MCSE 2003: Which exam was hardest? 3

[Wishdiak]

I'm currently going to school for MCSE 2003, and have so far only taken (and passed) 70-270. I found the questions wordy, but not overly difficult.

I have 70-290 scheduled for next week. So far, of 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, and 80-294, it looks like 70-291 will be the hardest (broadest material) and 70-293 the easiest (less broad).

Am I way off base? I was just wondering about other people's experiences with MCSE 2003 exams.

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[mrdenny]

Wishdiak,
So far I've taken 270, 290, 291 and 228. I found 291 to be the hardest. As you said do to the large amount of material. I'm currently going through the book for 293, and it seams to be a piece of cake. My other issue with 291 was that I'm a DBA not a systems admin, so I don't normally deal with DNS which was the hardest part for me.

Good luck on your tests.

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[BillyDonovan]

I am taking the 2003 path right now as well. I have been in the business for 4 years and thought that this would not be to difficult a task. I took 270 with no problem (810). 290 I failed and to be honest very shocked. I spent a lot of time studying and felt very comfortable with the material. I have not scheduled my retake yet maybe next week. Everyone I talked to said 291 was the hardest and 293 was a cake walk.

I will post back and let you know how I fare.

 

[mrdenny]

Yeah, I made the same mistake with 290 and was very over confident. I have made a point of not being that cocky about it again. After 7 years in this field I guess I just missed enough of the little things that it mattered.

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[Wishdiak]

290 I failed and to be honest very shocked. I spent a lot of time studying and felt very comfortable with the material. I have not scheduled my retake yet maybe next week.

I had the same experience. I felt empowered by a good score on the 70-270, but when I took the 70-290, I bombed it with a 564 score. I've scheduled the "Second Shot" free retake for 9/9. Wish me luck!

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[mrdenny]

Good luck Wishdiak.

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[NickFerrar]

Whilst there are no easy exams in the 2003 track IMO, I found 290 was probably the easiest (although I got higher marks in other tests). 291 was tricky as you need to know a lot of DNS and I didn't have much real-world DNS experience. 293 was tricky to, again you need to know a lot of DNS as well as RRAS (especially VPNs).

Although I passed all of them first time I wasn't confident on a single one of them that I'd passed before I hit the end exam button.

 

[Wishdiak]

mrdenny,

Thanks much. I'll let you know how it goes, although I may have to push the date back a week or so.

NickFerrar,

I wish I could say that I passed it the first time, but I think I was lulled into a false sense of security by the ease of passing the 70-270. As soon as I'd started the 70-290, I realized I had grossly miscalculated. I will be taking (and hopefully passing) it again either next week or the week after. Plenty more studying ahead of me.

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[Wishdiak]

Well, I did push it back a week and took 70-290 again today...and passed. 764, which is good enough for me, considering it's 200 points higher than the last time.

70-291, here I come!

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[mrdenny]

Congrats.

(Would have emailed sooner, but was on vacation in the middle of the Atlantic ocean for 2 weeks.)

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[Wishdiak]

mrdenny,

Thanks! I'm not too far from my MCSA now. 3 down, and only 70-291 and Net+ to go for me.

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[Wishdiak]

In case anyone is interested, I (re)took 70-291 today and scored 919! Pretty good considering I only scored 642 on it the first time...

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[mrdenny]

congrats.

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[Wishdiak]

Thanks!

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[komara69]

I passed 290 and 291. I was over confident that 291 is easy but it turn out it a bit harder than I thought. I passed it after second tried with 985. I am studying and planing to take 293 sometime in November.

3 done 4 to go.

 

[laseruk81]

A very good question, as these exams seem to differ greatly to what is expected from you.

The 70-270 exam was for me pretty straight forward, still some difficult questions in there.

Exam 70-290 was even tougher, but not as tough as 70-291, which I believe is the hardest on the track. Although I havent taken 70-294 yet or 70-298 I am thinking thew design exams could be a little more difficult, lots of simulations.

The 70-293 design exam was not too bad, still quite heavy on DNS, RRAS, IPsec, VPN's etc.

 

[Wishdiak]

laseruk81,

I'm scheduled to take 70-293 next week. Did you say that you found it easier than 70-291? I didn't do too badly on 70-291, but 70-293 doesn't seem to be sinking in.

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[aincharm]

hi guys,

Can you guy show me where to get ebook for Ex 2k3?? i have project coming up.. need knowledge on this subject.

thakx

 

[Wishdiak]

aincharm,

There are some good technical articles online at

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/articleindex.mspx.

Not exactly as detailed as the ebook, but it might have what you're looking for.

Wishdiak

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[laseruk81]

Wishdiak,

For me 70-293 was quite a bit easier than the 70-291 exam, although the course work for it was harder (strange huh?).

I feel that because its a design exam the exam was more general than config. Questions were clearer...