to have some "hands on" to be able to handle those puppies.

Take Care.

serpico

2003-04-16, 3:57 pm

two things

1) schedule it now, then you will *make* yourself ready, rather than studying and saying "I'm not ready, I'll schedule it later", waiting until you "feel" ready.

2) don't worry about studying different things, I took ILT for 6+ months and waited, I wish I had "intermingled" different subjects, and got the exams done earlier.

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