Review for 70-642 Boson ExSim Max Exam Pack

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I recently signed up to submit my thoughts on another of Boson's Ex Sim Products, the 70-642 Exam Prep. As part of this group I agreed to provide them with feedback on the content, its relevance to the exam and any mistakes/typos I may spot. This thread serves as my unbiased review of the product for those that are studying or looking to study the Server 2008 Network Infrastructure exam.

To keep things more structured I’ve split it into a few sections. The test engine section is literally cut-and-pasted from my previous reviews as it hasn't changed since then.

The Test Engine

The Boson Exam Environment consists of a very friendly user interface. It initially opens up with a list of the exams you have purchased but there are other tabs for saved exams (which I used a lot – couldn’t seem to get through a 50 question exam without getting distracted!) and such but all in all, a simple and friendly UI. When you load up the exam it again opens in a similar styled UI which gives you the choice of predetermined exams, custom exams or exam options (e.g. study mode, practice mode, etc).

I did have one issue with the UI which was to do with the way it rendered on my screen, practically making some of the elements unreadable. To be clear; this didn’t interfere with the actual tests just the UI prior to the test however it was something I felt Boson needed to be aware of. Upon contacting them I was told it is something their team are currently working on and that it was to do with the DPI setting being medium or above. Changed my DPI to smallest (100%) and it looked far better with all elements visible. The first time I reviewed a Boson Product I was disappointed by the fact it didn’t have the ‘eliminate questions I have answered correctly x amount of times’. Well it turns out it does have that setting, I just missed it. To my credit I did search for it when I had the rendering problems and it actually wasn’t visible then, jumped out nice and shiny once I changed the DPI though

One final comment about the engine, I’m not too keen on it’s insistent to be connected to the big wide world. Every time I launched it when I was out and about and not ‘online’ it chucked up a message asking me if I wanted to launch in offline mode. It also seems to require you to submit your scores to the Boson servers which, whilst they use it to improve the products, I’m not too sure I’m all that keen on.

Overall though I like the UI and, whilst I think there are some improvements that can be made (the DPI issue, insistent ‘on-line’ connectivity, etc) it is certainly one of the better engines I have come across.

The Content

The important stuff! I began using this software after finishing the MS Press Book and went in to it feeling very confident. Got around 700 for my first exam, which MS consider a pass though Boson set the default pass at 800 (which I kind of like as I don't want to pass by just scraping my way through).

As I've said on previous occasions, the Boson stuff shines when you come to the 'further reading' section at the end of each explanation as they often have 3 or 4 links to articles online as well as references to published texts. Whenever I came across a concept I didn't fully understand I'd hit the links and read away.

Went through the exams in my lunch break and when I had a spare half hour at home (that's where the ability to save the exam really helped!) until I went through the whole series. I eventually ended up sitting one further exam containing the 20 or so questions I had got wrong after going through all 3.

Sat the exam today and scored 883 so once again I'm well chuffed with the results and the fact that the Boson software filled in a few gaps the MS Press Book had left.

The actual content of the engine was up to date too, after sitting my exam today I can comfortably say nothing was mentioned that I'd never heard of before.

Summary

Whilst I can’t give Boson all the credit for the score, they certainly played a big part in it by providing me the tools with which to seek further information. I am going to begin studying for the 70-646 and will definitely be purchasing the test exams from Boson. This in itself is a testament to my thoughts on their products; I’m willing to pay for them.

 

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Thanks, Killian! And congrats on passing the exam!