Panic time

[kmcferrin]

I've been scheduling and taking certification tests for a couple weeks now, primarily working on the CompTIA exams. I started scheduling Microsoft exams last week and I have 70-270 (Windows XP) scheduled for tomorrow. Just this afternoon I went to schedule 70-290 (Server 2003) and after scheduling it I saw that the scheduled duration is 4 hours! I just went back and checked on the 70-270 exam and saw that it is scheduled for 2.5 hours!

OK, I should have been watching a little closer on the scheduling page, but I just assumed that they would be similar to the CompTIA exams (90 minutes, 80-100 questions, etc). Fortunately the exams are scheduled two weeks apart so I have plenty of time to prep for 70-290, but now I'm worried about 70-270.

Do you find that you really need all of the time that MS allots in these exams, or are they giving you a lot more time than you need? I've heard that the MS exams are 40+ questions and tend to be complicated, not to mention it's an adaptive exam, but should I be worried?

I'm a pretty good test taker and passed all of my CompTIA exams on the first try with minimal review. I've worked in IT for almost 10 years now, I started as a Desktop/PC Tech and for the last 5-6 years I've been doing Server/AD/Exchange administration and design. With my experience I assumed that I could just get by with doing TestOut practice tests and then reviewing material where I found gaps, but now I'm wondering if these tests are a lot more difficult than I thought. It's too late to schedule 70-270, but now I'm wondering about 70-290.

What has been everyone's experience with these tests?

 

[mrdenny]

When I took those tests I was done in about half of the time that was allotted.

Microsoft exams aren't actually adaptive. They just appear to be. The set of questions is actually setup when you first start the exam. The exam simply doesn't group all the like questions together which is why people that that they are adaptive.

Take a look at thread thread468-1306787. It's got many peoples rating on the difficulty of each of the exams. Most MS exams are in there at this point, and all of the basic MCSE exams are in there.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

My Blog

 

[kmcferrin]

Yeah, I had forgotten about that post.

I guess I just get frustrated in trying to judge the difficulty because a lot of the people who are studying for the tests/certs have little or no experience with the technology before getting the cert, so they would tend to think that it's more difficult than someone who's been working with it for several years.

Oh well, 70-270 is supposed to be the easiest of the bunch. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[DanMIS]

I have similar background as you, experience wise, and passed all tests except 297 the first take. Some were close, because I don't use some of the things MS thinks are important.

I finished all tests except 297 in about half the time. I never came close to time limits. After starting testing, I took one test each month roughly, finishing 5 months after taking the first one.

297 was a different structure of test than the others; it is case studies instead of just questions. I was caught off guard by that.

270 wasn't too bad if you use XP a lot. No worries.

Good luck,
Dan

CCA Citrix 4.0
MCSA: Messaging 2003
MCSE 2003

 

[kmcferrin]

I guess we'll see how it goes. My absolute goal is to finish MCSA by the end of January. That means 270, 290, and 291 in the next couple of weeks. If the tests aren't too bad that should be doable (I passed enough of the CompTIA exams last week to count as an elective). If I pass the 290 on the first try then that would give me three weeks for 291.

My "super-aggressive if everything falls into place" goal is to also pass 299 and Security+ to get the MCSA:Security cert in January, or at least by mid-February. That's when my annual review is, and it would be nice to show that I far exceeded their expectations.

Security+ is scheduled for next week, and the CompTIA exams have been pretty easy so far.

 

[DanMIS]

291 had a lot of DNS questions on DNS configurations I've never seen in use, even after 10 years in different companies (some international). Stub zones, etc. Also, read up and play with WSUS; 290 and 291 both had questions on it.

Best wishes on your goal. To quote the crazy cajun in Water Boy, "You can Do It"!

Dan

CCA Citrix 4.0
MCSA: Messaging 2003
MCSE 2003

 

[kmcferrin]

I passed 70-270, no problem. Next up, 291.

Fortunately I've done a lot with WSUS, so that shouldn't be too bad. The DNS parts sound trickier.

Did you see a lot of difference between the 290 and 291 exams?

 

[DanMIS]

Not in structure, but the material was very different. 291 was DHCP, DNS, AD while 290 was server centric.

I literally had between 5 and 10 WSUS questions on 291, more than I had on 290.

There are a few threads about the contents of 290 and 291 exams which I found useful in preparing.

Congrats on 270. Keep it up and you'll be done in no time!

CCA Citrix 4.0
MCSA: Messaging 2003
MCSE 2003

 

[porkchopexpress]

I took 70-292 which shares allot of the 291 content and i'll second what Dan says about DNS. Make sure you know the difference between stub zones and delegations i had quite a few questions on which ones should be used where in fact i bet almost half of the questions were on DNS.

 

[theravager]

The new exams are heaps easier then the old exams. If you know the material you will end up with 1/2 to 2/3 of the exam time left.

Best advise i can give is for the odd question you mark, if you don't get the answer from another later question go with your first try.

 

[porkchopexpress]

I would have to say that i found the 2003 exams to be more difficult than the 2000 exams, i didn't score less than 930 on the 2000 exams. That could just be that i received questions that matched my strong points.

 

[kmcferrin]

Best advise i can give is for the odd question you mark, if you don't get the answer from another later question go with your first try.

That's good advice, I've been doing that on all the tests and it's been helpful. I work under the assumption that if I don't understand the question or something seems "wrong" about it then I'm probably misreading it, and coming back to it later usually helps me put it into context.

 

[DanMIS]

My strategy was this:

1. Figure out how many I had to get right to get a passing score, that tells you how many you can absolutely get wrong.
2. Do a first pass through answering all you know 100%
3. At the end of the first pass, check how many you haven't answered. Usually it will be less than or close to the number you can get wrong, so all anxiety disappears.
4. Go back and do the best you can with the ones you didn't answer on the first pass, knowing that you can miss most and still pass.

This worked for me. For the first test, I didn't do step 1 and 3, so when I had a handful of questions with no clear (to me!) answer, I was worried.

This strategy does NOT work for the scenario-based tests. Luckily, I only had to take one of them.

Dan

CCA Citrix 4.0
MCSA: Messaging 2003
MCSE 2003

 

[kmcferrin]

That might work, but how do you figure out how many you need to get a passing score? From what I understand the scoring methods are fairly closely guarded, but it looks like it's not a straight percentage method.

Anyway, what I usually do is go through all of the questions once selecting an answer for every question. I mark everything that I am not 100% confident in for review. Usually that's no more than 10% of the questions. Then afterwards I review the marked questions and see if a later question jogged my memory or if something immediately stands out after re-reading them. Usually I come up with a couple of answers this way. At that point if nothing about the remaining questions marked for review strikes me as correct I just let it go with my first instinct. After all, I'm not after perfect scores, just passing scores.

 

[mrdenny]

The number of questions for a passing score changes from person to person. Some questions are get all parts correct, some are each part represents a correct response. It will depend on the wording of the question as to which scorring method is used.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

My Blog

 

[porkchopexpress]

That method could be thrown if you get a couple of beta questions that aren't scored, especially if it's an exam with only 40 questions. I don't think that happens very often though.