Help needed 297 exam

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Has anyone done the 297 exam, I'm currently on the course for this exam and finding it absolutely sodding ridiculous, the course is like no ther course I have ever done and the exam I have been told is quite different to all the other MS exams, any tips or pointers will be gratefully accepted

 

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umm if your profile is correct then you only got the 2 MCP's right? then if i have correctly understood microsoft 297 should be taken after 294 - NB these are exams for the MCSE - the day to day role of an MCSE to MCSA is very differently (according to MS) - i think thats why you finding it strange..

 

I agree with Zimbo, if I understand correctly you are referring to the Active Directory design exam. I did study and pass the W2K version of that. I agree that is is completely different and the exam, if it's anything like mine will be based on four case studies. I did not find this very easy either.

Have you done the Active Directory administration course/exam yet? This design one should definitely be taken shortly after you have passed that.

 

I may only have 2 mcps but the 10 years commercial experience should help me! I was also an MCSE in NT4. I have cabling certs as well as some Unix. So the fact that I only have 2 Mcps should not make any difference.

I have done the 293 course, the company I work for is paying for the courses and we have to grab them as they come along, hence me sitting the 297 course, so far I have sat the 290 and passed, 270 , passed, 294 and now the 297, I will be sitting these exams before the end of April

I am still after help in the mindset for this exam and MS strange idea of moving the goalposts for each scenario!

Thanks for any help chaps

Chris

 

Chris

Like Bluerinse I did the W2K version of this but I suspect the basis is still the same. It is usually 4 case studies -each contain a lot of information for the scenario such as basic network structure, management/administrative structure etc. You then have to decide the best AD structure based on this. I found this the most difficult exam that I have done (it was the only one I had to resit). The main problem I found was that in some of the scenarios it was extremely difficult to work out the structure of the company (in a non technical sense) and thus on what to base the overall design.

I think the idea of a scenario based exam is good because it is more realistic to a work environment than a series of unrelated questions but in the exam you get a set amount of information and thats it. In the real world if you didn't understand the basic structure you could ask more questions etc.

My advice is to spend time in the exam working out how the company "works" because if you pick the wrong design and base all your answers on that they are likely to all be wrong and 25% of the exam could go pear-shaped. From what I recall you can view all the questions and answers whilst the case study is open so you can possibly look for clues based on the multiple choice options given but once you've closed the case study you can't go back.

The other thing that sticks with me is that you need to know DNS very well. The books I used for W2K didn't seem to put too big an emphasis on the DNS structure but both times I sat the exam at least one of the case studies design structure was heavily dependant on getting that right. Of course this may have changed and the topic may be better covered now.

I hope this makes sense and helps with your preparation.
Good luck with the exam

Bosox

 

This is very true. I remember one of the case studies was about a ski resort, I must have read the lengthy case study four times or more and I couldn't work out what kind of domain model to base my answers on. In the end I was forced to guess. I still have no idea what they expected

It was tough but ISA was tougher IMHO.

 

Thanks Chaps for the advice, I think this exam requires a different mindset to the tother exams, off with the technical head on on with the planning head, I think that is why I struggled with the course. it got easier towards the end of the week so I guess my mindset was adapting

So I have the 294 to do next followed by the 297.............easy

 

I have the ISA exam somewhere in my future so that gives me something to look forward to.

 

i was thinking of ISA 2000 or 2004 as an elective.. and i was told it wasnt a tough exam? is this case studies as well or multiple choice and simulations?

 

It's a normal multiple choice exam. It is tough believe me, anyone who thinks it's easy has either not sat it or they have found an alternative study method

The ISA exam focuses on the enterprise version, which means clustering and configuring ISA chains. It would be much easier if this wasn't the case. I also found it difficult to find good study materials or others that had experience or were studying the same thing. If you check out www.isaserver.org you will see post after post of people failing the exam on multiple occasions. It took me a year to study for that one exam