70-291, I'm Ready To Take On The Beast!

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OK, erm, not quite ready thats why i've got a couple of questions...

I recently passed the 290 after around 2 months of study plus a week tutor led course. I found the exam and material fairly easy as I've worked in a second line role for past year or so plus I have a keen interest in the subject. I used the MS press book virtual PC and the material from the course to pass.

Now its time to take on the 291 beast My employer has said they will book me on another tutor led course for the end of next month and they probably expect a pass around that time

Now which book would everyone recommend to start of with? The the MS press book takes a bit of a grilling on Amazon and unusually there does not seem to be that much choice of study materials for this course.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

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It's not an easy one mate.. The only time you'll know you're ready is when you've gone over the entire syllabus, and are able to think to yourself 'I know everything on here!', cos if you don't know everything, chances are you aint gonna pass

With regards to your book question, I'm not sure as I didn't get one. I found cragies 291 notes very useful!
Check them out, think they're stickied here

Good luck!

 

I found the Sybex book fairly good for the 291.

 

Do you know the actual title for this book as im being blind on Amazon.co.uk?

 

This is the one.

You don't need the title of the books usually, an exam code search works most of the time. I just searched for 70-291 and it was the 3rd in the list.

 

Hmm that reminds me, I still have my second copy of the MS 291 ( I also have the MCSE core requirement set). Offers?

Its a brutal exam. I planned to start studying and finish it within a couple months. With work and the "fear" it turned into almost a year and completely killed my enthusiasm for study.

You may survive the beast but like me it could leave you scarred

 

Thats does not bode well for my future plans I think if my employer was'nt willing to pay for the course I would find it VERY hard to motavate myself to learn what is a very dry subject off my own back. Although I did enjoy the 290 so maybe im just being pessimisitc

 

Thanks for all replies by the way guys.

I find it a daunting prospect just thinking about taking on this animal now

Ive got a month before the course now which by no means is nearly enough time to read the material but Ill just have to give it a try! The GF is going to be

 

You may love it. Stranger things have happened. I thoroughly enjoyed the 290 but the 291 was soooooo boring. Still, its done now.

Doing a residential should help you on your way though. A week of solid focused study should be a healthy kick start.

Dont take my take on it as gospel though. I took a long long time on studying for this exam and didnt feel ready when i took it Some people flew through it in no time. I like to go in well prepared. Never got less than 900 on a MS exam and never want to. Nice and slow. I'm not doing this for certificates. I'm doing it for knowledge

 

Update*** Ive just had a chat to the boss and Ive got a choice of doing the Exchange 2003 course first.

The benifit of this would be I would not have to commute an hour into london (the tube at rush hour), which Id have to do for the 291, as there is a local provider doing the 284. And I could do the 291 local in Jan/Feb.

As far as im aware to do the Exchage course you will need to be an AD guru and would preferably need the AD course as a stepping stone. Plus at work my main task that revolves (off the top of my head) around Exchange is checking queues for stuck traffic creating and migrating mailboxes etc. But the boss has said I would be involved in mail migration in the future and get more hands on. I realise this is a very thin exposure to the application so would I be in over my head or should I just go for it, bearing in mind I do get the chance to administer servers day to day using stuff I learnt on the 290.

I will have to do the Exhange at some point. So the question is- Going from material in the 290 to the 284 is there too much of a skills gap (bearing in mind, limited exposure in work), or should I just bite the bullet and keep on the 291 track???

Sorry for long post but advice needed...

 

I too got through all the exams upto 70-291. The others I did in about 1 year or so and I put off the 70-291 for over 2 years. I would say if you want your MCSA then do the 70-291 first and get it over and done with.

The problem with the old exams is that the topics covered are too broad in my opinion. I'll never use a lot of the technologies studied in 70-291 so it was a pain to learn knowing I'll never use the knowledge gained. I think MS are channging this with the newer exams.