In terms of difficulty

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for anyone who has done the 70-271 exam after they did an A+ exam,did you find the mcdst exam a big step up from the A+ in terms of exam difficulty?

I have my exam in a fortnight,i found the exam for the A+ not all that difficult but i'm expecting to fail the mcdst and may'be pass the second time i sit it.

Eight of the twelve subjects in the mcdst i can just about get to grips with.
The subjects i'm lost with, i'm deeply lost,and wrapped up in confusion.
Here are the subjects i find difficult

Chapter 3 Supporting local users and groups
Chapter 5 Supporting windows xp file and folder access [includes disc quotas,ntfs permissions]
Chapter 8 Installing and managing storage devices in win xp [basic disc i understand,dynamic disk i don't understand at all]
Chapter 10 Network protocols and services.

The subject of permissions almost baffles me,the basics of this subject are easy enough,once they go very indepth on permissions i'm lost.Some of this stuff i never knew even existed in windows xp, like forbidding access to cd and floppy discs.

 

Why are you taking the exam when you know you're not ready for it?

 

I have spent since september learning about the subject,and don't want the knowledge to go to waste.I just want the exam out of the way really.

This subject,the mcdst, may just be beyond me,it has been hard to work out how hard this exam is just by reading comments on here.

 

I find the best way to learn it all is hands-on... not just reading from a book or two. The hands-on may help the bits you're struggling with sink in, such as NTFS perms and disk quotas.

 

thanks for the comments delport as i too are experiencing the same problems in passing the mcdt after the a plus !!!

 

have you not considered doing the N+ first as this will eliminate or should eliminate the networking portion of your problem.

I am doing the N+ at the moment then will be doing the MCDST.

 

As nugget asked, why sit an exam that you clearly don't feel ready to sit?

And if you don't mind me asking, what book/s are you using to study for the MCDST? I've never sat a M$ exam, but I'm told that they're unique in the way that they question you. I'm also told that their learning resources (books, DVD's etc.) can make for a "dry" read. Why not purchase another book that covers the areas you're struggling in in more detail?

 

Hi,no once this is finished i'm giving up with studying ,all i want ideally is to pass mcdst part 1 [70-271] and the A+.

I booked the exam as i'll probably soon forget the stuff i've already learnt as i've no chance to put it into practice,and it was hard to gauge just how difficult this exam is going to be,if it was reasonably difficulty then i stood a chance of passing,if it was on a par with the a+ then i'd expect to pass,the more subjects i find unfamiliar the more i begin to doubt my capabilities of passing.

At the moment i think i'll get 60% or something as an exam result,i believe that's a fail,i've done some practice with microsoft practice questions in the past,at times i've got 10 out of 10 correct,other times i'll get 2 out of 10 correct,i do find the questions tedious to read.And sometimes rush through them out of boredom.

I was guessing may'be this exam is like the A+ where you spend a whole lot of time learning stuff that won't even appear in the exam,the A+ missed out some of the difficult to remember subjects and instead went for the easier content,it's this balance which is confusing,do i spend 3 nights learning everything about disk quotas only to never use the information in the exam,or in life again.

So to answer why i'm going for this exam ill prepared,the other option is to wait and forget,or avoid doing the exam.I basically have to do this exam,to not do it would be a terrible waste of money,i'm just not enthusiastic about the subject in the same way i was about the A+.

To answer the comment about the study book we used this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supporting-...r_1_46?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231480560&sr=8-46

and a lab manual which i can't find on the internet listed anywhere.

 

why do you just want to get one MCP instead of both?

You will constantly learn in an IT job and thats what certs really are for to show your experience and on the job knowledge.

If you want to work in a support role of any kind you need hardware knowledge and experience, Networking knowledge and experience and Using and supporting OSs (usally windows) and the apps that run on it.

So that basically covers A+,N+ and both MCDST exams.

 

With statistics and an attitude like that you may as well just give it up as you will definaitely fail it with around a 40% score. I don't mean to piss on your parade but what are you expecting from IT? What do you want to do in IT? And most importantly WHY are you trying to get into IT?

Not to mention a constant need (and passion) to learn new technology with the effort coming from you, all the time.

 

I've got bad news for you... the questions only get longer and harder as you progress.

 

Purchase an exam simulator and then decide fot yourself.
Quite simple really.

 

Passion is the word.

You shouldn't just read the books to pass the exam, you should be reading them to increase your all round knowledge. Sure, don't take the exams if you don't want to, but that doesn't mean you can't continue to read the books.

Don't forget either - You don't stop learning throughout your career; that isn't just IT, it's any job, it's even life.

 

Thanks for all the contributions,i've no real interest in the mcdst now,i'll sit the exam and get it over with,and won't be going in the direction many people would use the mcdst for,my interest,and what i'm very enthusiastic about is computer hardware and troubleshooting.
Something that i don't need to know many of the obscure subjects that fill up the mcdst,for example i don't need to know a thing about disk quotas for troubleshooting a motherboard.
I'd never do helpline or face to face customer support.

I may actually have been better going on an electronics course.

Depot technician is the sort of thing that interests me,i took the mcdst at first to combine it with the A+ .It looked as if it could be a challenge and something different.

My attitude is great if i'm interested in the subject,i devoted huge amounts of time to the A+ ,and did very well in this subject.

In answer about the second part of the mcdst i won't be doing customer support for office applications at any time in the future,if i sat the second part it would just be to add it as an extra qualification rather than anything else.

I'm still not sure what to make of this exam,few people are actually answering the question i first asked.

 

It is entireky upto you but unless you are one of those people in white suits building computer parts on a production line, you will will still have to know the OS side of things to configure that hardware.

 

I do understand a fair bit about the operating system,enough easily to fix computers all day,it's the "train spotting" type subjects i was stuck on,the stuff that i can't really see myself even using.

 

I see what your saying, I can't ever see myself clipping on a new BNC onto a coax cable but I'd rather know how to do it just in case. I'd rather say to an employer I can do that instead of thinking I'll keep quiet because I skipped that bit.

But that's just me.

 

Were i to be self employed repairing pcs the chance of someone asking me about assigning permissions or disk quotas is fairly small.

I really enjoy all the hardware stuff,when people can't even switch the pc on because of a severe fault i do well in these situations,the harder it is to solve the more i enjoy it.

Studying for the mcdst was probably a mistake on my part,something else hardware related may have made more sense.