The All New MCDST Study Blog - 70-271

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hello all - and congratulations again to original blogger Arroryn for making the grade.

I have clocked up over 50 posts on this site since buying the MS Press 70-271 Self-Paced Training Kit (Second Edition). I think this forum can help me but my posts so far have included far too much about RickUK and far too little about 70-271. Hopefully this blog will concentrate my mind and maybe help others.

I will start off by stating my current situation:

Prior knowledge: almost nothing. Some of the desktop customisation and Internet Explorer chapters in the book were familiar but little else.
Study to date:
1. Recorded the chapter summaries and glossaries of the MS Press book using Audacity freeware. I listen to these as mp3s on my Sony Walkman phone.
2. In a similar way, I listen to the glossary and tips from the SumItUp quick summary reference which comes with MeasureUp tests.
3. I have purchased the MeasureUp test package which I have worked through in Study Mode as a learning opportunity rather than an evaluation of my knowledge.
4. I have watched most of the CBT Nuggets videos for 70-271 and made lots of notes. I tried to emulate what the narrator was doing on my computer.
5. I have read 5 of the 12 chapters of the MS Press book.

Knowledge to date:
Difficult to analyse. I may purchase another load of exam questions to do an exam-condition run-through.

Exam booked: 28 October 2008, Blue Screen IT training

Lifestyle: I live alone. I do a couple of hours of voluntary work each day but am at home the majority of the time. I am also studying for an Open University diploma in VB. I have made a start on the reading; the first assignment is to be handed in by 23 October.

I look forward to sharing my successes over the next two weeks.

Regards
Rick

 

Hi Arroryn

Thanks for your remarks.

My ego got a little carried away in the rest of my original reply so please ignore that last idea. More 70-271, less RickUK, as I said in my first post. I am currently going through 40 more questions from MeasureUp and have just revised where "Local Security Policy" is kept.

And yes you can change the pitch in Audacity. I may mess around with it before I walk into town this afternoon..

R

 

Yikes - 62% - and I had seen most of the questions already! Not good..

 

As previously stated by the lady - test questions aren't a 100% accurate respresentation so I wouldn't worry too much.

If your score is low then re-read and make notes on the relevant sections.

Qs

 

Thanks Qs.

I had an idea this morning, posted it, and then got a little bashful and deleted it. But I think it's a good idea so I'll post it again.

The idea is: perhaps I could do with a swap with somebody so that each could record some revision notes for the other person on to mp3. So Arroryn could potentially listen to me reading some revision notes on 70-272 and I could potentially listen to Arroryn reading some revision notes on 70-271.

I am getting a little bored with my own voice when walking into town. I lowered the pitch of my latest recording this afternoon and it did help make those facts memorable although m's and n's are indistinguishable. MAPI sounded like NAPI and WMI sounded like WNI.

R

 

Hello Rick - with regards to studying MCDST, does it matter which one you study first! I mean can you study 70-272 before 70-271 or are there parts in 70-272 that can only be undrstood after reading book 70-271?

 

Blimey! Life must be hard, even if you, cant understand your own self.

 

yes you can study 272 before 271... ...i did!

there are overlap between the two, nothing major though. it doesn't matter which one you start first, whichever really, you feel comfortable in.

 

thanks Cheeks

Sorry Rick for Hijacking the thread!

But....I was talking to one of the IT contractors today and he reckons that Comptia A+ and N+ together would equal 1 MCP? Basically he implied why waste time and money on Comptia when they don't have the reputation or signifiance of an MCP?

Does anyone know what a Comptia A+ and N+ would be equivalent to in a Microsoft cert?

 

think he must be referring to core credits rather than the MCP status.

You should really stop talking to people where complete utter bollocks come out of the mouth

 

Mr Cheeks - the reason I couldn't hear myself speak was that I had lowered the pitch on my mp3 voice recording. Rather like playing a 45 rpm single at 33 rpm.

UCM - no worries about hijacking. I'm afraid I can't answer your last question though.

 

Thanks Cheeks! I try not to talk to him and type away at my keyboard, hoping he will get the message to b@gger off!

I'm beginning to wish I hadn't mentioned that i was unhappy at work and study certs!

 

Thanks Arroryn, I feel a lot more happy now!

 

A+ and Network+ do not equal 1 mcp, the only thing it counts for is an elective in your quest for MCSA, personally i think the only reason you would not waste time and money on them is if you were already at say 2nd/3rd line/sys admin sort of level already.

They are worth having when starting out, whether you decide to do those, or the MCDST first is a matter of choice, I think both have benefits, and any recruiter/potential boss worth their salt should know that the certs are suitable for someone who is worth a shot on a 1st line position.

 

If you mean reading the words directly from the MSPress books id be very careful with this, as its a clear infringement of copyright.

If its reworded stuff I wouldnt bother, as no offence but i wouldnt be comfortable with revising from someone elses "notes", ie what the rewording meant to one person might not be the same as what I would think it to mean.

Sorry to be the copyright police, but its a pity MS dont include an audio version of the book on the cd you get, might be worth emailing them this, see if they could include it in future.

 

Ok - thanks for pointing that out

R

 

Question: is the reference to InfraRed just a red herring in the following MeasureUp question?

Your laptop computer has built-in support for Infrared Data Association (IrDA) devices. You want to configure the laptop so you can read files in a shared folder on another IrDA-enabled laptop computer. Both computers are running Windows XP Professional.

What utility should you use to configure your computer so you can map a network drive to the second laptop computer?

Answer: The New Connection Wizard in Network Connections