Experiences of gaining the MCDST

Discussion in 'MCDST' started by crazy horse, Dec 14, 2009.

  1. crazy horse

    crazy horse Byte Poster

    199
    15
    24
    I passed the 70-272 today with 930. :D

    I thought it would be good to post my experiences of gaining the MCDST. It was completed by self study and took approx 10 weeks of study time (6 weeks 271 and 4 weeks 272). I tried to spend about 5-6 hours a week revising, although some weeks was slightly less.

    My experience:

    18 months working in 1st/2nd line support (13 month placement and currently 5 months in my graduate role).

    Equipment Used:

    •70-271 – MS Press Book with MeasureUP content
    •70-272 – MS Press Book with MeasureUP content
    •Transcender Practice Exams (271 & 272)

    For both exams I used MS Virtual PC 2007 with Windows XP SP2 (with MS Office 2003 installed)

    How I found self study

    At the start I made a timeline and a goal of when I would like to be ready for the exams. Having, experience helped as I wasn’t learning from scratch. I think it helped that I have just finished university and so had an understanding of how I best revise. However, having a full time job meant that some weeks it was harder and took a lot of self motivation to do it.

    What I thought of each subject area:

    70-271

    •Having not sat a MS exam before I was a little nervous and a few of the questions were very long winded and needed a lot of effort to digest
    •The 271 contains more content than the 272 and so took me longer to revise and digest it

    70-272

    •I personally found this exam easier than the 271, mainly as much of the content in the 272 was covered in the 271 e.g.
    oSecurity Permissions​
    oNetwork connectivity​
    oSome of the customisation and language topics​
    •Having had my first exam I was more comfortable with the type of questions that were going to be asked.
    •The main subject areas such as office, outlook and IE were fine for me as I troubleshoot these apps every day and so this was a key benefit

    My final thoughts are:

    •Sounds silly but read the questions fully; in the 271 I changed my answer a number of times as I missed a sentence or two when I first read it. This can make the difference between passing and failing.
    •It helps if you have a little bit of experience using the apps and OS as I was able to skim over some of the topic areas as I had an indepth knowledge from my day-today activities.
    •Get some practice exams from some like Transcender (others are available) the questions they ask give a representation of what it’s like in the exam. The MeasureUp questions are fine for general study but for a quality test, investment in these is a must.
    oAlthough don’t rely on these religiously as you will get used to the questions and may not be a true reflection of your actual knowledge​
     
  2. Notes_Bloke

    Notes_Bloke Terabyte Poster

    3,230
    54
    146
    Congrats on the pass and the excellent write-up :thumbleft


    NB
     
    Certifications: 70-210, 70-215, A+,N+, Security+
    WIP: MCSA
  3. Dazimus

    Dazimus Bit Poster

    26
    1
    20
    Yep, congrats and cheers for the experience comments :D
     
    Certifications: A+
    WIP: MCDST
  4. craigie

    craigie Terabyte Poster

    3,020
    174
    155
    Great feedack!
     
    Certifications: CCA | CCENT | CCNA | CCNA:S | HP APC | HP ASE | ITILv3 | MCP | MCDST | MCITP: EA | MCTS:Vista | MCTS:Exch '07 | MCSA 2003 | MCSA:M 2003 | MCSA 2008 | MCSE | VCP5-DT | VCP4-DCV | VCP5-DCV | VCAP5-DCA | VCAP5-DCD | VMTSP | VTSP 4 | VTSP 5
  5. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

    1,335
    40
    97
    Congrats! and repped for the write up!
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10
  6. DVdog

    DVdog New Member

    3
    0
    25
    Great post Crazy Horse!!

    Nice to see how you approached the MCDST. Gives me a better picture of how to tackle it with my level of IT experience.

    DVdog
     
    Certifications: None
    WIP: A+,MCDST
  7. crazy horse

    crazy horse Byte Poster

    199
    15
    24
    Thanks for all the positive feedback guys! I will look at posting some more on my next couple of certs :biggrin
     
  8. Sunshine

    Sunshine Bit Poster

    18
    0
    2

    wonderful ,your experience can give us much useful information
     

Share This Page

Loading...
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.