271 last minute prep

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Hiya guys, i have put a good few hours into studying the 271(not as much as id have liked. but i had uni commitments), i plan to sit the exam on the 26th may, and i paid for second shot.

I have watched the cbt vids, and read most of the book, also done a few practice tests, from the ms training pack disc.

My question is, does anyone have any tips, guidance for the last month of my time, what should i do to ensure a pass? What areas should i focus mostly on, and any other advice is invaluable.

Best regards

Andrew

 

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Hi Bud,

First off welcome to the forums! It's tough to answer that question because everyone studies and learns differently. You say you've been completing practice tests. How have you been scoring on those exams? Here's what I did when I was down to the wire. I had a couple days left before my 271 and I wasn't doing so hot on the practice exams. Little details were killing my score.

1. First I took practice exams (at most 20 questions at once so I wouldn't use up too many of the questions in the pool) three times and then averaged out the scores for each objective.
2. I then listed the objectives in order from best to worst scores based on the practice exams.
3. I took those and then I reviewed the objective from worst to best. I went over my notes, did the exercises in the book, and went over the lesson/chapter reviews for the pertinent objectives. I used the objective list that comes with the MS Press book which breaks down the chapters and lessons where each objective is covered.
4. After doing this review I would then take a practice exam of just the objective I covered, and once I got a score I was happy with I moved on to the next objective. If I was still struggling with an objective, I reviewed the parts that gave me trouble and repeated.
5. Once I was done with my review of all the objectives, I took a mock cert exam. I was scoring between 70%-80%. Not the best, but I had to bite the bullet since my exam was upon me.

I had the second shot so I figured that I would just take the exam and worst case scenario I would re-take it. Ended up scoring an 816 and the exam itself felt much easier than the practice exams. One thing to keep in mind is that I have been supporting XP for a couple of years, so your mileage may vary. Short of the long: Make an inventory of what you are strong/weak on. Review the weak parts so that you're confident in your knowledge in them. The question bank can throw anything at you, so you need to ensure that you have a good understanding of the material. Best of luck... if you put in the work you'll pass.

Note: I had two practice exams to work off (the MS Press and a measure up exam I purchased off their website). My average exam was 20 questions at most, and the mock cert exam I did the default (45 or so, can't remember at this time). This is what I did and what worked for me, but keep in mind that you don't want to take the exams to the point where you're repeating the same questions. At that point you're just memorising answers and not learning. It also helps to read the explanations that are provided for the questions. Even if you got the question right, it's good to read on why answers A and B were the wrong ones, and C was right. It may seem redundant, but you're just reinforcing the materials.

 

Great advice mate, thanks

Repped
)

 

Some good advice from Apoc. Just relax and don't stress and it will come easier. You might want to think about bringing the date forward a little if you can as if you pass it doesn't give you much time for the 272 (end of June deadline).

 

I will take your advice on board. Nugget- i am only doing the 271, due to time constraints(i am at uni in conjunction to this self study in my spare time)

Regards

 

Hi Andrew,

Do as many practice tests as you ca from whatever book you have. Do them and redo them until you get 100% consistently. You should get a great score then.

Good Luck!

 

I can't say I agree with that statement, because the practice exams have only so much questions in their bank. Eventually if you keep "re-doing and re-doing" then you're going to encounter a lot of questions multiple times. You're just remembering answers at that point and it doesn't reflect a TRUE 100% passing rate. It just means that you've memorized the answer to a lot of those questions. Just my two cents, the OP should do what he feels is best for his prep, but I couldn't leave this one unchecked.

 

So far most of my learning has gone from the cbt nugget vids. Are these enough or should i read the training book as well. It is very long and time consuming was my only concern


CR