Study problems

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Aloha.
My studies are currently in crisis!
After completing the A+ cert for my course I immediately started my MCSE. My training provider sends me the MS Press book 70-270 and a 50 question mock exam from Transcender. The pass mark is at least 4 correct in each section and 90% overall.
I have read through most of the book (very dry) and attempted most of the practical exercises I was unsure of. This obviously required quite a bit of time, I then recieve my letter "where is your exam? blablabla" so I decide to attempt the exam and send it in.
There must be approx 10 questions I knew the answer to from reading the book, even "cheating" and researching each question is proving rather difficult. I realise the only real way to resolve this in order to get the MCP is to buy more books at my expense then find the time (difficult) to read them.
If someone offered me my money back right now I would take their hand off.
Anyone done similair etc with any advice ?
I just cant seem to get into the Microsoft way of learning.
I actually enjoyed studying the A+

 

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Ok, take it easy. You'll be fine. First off, Transcender has an uncanny method of creating test banks that are very close in degree of difficulty to the real thing and MS does not make any of their tests easy.

I usually buy two tomes and one lighter book to study with. The MS Press book is a good start but you are right, they are very dry. I have also heard mixed reviews as far as whether they are detailed enough to enable someone to be able to pass an MS cert exam by themselves.

I'd recommend that you purchase (sorry) a second tome to supplement the MS Press book. There's an active thread in the 70-270 forum discussing book recommendations for this exam:

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread3681.html

You can start there in your search for a second book. I assume you also have access to a lab that allows you to perform the various hands-on tasks necessary to get the experience you need to pass the mock certs. Very often it isn't just what you remember reading that will get you to pass an exam but what you remember doing.

I know you are under a time crunch and we all learn different material at different rates, but you are going to need to get the additional resources and study as much as you need to in order to successfully absorb the material. Hands-on experience is the key to passing most MS exams, particularly the more advanced ones as you get to them.

Establishing a workable study strategy now and getting it to work will help you as you advance in your studies. If you have any other questions about your studies, please post them. We are here to support our members as they travel through this process. Hope some of this helps. Others will also be along to share their advice and experience with you. Hang in there.

 

I didn’t use the Microsoft books as I was told they are very dry, so I opted for Sybex books (I got the 4core modules for £60) which are a lot better to read and have some ok exercises for you to do. I bought a second PC also to practise with this was only a pile of crap but was good enough to run win2k server. I don’t know if you can get a copy of Microsoft’s e-learning course material I got hold of a server/pro win2k course for nothing this would good enough to get a understanding of the course but the Sybex books go into more detail and fill in most of the gaps.

Best place to get cheap books I found was http://www.superbookdeals.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi but they do take about 3weeks to come

Hope this helps