MCDST before end of June.....hopefully!

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Hi,

I've recently finished reading the Self Paced & Sybex book for the 70-271 part of the MCDST certificate.

I've completed the end of Chapter exams relatively successfully and was feeling quietly confident about taking the exam but tonight I tried the Microsoft Readiness Review Suite (on the Self Paced CD) and didn't even get a chance to finish the exam! I only managed to finish 40/45 questions and of those, I only got an embarrasingly low 19 correct. (This is on the 'Practice' section as opposed to the 'Objective' section (Objective exam was much much easier)

The Practice exam seemed to asking things about things the book had not even touched on, for example, the Security Configuration and Analysis tool. Infact the words 'Security Configuration and Analysis" only come up twice in the whole book, excluding exam questions/answers!

Chapter 3 in the book states under the Exam objective heading:

'Identify end-user issues caused by local security policies such as Local
Security Settings and Security Configuration and Analysis'

While this Chapter does indeed go into detail about Local security settings, it doesn't even mention the Security config stuff...

To those who have taken the 70-271, do things like this pop-up in the exam? Any other things I should be wary of?

While I'm here, I may as well ask this too: NT 4.0 upgrade paths to XP...? Self Paced book says one thing, Sybex book says another...Patch NT4 to SP4,5 or 6?

Thanks!

 

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Have you checked that you book both the exams?
I know MS has said they will now retire in June, but on another thread it seemed like nobody had told Prometric about the change.
Might be worth checking before you go much further...

 

Have you done the exercises and additional reading from the MSPress book? They only spoonfeed you so much, the rest you have to find out yourself (although they are nice enough to point you in the right direction).

The good news is that the practice exams are significantly harder than the actual exam. I'd be a little concerned that you didn't finish the whole practice exam, but getting into the MS way of thinking, and learning to miss the waffle and cut to the chase are all part and parcel of MS exams.

"All versions of Windows NT 4.0 (Windows NT Workstation, Windows NT Server, Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition, and Windows NT Server Terminal Server Edition) must have Service Pack 5 installed before you can upgrade to Windows XP."
from here: Windows XP supported upgrade paths

It says SP6 in the 270 MSPress book

 

Jonny, Yep I've checked the Prometric site - when I check for seat availability at my local test centre, I can book up until the end of June.

soundian, I've done the exercises and all the labs. Although I admit I completely skipped over all the further reading sections with all the various KB & TechNet links. I didn't even think of going back to check them, thanks for the suggestion!

'....learning to miss the waffle'....haha, I'll take that onboard too!

I'm still confused about what the actual answer is for the NT4 --> XP Upgrade is. Hopefully it won't come up in the exam

(Any chance a mod could move this thread to the MCDST section?)

 

After some extra reading/revision I scored an 82% on one of the previously mentioned Practice exams

Got some of my confidence back now, Phew!

 

Quick question:

Is it possible to upgrade the MCDST to MCITP:EDST (by taking the 70-682) after the MCDST has been retired (end of June)?

Thanks.

 

I believe so.
Once you have the MCDST it will be yours for life.
I would imagine that they will be providing upgrade exams for a while yet.

 

That's good to hear.

Thanks Jonny

 

I don't imagine they'll withdraw the upgrade option for a while yet, it's not in their interests to put people off learning how to support Windows 7. The more people out there who are certified in both, the easier and cheaper it will be for companies to make the transition from XP to Windows 7.

I think I've figured out why they are withdrawing the MCDST. It's basically an XP/Office combo, and the retiral pretty much coincides with the retiral of Office XP extended support. I don't have my 272 MSPress book any more, but I'm pretty sure it mentions Office XP several times, and I can't remember it mentioning Office 2003 once.

 

Passed the 271 today with a score of 983

272 here I come

 

Congrats on pass

 

Thanks Red! Good luck for yours!

 

Congrats on the pass!

Btw, I've got the 272 MS Press book and they only mention office 2003, no mention of Office XP.

 

its not officexp its office 2003 for xp (there a difference).

 

That was for my benefit because I was speculating that perhaps it was Office XP since the retiral date of the MCDST exams coincides with the retiral date of support for Office XP.
Look like my theory is blown out of the water.

 

To be honest I didn't see your post but yeah its office 2003, outlook 2003, outlook express and bits from the 70-271.

My main problem when studying it was that I have hardley ever used Office because I have always used Open Office and outlook express. I tried to memorise how things where put in the book to help me pass with the odd little practice at work where we do use office (but not very much).

 

Passed 272 today

Been looking at doing the 70-682 which is apparently comprised of material from 70-680 and 70-685. The 70-680 Press Book is (according to amazon reviewers) full of errors and the like.

Can anybody recommend a different source to study for the 680 section? Or was it sufficient to pass?

Also is the 682 a straight 50/50 of both 680 and 685?

Not sure if I should do the A+ and/or N+ first (before 682).......Hmmm....

Cheers.

 

Congratulations

 

Thanks man - goodluck with your 272!