Passed 70-293

[MITPRO]

I took the 70-293 todat 1/11/08. Here are my scores as of today.

Passed 70-270 with a 900
Passed 70-290 with a 885
Passed 70-291 with a 940
Passed 70-293 with a 865 Tough Test
Scheduled 70-294 and 70-298 Same Day (This can be done and i will prove it!)

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003 Security Specialist

 

[dreadz]

congrats on your pass Mitpro. I am currently studying for 293. Is there any input you can provide in regards to 293.


Thanks in advance

 

[MITPRO]

Honestly,
know how to Plan, Implement, and Maintain Network Security and Security Infrastructure. Also have a little hands on, becasue even thought the Sims were easy for me, if you don't know what they are asking, you can be in a lot of trouble.

Know how to install CA's. Know Network Load Balancing, PKI, Clustering (Network Load Balancing), and RRAS.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003 Security Specialist

 

[ntinlin]

I passed 70-293 with a 760 last week.
Bit tougher than I expected and I hadn't really been able to study for it over Christmas. Family kept demanding attention and to be taken here and there. :-(

Also didn't help that the test crashed half way through which really put me off my stride. Thankfully they were able to get me back to the same place on another station.

But a pass is a pass I guess.

There was a lot on which type of authentication / encryption you could use in a particular case. e.g. You had W2003 DC's, NT 4 DC's, 95 clients etc.

Good luck on 298, I believe it is one of the harder ones. I'm doing 294 next week and 297 the week after.

Neill

 

[MITPRO]

70-298 is not hard. All you have to do understand what is in the case study, from there, you should think like a security administrator in that environment. Your mind should already be thinking as an engineer at this point. 70-297 is irrelevant at this point..this is why they placed the 70-298 as another test. Security is easy with Microsoft. Planning an Infrastructure may a bit more difficult, but as you grow and understand, it will become easier as well.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003

 

[onoski]

Congratulations MITPRO on the pass and thanks for the insight too.

Please, when you have a minute kindly confirm which books or practice test you used and found most useful for these test i.e transcender or measureup etc.

 

[ntinlin]

MITPRO,
How do you figure 70-297 is irrelevant?

Irrelevant as an exam or irrelevant in that nothing in it has a bearing on anything in 70-298?

Neill

 

[MITPRO]

I apologize about the irrelevance. What i should have said, is it is up to you on what test you take to fullfill your requirments....I mean i have already taken 2 Network Infrastructure exams. I personally would not take a Design exam unless that would be my one and only focus. The information you obtain form the 70-291 an 292 is enough to move foward.

For instance, i have testout suite, i personally will only go through the EBT for 297 just to see what is different, or if there is anything there that is helpful, but i will not test on the subject. So i chose to go with the 70-298 and complete the security track. The security exams are easy exams, of course the are extremely long Case Studies, but no big deal.

So once again a apologize for that. The track you choose is your own. Not meant to discourage.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003

 

[ntinlin]

No need to apologize. I wasn't offended or anything.

Having been made redundant last month my main focus at the moment is just to pass the MCSE to prove to employers that I have the experience that I say I have if you know what I mean. Unfortunately for a lot of recruiters / employers in the UK its a tick the box requirement at the moment even if most of them don't even know what it stands for, how many exams one has to pass to get it and the cost of just the exams let alone the study materials.
Plus the fact that there are only 93,000 MCSE's on 2003 worldwide at present according to MS figures, but what can you do.

I'd like to go back and look at the security aspect later, I've already done quite a bit of work with CA's for instance.

Neill

 

[MITPRO]

I fully understand what you mean. I was trying to give you an easier route to consider as well as killing two birds with one stone. I really do not know if you have taken any ComTIA exams, but if you have already taken Net+ and A+ one of your electives have already been fullfilled. If you take the Secuirty+ along with the 70-298 and 70-299, not only will you be an MCSE you will have a Security Specialization which seperates you from some of 93,000 MCSE's that are out there.

I will have my Security and Messaging specializations when i'm complete. Then i will work towards the ISA 2007 for more security on the 2003 server. At the end of the year i will take Server 2008 exam. Becasue you i will be an MCSE, i only have to take one exam to be 2008 certified. In between that time, i will be working on my Exchange Server 2007 Cert. I have to migrate our 2003 Exchange Server to 2007 by middle of this year.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003

 

[ntinlin]

Thanks for the advice.

I have Net+ and Server+ (which allowed me to do HP APS years ago). I took 70-284 for XC as my elective.

I know about the security specialisation part but as you say that of course requires Security+, it's annoying that the CompTIA exams are so much more expensive than MS. And of course the MS exams in UK are about 25% more expensive than in US. Boy am I having a moan today. ;-)

XC2007 is also one of the next items on my list, got the kit ready to play with it plus the usual VMWare workstation just need the time.

I tell you studying at home is an absolute nightmare. My wife keeps interrupting me with crap and then expecting me to chauffeur her around even though she knows I want to study. Then bursts into tears if I point that out, mind you being 8 months pregnant probably has something to do with the tears part. :-D

Neill

 

[MITPRO]

Wow! That's Funny..Well which ever track you take, just make sure it's geared towards the company needs and the industry need. Security is becoming enormouse, so that's what i chose. So good luck in all you are doing, and let wifey know that you are not just doing this for yourself and support you a little more. If you have any questions about anything let me know. .I been in the field for 8 years... i am also using VMware in my environment.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003

 

[onoski]

MITPRO, thanks for all the feedback as it has been enlightening for me as well. Please, when you have the time can you state what you find helpful in preparing for this exam i.e transcender or measureup apart from testout etc.

I currently have gone through the testout suite for the 70-290 which I'd be taking on the 31st of this month. Thanks in advance.

 

[kmcferrin]

Just for my two cents, the CompTIA Security+ was a walk in the park. I pulled an 880 out of 900 on that one. It's a shame that their tests are so expensive (I can do two MS exams for the price of Security+), fortunately my employer is footing the bill.

IMHO, it's worth it to get the security specialization if you can. As MITPRO pointed out, having the Security specialization does make you stand out from the rest of the MCSEs. But the other thing to consider is that not only is Security a booming industry, but people are beginning to look at Security as more of a holistic IT process. Even a small 50-person company needs security, even though they can't afford having a CISSP or full-time security team on staff. What that means is that if you can design and maintain solutions with security in mind from the beginning you have another advantage over the other people who are "just MCSEs".

Where did you see the 93,000 statistic? I like the sound of that.

 

[ntinlin]

I completely agree about the cost of CompTIA exams. I was lucky and sat the Network+ and Server+ as betas so I got them for free. Heh heh. Pity I couldn't get the same with Security+.

Yes I agree about the security spec. I've got the books just want to get the main MCSE out of the way and then add it later along with XC2007 etc.

I've also got an ITIL Foundation course next week which I'm self-financing (my previous employer paid for all my MS exams and manuals as part of my redundancy) which is springing up more and more as a requirement in the UK.

Numbers for the various MS certs are here:-

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx

Quite a few more MCSEs have the Security specialism than the Messaging.
Perhaps because there is little documentation and CBT available for the 70-285 Exchange design exam.

Unfortunately they don't break it down by country which would be even more interesting. I doubt there are as many MCSE's in the UK as employers think there are for instance.

Neill

 

[kmcferrin]

Unfortunately they don't break it down by country which would be even more interesting. I doubt there are as many MCSE's in the UK as employers think there are for instance.

I have no doubt about that. The same probably goes for the US too. I expected that there would be several hundred thousand of them at least.

Ahh...I see. There's about 93,000 with 2003 certifications, but if you count NT4 and 2000 MCSEs then you get another 650,000 or so. That makes sense.

The ITIL thing is interesting. I'm roughly familiar with it, but I have never seen it listed in a job description in the US.

 

[ntinlin]

Employers over here are even more picky, many of them are specifying 2003.

ITIL is a big thing over here, especially in the public sector.

And I've still got 2 exams to do.
Was sitting 70-294 today and it crashed after 30 mins saying I had no time left. Prometric couldn't do anything except give me a call ref. while they take a look at it. Not even a reset or anything.
Joy.

Neill

 

[MITPRO]

Honestly onoski,

I have used Testout suite for EBT experinced based training and read sybex books which are extremely well. I have studied measureup and transcender, but nothing beats having that experince to help you along the way. Maybe this is little more easy for me becasue i have been working with Server 2003 for the past four years. I did not begin my cert process until lthe release of R2 which included dfs and print management which is not tested on the exam, or any exam i have taken. You do not even hear anything about the new release of WDS which came with the SP2 on server 2003. WDS replaced RIS, which may have studied about.

My thing is to grasp a good understanding of the technology and make it your own. For instance, no one in IT is perfect but why can't you use the resources to play the part. If i were you, i would crash the testout suites backwards and fowards until you can do everything on there in your sleep. You definitely become very technical just off the suite. It will help you to build a liitle confidence when speaking withh recruiters and actually have to perform task on Server s of such.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

Comptia A+, N+, Security+, MCSA: 2003

 

[onoski]

Thanks for the in depth feedback MITPRO, I do have over four years of hands on work environment experience with servers, desktop and hardware etc.

I have recently started working on server 2003 AD, on normal day to day activity so not so worried about that just that the exams are worded the MS way. Thanks again, for sharing.

 

[MITPRO]

I took the 70-294 today. Here are my scores as of today.

Passed 70-270 with a 900
Passed 70-290 with a 885
Passed 70-291 with a 940
Passed 70-293 with a 865 Tough Test
Passed 70-294 with a 905
Next 70-299
Next 70-298


I thought i would be able to double up with the 70-298, but i think i will try that with the 70-299 since they are both security exams.

Do not pray to have an easier life, pray to be a stronger man!!!

B.A. Computer Information Systems
Masters of Information Technology in Network Security
CompTIA A+, Net+, Security+,
MCP, MCSA: 2003
70-298 (In-Progress)
70-299 (In-Progress)
MCTS: Exchange Server 2007 (In Progress)
MCTS: Server 2008 (In Progress)
MCTS: Windows Vista (In P