Passed the 70-290 today on first try!

[Future00]

Yay! I passed my 70-290 today on the first try and even scored a 907.

There was 44 Questions and if I remember right there was either 4 or 5 Sim questions. I completed the test in about 1 hour 10 minutes and didnt bother with the scratch paper. The Sims give you a box on the right to remind you what to do while you click around the Sim. The sims worked flawlessly for me. They couldnt of got any more like the real deal. I tested at a PearsonVue center. I got my own little quiet room so there was no distractions. The only thing I can complain about is they need to learn how to up the refresh rate on the monitor it was horrible I had a headache when I was done. Maybe thats why I finsihed it so quick

I read the MS Press book and watched the CBT Nuggets videos and Train Signal videos to study for this test. I kinda thought it was easy but I do have over 5 years server experience... I liked both sets of CBT videos. Much easier then the dry reading of the big blue evil book.

Off to study for my 70-291 now to complete the MCSA 2003

Ryan

MCP/MCDST

 

[mrdenny]

Congrats.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

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

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[Future00]

Thanks

I think this 70-291 is going to be the hardest of the bunch. I was going to take it this week but I may hold off til next week to get more study time in...

MCP/MCDST

 

[mrdenny]

The 291 is harder than the 290 for sure. However IMHO the 294 and 298 were the hardest. I'm not an admin so I don't do AD or Network Security on a regular basis, hense the less than passing scores the first time around.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

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

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[4theU]

I think it does depend on what you are experienced in. The 291 gave me real problems to say the least, but I breezed straight through the 293.

 

[Future00]

The subnetting is the thing getting me. I understand it but cant do the math in a fast easy to remember way.

Gets confusing. I will probably blast through normal questions on the test and just mark all subnetting questions for review and do them last so i know how much time i have left.

I did some practice tests on 293 and 294 and they wont be a problem. Just the questions are worded really long compared to the 290 and 270 and 271 and 272.

MCP/MCDST

 

[mrdenny]

When doing the subnetting questions keep in mind that you can use the Windows Calc. And the Windows Calc can do the Dec to Bin conversions for you which can make the subnetting stuff much easier (at least it did for me).

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

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

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[Future00]

For example, am i doing the math right to come to the conclusion?

Network ID: 172.16.0.0
Minimum subnet hosts required: 5000
Minimum networks required: 5

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
172.16.0.0
10101100.00010000.00000000.00000000
13 positions over from the right so the remaining 3 total 224 so subnet = 255.255.224.0

Then since the last part of the reminaing 3 is number 32 then 32 ^ 2 = 1024 then since there is 8 bits in the last octet then 1024 x 8 = 8192 then minus 2 since you cant have all 1's or 0's so you get 8190 Max hosts.

Custom Subnet Mask 255.255.224.0
Maximum Hosts Per Subnet 8190
Maximum Subnets 8
Subnet IDs
172.16.0.0
172.16.32.0
172.16.64.0
172.16.96.0
172.16.128.0
172.16.160.0
172.16.192.0
172.16.224.0


Host ID Ranges
172.16.0.1 – 172.16.31.254
172.16.32.1 – 172.16.63.254
172.16.64.1 – 172.16.127.254
172.16.128.1 – 172.16.160.254
172.16.160.1 – 172.16.191.254
172.16.192.1 – 172.168.223.254
172.16.224.1 – 172.16.255.254













MCP/MCDST

 

[Future00]

Guess I should say that it was asking for 5000 hosts so i took 5000 and converted it to bnary to get the 13 positions number...

MCP/MCDST

 

[amyamandaallen]

does the 290 have alot of 1 or 2 line questions then? or loads of paragraphs and waffle?

gonna study it soon so would like to know in advance if possible

cheers

 

[Future00]

There were very few short questions. For the most part they are reasonably lengthy. Some questions you absolutely have to read a few times and make sure you look for key words that can change your answer completely. Just remember to do process of elimination on the answers. Look for what you know aint right then chose from what your not sure about if you dont know the answer. And make sure you mark questions for review your not sure of. Some questions later in the test may help you with the answer you werent sure about. It does help. As far as the sim questions go I kinda liked them. It was just like having a real desktop to work with. You get a window to refer to while working on the desktop sim so you dont have to memorize what you need to do and if you think you screwed up you can reset the sim question back to start over without penalty.

Good Luck!

Ryan

MCP/MCDST/MCSA 2003

 

[amyamandaallen]

sorry meant to add ... how would you rate the cbtnuggets videos?

 

[Future00]

I really liked the CBT Nugets. My only complaint on them is maybe they didnt go all the info you need to pass the tests. I'd say they cover about 80% of what would cover what you need for the test. I cant remember exactly what but there were things you would of never known without either just plain old experience with servers in general and stuff or reading books like Sybex or the MS Press book. I skimmed through stuff in the books that I would like have questions about that I would see in a scenario in a nigget video. But I also got 9 years of PC experience so that helps a lot

If you are fairly new to PC's and especially servers then the CBT's wont get you a pass for sure.

Ryan

MCP/MCDST/MCSA 2003

 

[amyamandaallen]

been doing pc's for a while now. but no real deep server knowledge just using it for its most common features shares,dhcp and a bit of active directory and acting as print server.

probably gonna buy the cbt 290 video and build a Virtual PC with 2x2k3 servers and a xp pc and follow through the video.

Hold my MCDST and Citrix CCA so should have a good chance.

BTW is the 291 that much harder and did you use the cbt nuggets for that too. Does any of the 291 video cover parts of the 290? Is it worth me watching both before I take the 290?

 

[Future00]

291 is a lot harder. It covers a very broad range of items. The 290 video is going to help you toward the 291 studying but there is much more in depth stuff in the 291 video you would really need to see. Like 290 is going to cover basic dhcp, dns, ad and perms/security. The 291 goes into detail of each of those things. Subnetting and zones and forwarders and all that fun tcp/ip stuff. More group policy and command line things. Security Templates, Term Serv and more SUS and so on...

Ryan

MCP/MCDST/MCSA 2003

 

[amyamandaallen]

thanks for the lowdown!

 

[amyamandaallen]

Hi again. Starting the 290 now.

How much active directory did you need to know ( ie installing and configuring etc? ). Presume this gets covered more in depth in the 294 exam. However 290 must feature quite a bit. And was there much stuff about the enterprise ( engage number 1 )version?


MCDST, CCA XP & PS3.0

 

[Wishdiak]

How much active directory did you need to know ( ie installing and configuring etc? ).

It's been well over a year, but from memory, the 70-290 exam doesn't cover installing or configuring Active Directory. It does cover installing and configuring Domain Controllers, and components of Active Directory such as DNS and possibly integrating DNS zones into Actvice Directory, but just for replication purposes.

Active Directory itself is covered almost exclusively in 70-294 (from memory again), but that's not to say that 70-290 (or 70-291) are easy exams. They're not.

Wishdiak
A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA: Security 2003

http://www.wishdiak.com