How to Prepar?

[Lonnyb]

My company is looking to train our technical staff, (12) in the coming year. They are looking at MCSE's for all of us in the next couple of years. I know there are CBT's, books and class room study materials.

Does anyone have ideas as to what is the best way to prep? I don't think cramming test question answers is the best thing to do. Suggestions on websites or books would be great. And a one, two, three to success would be great.

Thanks

 

[Teknoratti]

For me the best thing to do is be around the technology as much as you can. I found MS Virtual PC 2004 to be a valuable tool. You can set up multiple OS environments for testing. I also enjoy watching the Microsoft Webcasts. I watch 'em religiously. There's a wide range of topics, check them out.
I also read the Microsoft Press books. Tek-tips is great for just browsing forums, and answering as much questions as you can, and if you don't do some research. Like I said it's about being around the technology as much as you can, and in as many forms as you can.

 

[Teknoratti]

I am also in the IT industry working in Tech Support with hopes to becoming a sys admin.

 

[NickFerrar]

Yeah the most important thing (to learn properly) is to have a test lab type environment so you can try stuff out and see how it really works.

After that then I think it's much more down to the individual. Personally I hate CBT courses and find I learn a lot more in instructor led classes with books on the side but I know a lot of people do well with CBTs.

If you are going the instructor-lef route then you need a clear plan in my experience. Originally I did NT 4 courses but didn't focus on sitting exams so by the time I came to do them I'd forgotten a lot of the course With Windows 2003 I did a 14-day bootcamp and did all 7 MCSE exams during it. It was tough but it certainly focuses you, you do need a solid real-world experience background though before doing something like that.

 

[Patchste]

I have just recently passed my MCSE 2003. My method for passing was using CBT Nuggets, a lab of 3 computers (1 DC, 1 Member Server and a workstation) and also TestKing/ Actual Tests.

I found the CBT really suited my needs and was for me better than instructor led courses. All of the content in Nuggets is well presented and you can always repeat the nuggets if you want to refresh the subject. It is expensive but if you cost it against instructor led courses they are much more reasonable. You can always buy the nuggets for a department or group and share the resource.

The testking / actualtest have a bad reputation but they did help me get used to the way the exam questions are structured but transcender provide a more expensive option.

The Lab is best way of learning the product first. If you can get the w2k3 server disk you can setup all scenarios that are tested on the exams.

Good Luck

 

[NickFerrar]

Well the bad rep that Test King have is that they are the actual exam questions so even if you're just using them to help prepare you can't help but remember some/many of the actual questions when they appear in the exam.