Server + - Just failed

Author

Just failed

bleucube

2002-01-28, 2:14 pm

My Background:
I have CCNP, A+, Network+, I-Net+ and a couple Novell CNA's.

Test Material:
I used the certification bible and DST Pro and Boson Pratice test

I only failed by 4 points. The books and the practice test didn't help one bit. The questions on both the practice test were very easy - I got an 80% out of 460 questions. By the time I study (40 hours) I was getting 97%.

The questions are really hard. I marked 30 out of 80. Only had 20 minutes to go back and make sure I thought I was picking the right answer.

dagger

2002-01-28, 4:30 pm

sorry that you didn't pass.

You'll get it next time,

Just make sure you know the material
and not just the questions and answers of the resoures your using to study with.

Good luck

PotatoHead

2002-01-28, 5:53 pm

That sux man, you plan on taking again?

4 points isnt bad - study a little more and go knock that thing out!

bleucube

2002-01-28, 6:40 pm

I was sort of taking back by the expeirence... I walked out saying that I would NOT take that again. Just for the fact I was out almost 200 bones. See if I would have pass - work would have paid for it.

My boss helped me rationalize my thinking and I signed up for next week. Giving me a week to harden up on some of the skills.

Here was my score:

Passing Score 75
Your Score 71

Section analysis # Items # Correct
Installation 14 10
Configuration 15 10
Upgrading 10 7
Proactive maintenance 7 4
Environment 4 4
Troubleshooting 20 12
Disaster Reocovery 10 10

That troubleshooting section hurt me bad.

Since I'm going to retake it - I got a new book and got the transcenders. Those questions on the tanscenders seems more like the actual test questions.

Anyway - any pointers would help

dagger

2002-01-28, 7:47 pm

quote:
Originally posted by bleucube

Since I'm going to retake it - I got a new book and got the transcenders. Those questions on the tanscenders seems more like the actual test questions.

Anyway - any pointers would help

Transcenders.......aghh

I'll say it again, don't memorize questions and answers for this exam. You need to know the material.

I'm just trying to help,
that test is hard, and I know that knowing the material is the key to passing this exam.

I don't want to see you out another $200.00...

bleucube

2002-01-28, 8:40 pm

I'm studying and getting to know the material. I know most of it... I just have a hard time telling the test what it want's to hear and what is actually right (according to my expeirences).

(Example -

Q - On a non-crucial server you get a memory error. What do you do?

A - Replace memory

B - reboot server and examine log for
further errors

C - Do nothing

D - Do a baseline on the server to see if its performing correctly.
)

What whould you choose? Why did you choose it? This is probably a bad example... but you get my drift.

It has helped me on all my certs to be familar with the way questions are formed... this test was poorly written and odd. I drown myself in practice test because it helps me pickup the little things that I did not get from studying.

rlrouns

2002-01-28, 8:46 pm

Another guy and myself just got done taking the IBM eServer Expert Exams, while not the same thing as server+, dont feel bad about failing. He failed one exam once, and the other exam twice, before passing both of them, and I failed one of th exams twice as well before getting it done too. The thing about that is that both of us work with the IBM Servers covered on the test all day every day, and between the two of us, at 85 bucks per test times the 9 times it took us to pass both of them, that is some change! Just make sure that you know the objectives, and really know the material, and you will do great. Dont worry about failing, I am sure that there are a bunch of people reading this that have been kicked in the teeth a couple of times on any number of different exams as well. Just dont lose focus and strike while the iron is hot! Good luck!

Rob

ace123

2002-01-29, 10:14 am

Sorry to here it. you get it next time

quote:
Originally posted by bleucube
My Background:
I have CCNP, A+, Network+, I-Net+ and a couple Novell CNA's.

Test Material:
I used the certification bible and DST Pro and Boson Pratice test

I only failed by 4 points. The books and the practice test didn't help one bit. The questions on both the practice test were very easy - I got an 80% out of 460 questions. By the time I study (40 hours) I was getting 97%.

The questions are really hard. I marked 30 out of 80. Only had 20 minutes to go back and make sure I thought I was picking the right answer.

darthw

2002-01-29, 8:24 pm

quote:
I am sure that there are a bunch of people reading this that have been kicked in the teeth a couple of times on any number of different exams as well.

Only once thankfully, on NT Workstation. And I felt bad. But it was good to fail in a way, so that I could learn to deal with it and retake it again.

The VN Publishing exams I thought were pretty good for Server+, and they cost about $20.

On your question I'd say B. Not A - why spend the money on memory for one error. Obviously not C, the error could indicate bigger issues if left alone. Not D - seems like overkill for one error that may be due to a driver corruption, etc, and a baseline is typically going to be used to monitor performance issues, particularly when referred to in a Server+ exam.

JerryL

2002-01-30, 1:51 am

Hi there;

Sorry to hear that you failed the exam. I'm getting ready to write it and am concentrating on SCSI facts. Mainly cable lengths; my weak area.

In your question about RAM, I disagree with Darthw (no offense!). The reason is that it only takes a few minutes to crack the case and if you have some confirmed good sticks of RAM, you can rotate them out to confirm that it is the RAM or another issue. Normally if your getting memory errors, especially if its not completing a POST memory count, it's usually bad sticks. The other options I would say are wrong:

B - rebooting the server should get the same error, besides if you have a memory issue of this type, its usually going to show up prior to the OS starting.

C - doing nothing will accomplish just that. Nothing will get resolved. Duh! (lol)

D - As Darthw mentioned, doing a baseline is for performance issues. This is definitely a hardware issue that is telling you where the problem is occuring.

All things considered, you can be done a RAM test by rotation withing a half hour (including cracking and closing the case).

Just my "not-so-humble" opinion...

JerryL

By the way, without reciting the questions, did you find that there were many SCSI questions?

JerryL

darthw

2002-01-30, 9:18 pm

No offense taken Jerry

What you state is not necessarily incorrect in the real world. I'm mainly lazy about cracking the case unless the issue is repetitive. Since the question doesn't say the memory issue keeps recurring I would restart first. (Sure you could watch the memory verification for errors at that moment, too). However, I have restarted both NT and Netware servers occasionally due to a memory error or abend that just pop-up from time to time (usually with months in between due to uptime without a restart). Then checked the logs.

1) I've never had extra sticks of memory available, and why spend the cash on more sticks based on one memory error.

2) The logs may indicate it's not due to bad memory, rather a hung tape backup.

Of course, the question does mention the server is not a crucial one, so it may indicate that taking the server down to try other memoryisn't going to hinder production
much.

Aah the ambiguity.

Buzz Lightyear

2002-02-02, 1:45 pm

Thought I would weigh in. I just failed this exam for the third time. I would feel embarassed, except that I have experience supporting Microsoft's servers, small company NT servers, and knowedge gained from my MCSE and other certifications.

I teach IT part-time, so I actually enjoy being a student of IT books, reading them cover-to-cover, along with answering all questions. For this exam, I read 3 books, and bought the Transcender and ExamNotes practice test. Passed them all with flying colors, which I should, given my experience.

My test scores so far have been 70, 70 - last year, and 63 - recently. I counted in my last exam 15 questions that could be answered with two different answers, depending on the person, the environment they are in, or company policy.

I asked COMPTIA to justify why the exam was worded with so many opinion oriented questions, instead of questions which could have been asked about what a certain standard or technology does to solve a problem. There answer back to me was
"the passage rate for this exam is very low for people taking this test for the first time. We suggest you retake the exam."

Great. Kudos to those that figured out how to pass this exam. It is a great exam to prepare for and learn some new approaches and technologies that you might not have been exposed to before. However, I bet there are many others out there like myself, who have experience and prepare well, who would either not pass the exam, or pass it barely due to the poor setup of the questions asked.

I am curious if others with experience feel the way I do.

dmor13

2002-02-21, 9:52 pm

Buzz fails, CCNP certified fails?????

What chance do I have. I'm bummed!

ComputerMan

2002-02-24, 3:49 pm

I've been wanting to take this one. I like the CompTIA exams! Always up for a challenge.

I guess I will have to prove that CCNPs CAN pass the Server+! LOL...

PCDude

2002-02-24, 6:52 pm

Sorry to hear that, Keep your head up you're get it next time.

Teck Shark

2002-03-04, 10:01 am

Sorry to hear you didn't pass, but just go in next time & nail that baby!

Supertech

2002-03-04, 2:51 pm

I guess you didn't notice that he passed the S+ back on 2/2.

The VMS Kid

2002-03-05, 11:53 am

quote:
Originally posted by bleucube
My Background:
I have CCNP, A+, Network+, I-Net+ and a couple Novell CNA's.

Test Material:
I used the certification bible and DST Pro and Boson Pratice test

I only failed by 4 points. The books and the practice test didn't help one bit. The questions on both the practice test were very easy - I got an 80% out of 460 questions. By the time I study (40 hours) I was getting 97%.

The questions are really hard. I marked 30 out of 80. Only had 20 minutes to go back and make sure I thought I was picking the right answer.

You ain't the only one . . .

moeki

2002-03-05, 2:42 pm

I just failed on Friday with a 70. I felt confident going in. I used the cert21 question pool but it didn't help with any of the real world scenerios. I did poorly on both installation and troubleshooting (the most subjective part of the test). Well, I'm back to it tomorrow. Hope that this one goes better.

good luck,
mark

dagger

2002-03-05, 4:06 pm

quote:
Originally posted by moeki
I just failed on Friday with a 70. I felt confident going in. I used the cert21 question pool but it didn't help with any of the real world scenerios. I did poorly on both installation and troubleshooting (the most subjective part of the test). Well, I'm back to it tomorrow. Hope that this one goes better.

good luck,
mark

Sorry you did not pass
but did you only use the cert21 question pool as your only source for this exam?

moeki

2002-03-06, 10:06 am

Yes, that in all of my other testing experience! I certainly have alot of that. I'm going back at 2 to try again. This time I ran through the cramsession notes first. I'm most concerned about the troubleshooting section. My last scores ran as follows:

Install 14/7
Config 15/11
Upgrade 10/9
Proactive Maint. 7/5
Environment 4/2
Troubleshooting 20/13
Disaster Recovery 10/9

Oh well, wish me luck!

mo

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