70-297 pending

[JonesNW]

Just a quick post to help prepare for the AD design exam, I was going to sit 298 first but decided I need to brush up on my AD knowledge (wasn't happy with my 294 result!).

Would be great if I could get some tips or advice on this exam, think i'm concentrating on the right study material, always nice to confirm!

Started using Transcender testing software for this instead of MeasureUP and i'm very impressed, scraped a pass on the 294 exam and I think the Measureup software is partly to blame.

Due to sit it on Feb 11th, if I can pass this I finally get my MCSE, been a long time coming so i'm really looking forwards to it!

Thanks,

A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[thetruthisoutthere]

I've just taken and passed this exam. It's very different from the others I've taken and it took me a few minutes to settle into the exam. Speed-reading is a useful skill as the time allocated for each case study can easily tick away. I would advise you to focus on the questions being asked and hunt through the case studies to find the information you need. Some answers will depend on your answers to other questions so think very carefully about your design.

I think the Transcenders will give you a very good understanding of what you might get asked about. Make sure you understand the explanations given. If you fully understand the reasons behind the right answer then I think you should be OK.
Good luck...

 

[ntinlin]

I sat 70-297 last week with an 863.

Would agree it is very different.
But even with reading every bit of the case studies then answering the questions I had lots of time free in each section.
I'd say only about 20% of any particular study is relevant to the questions being asked so you might want to go the 'look at questions first' route mentioned above.

Transcender was VERY good for it. I also seem to recall that every single question on the actual exam stated that DNS updates had to be secure and thus AD-Integrated. Cut down on a lot of the possibilities when it came to answering the questions thankfully.

Basically it's a mind-set thing, you have to be able to get your head round the DESIGN not just the implementation.
I had the TestOut training software for 70-297 but I only really glanced at it, by now you should know all the underlying stuff from the core exams that you will need.

Neill

 

[JonesNW]

I noticed the transcenders always require AD integrated DNS too so far.

I'm pretty confident with the other MCSE core concepts, plus I get to play around with these systems in work a lot
so it helps keep it fresh in my head.

Where there any simulations in this exam? Wouldn't have thought so but would still be handy to know!

Thanks for the feed back so far, hopefully I can nail this and have a bit of a break before hitting the security exams.


A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

No sims that I recall.

About 60% pure multiple choice questions.
e.g. What security group features will you have after upgrading domain to W2003 functional level - universal in universal, global in global, local in local, global in universal

20% drag the correct role to the selection box
e.g. where do you put the GC with this site diagram

20% select the steps then get them in the correct order
e.g. Steps and order to upgrade your NT4 domain and allow it to accept user details from another domain with ADMT

Obviously those are spread out throughout the scenarios.

I found the last scenario I did almost question for question with one of the transcender scenarios.

Neill

 

[JonesNW]

To prepare for this i've used the MS press book for 297 and transcender, managed to find a few area's i'm weak using the test software so i'll be refering back to the book in the evenings.

I'm a bit concerned about them try to catch me out, one of the transcenders had a sneaky question specifying you had to use a different domain controller for each operations master role in a which caught me out, as long as I can grasp the concepts between now and the 11th well enough I should be ok.

Overall I am a bit more confident about this now, thanks again for the info.

A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

Yup, I had that question in both the Transcender and real exam. Almost exactly the same question.

Forest root domain with two sub domains how many DC's do you need in total to handle the FSMO roles.

A question I failed (I presume) was me thinking MS were being sneaky when they probably weren't.

e.g. Which of these subnets would fit in with the current IP addressing scheme for a subnet needing 120 nodes or something.
10.x.x/24
10.x.x/16
10.x.x/24
152.x.x.x/24

I put the 2 10.x.x/24's thinking they wouldn't want to waste such a big subnet as a /16 on a small site when of course that wasn't what the question asked. :-(

 

[JonesNW]

I got caught out on the Transcender exam on a subnetting question, been a while since I actually thought about that '2 raise to the power of the number of bits - 2' calculation!

I asked my local testing centre this week if you allowed a calculator because the confirmation sheet from Prometric doesn't actually say you can't have one!? Not that it matters, just been lazy I suppose! They said no because of the information you can store on them these days.

Touch over cautious if you ask me, anyone who puts the time and effort into preparing for these exams isn't going to cheat themsleves like that (not to mention I wouldn't know where to start programming a 'cheat calculator'?!

I am a bit concerned i'll blank-out and make stupid mistakes, is it true that once you've answered a question you can't go back and review it?







A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

MS always provides a calculator within the exam.

I tend just to write a quick crib down on the plastic sheet when I get into the exam room.

e.g. /24 gives (256-2) hosts etc.
Masks of 128, 192 etc. For some reason I always forget .252 so it helps me to write that down.

You can only go back and review within a scenario. Each is self-contained. Think the total number of questions I had within the 6 scenarios was ~42 but for some reason they count the introduction screen to each scenario as a question. There were between 5 and 7 actual questions on each scenario.

If you see something in one scenario that jogs your memory I'd write it down in case it is helpful in a later one.

If you are doing well on the Transcenders I doubt you will have a problem.

Neill

 

[JonesNW]

The lowest I got on the transcender was 71% last night, i'll be going back to the book for a bit now, help give me time to forget the answers in the case studies so I can figure them out again. A few people have told me if you can ace the Transcenders you'll be ok, just need to be sure i'm answering them from a bit of logical thinking instead of from memory.

Thanks again for all the advice, really appreciate it.


A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[JonesNW]

While I remember I have one more question, is the exam layout the same as the Transcender (business goals, interviews etc)?

I tried test exam with the MS press book and it was much more difficult to follow.

A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

The interface layout is slightly different but the idea is the same.
i.e. The button to go back to the question is at the top of the screen with the various bits of info under buttons under that.

Next / Previous etc. at bottom of screen.
I kept hitting next rather than going back up and hitting Question.

 

[JonesNW]

Ok then, I need to do a lot more work on NT4 to 2k3 migrations, haven't had much experience actually doing that so i'm having trouble remembering what features are available between domain functional levels and whats required to actually move them over.

I'm definitely remembering answers from the scenarios now, could do with some more test questions really but don't think i'll find anything better than what i've got.

Thanks again for all the help with this,

Craig


A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

I believe Preplogic.com are doing a 'buy a test exam' get a real test voucher for free promo at the moment.
Their tests are about $110, I don't know what an MS exam is in US.

US only of course which is a bummer for me.

I have their 70-297 exam and it wasn't too bad. Explanations weren't as clear as Transcender but still reasonable.
Neill

 

[thetruthisoutthere]

In this exam, I found the MS question numbering a bit odd. You get a case scenario introductory page which states that there are (for example) 8 questions and you have a certain amount of time to answer them. At the top it says question 1. There is no question on that page so you click on the "Question" button. Then you notice that you are on question 2 - where did question 1 go?
Basically, as question 1 doesn't exist in each case scenario, you have 1 less question to answer each time...

 

[ntinlin]

Yeah, it was a little odd.

Neill

 

[JonesNW]

I was getting bombarded by preplogic email offers for a while but they've stopped now, might see if I can get work to buy one in for me, they wont give me any study leave but their pretty good when it comes to buying study materials (except the morning of the exam, usually I get that off for free!).

Just done my first proper simulation of the exam on Transcender and got 89%, definately feel as though I was remembering a lot of it though. Brushed up on my subnetting earlier too so i shouldn't loose too much time in the test calculating host availabilty.

The MS press book went into a lot more detail than the Transcender on things like Domain controller placement i.e. so many users require at least 2 domain controllers, did the actual exam ask for that kind of detail?

The fact you get one question down for doing nothing sounds great! One less thing to worry about per case study!

Thanks again everyone, seriously considering bringing it forwards to Tuesday, feel much more confident now.

Craig


A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[ntinlin]

No the real exam didn't go into that, although that doesn't mean it couldn't.

Neill

 

[JonesNW]

Well, I decided to bring it forwards and ended up being robbed by the worst excuse for a test centre i've every seen!

Ended up witha score of 603, things up with the test centre were the following:

1 Had to help them setup the testing PC's because the room wasn't ready.

2 On the last scenario one of their staff knocked out the power in the building plugging in a duff server that didn't need to be worked on straight away. Once I got the exma back up I had to read the scenario again, and dropped lots of pojnt relating to group membership.

3 Not happy with that they put a man with a hammer outside the test room (their meeting room in the middle of their call centre).

I'm still a bit wound up, its possible I would have failed anyway but I can't be sure now, the score sheet only show's topic scores not which particular case studies.

Sorry to rant on a bit there, worked hard on this only to have something like this happen, put a complaint in to prometric, hoping they'lll scrub the fail off my record, haven't failed on in years and was quite proud of my line of passes!

Thanks again everyone for the input, will take it again asap and update with my score.




A+,N+,S+,Security +,MCP,MCSA
70-270-passed
70-290-passed
70-291-passed
70-293-passed
70-294-passed
70-297-pending
70-298-pending
70-299-pending

 

[onoski]

Jones,I know your feeling as I too took the 70-290 studied real hard after a month half. However, I failed the exam with a score mark of 603 as well.

I still think the exhibits and simulations are the ones that carry a lot of marks and if one can get at least 4 to 5 out of those correctly then the test is passable. Hence in one of my post about TestOut I was saying the practice questions are not comparable in terms of format and even questioning.

I have ordered the MS Press and would be re-sitting this test in a little over a week. The good thing with the MS Press book is that it comes with free included MeasureUp practice questions that are in the same realm of the actual exam.

Don't fret re-book the exam and make sure you use the second shot voucher when booking the exam just in case. Well £88 is a lot especially when the money comes out of your own pocket. Best wishes and don't let get to you so much.