Quick MCSE questions

Depends on your level of knowledge. I had about 7 years of experience when I did my NT4 MCSE and did it in 3 weeks on a 'bootcamp' style intensive course that just buffs your knowledge of the exam-specific topics and has you doing 2 exams at the end of each week.

Took 3 weeks to do W2K MCSE as well (full track, not upgrade) on another bootcamp style course.

Although the bootcamps were great for me (passed each exam first time, some with 100%), I wouldn't recommend them for anyone new to the subject matter with no practical experience - as they only teach you to pass the exams and don't give you an in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.

Had some newbies on both my bootcamps and they were working/revising until 10-11pm every night, while I was down the pub with my other experienced colleague. We breezed the exams and they failed. Felt a bit sorry for them when I was completing my exam after 30 mins and they're sitting there, sweating over a question, only to hear the whir of the printer as my pass cert gets printed. ;)

I've found that when you're not working in that arena day to day, it's far harder to keep your knowledge up to date. Still haven't completed my W2K3 upgrade due to move into management and now need to get the final exam in before end of March....can I be arsed?
 
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I'm thinking of doing an MCSE too.

Any pointers?

Is it doable in your free time (evenings and weekend) as I doubt my employer will embrace this?

What sort of learning materials are available, is there any documentation and is it any good?

How hard is it? (Crap question as this is no doubt down to the individual but has to be asked!)
 
If you are working like me, they can take 12-18months with some companies, one I am looking at though is very cheap but a reputable company (QA-IQ) working out to £125 per day which is very reasonable, especially when I am not paying.. Just got to persuade work to send me off for what is 7 weeks out of the office...
 
is it worth just starting on the 2003 exams? can anyone offer some advice on where to start now as 2003 seems a bit pointless at this stage.
 
I did my 70-290 & 70-291 Course with Skilsolve (http://www.skilsolve.co.uk), its one week for each @ £895 per time (ouch), but the place is really good, work paid for me ;)

That was 4 months ago and have not got round to sitting the exams yet (work has been to busy so studdying has slipped), but plan on doing so in the next few months.
 
It isn't easy. The questions are designed to test your knowledge. There are drag and drop, multiple choice and simulations all designed to trip you up.

Some of the questions look quite easy but then you think in real world solutions that they are easy and not in Microsoft terms. In one question I was told that i had a WUS server and that all users pointed to this for there updates. You need to save as much hard drive as possible, how would you do this? I thought that, because by default WUS downloads all languages, that changing the locale to UK would be the right answer. In fact it was not. The answe was redirecting the clients to Windows Update. I mean why would you implement WUS to redirect them to Windows Update?

It's a lot of hard work and you will learn a lot if you do it properly. For me it was well worth doing!



M
 
m4cc45 said:
It isn't easy. The questions are designed to test your knowledge. There are drag and drop, multiple choice and simulations all designed to trip you up.

Some of the questions look quite easy but then you think in real world solutions that they are easy and not in Microsoft terms. In one question I was told that i had a WUS server and that all users pointed to this for there updates. You need to save as much hard drive as possible, how would you do this? I thought that, because by default WUS downloads all languages, that changing the locale to UK would be the right answer. In fact it was not. The answe was redirecting the clients to Windows Update. I mean why would you implement WUS to redirect them to Windows Update?

It's a lot of hard work and you will learn a lot if you do it properly. For me it was well worth doing!



M
Click to expand...
Yeah, you have to follow the letter of the question, ignoring common sense.
ie; the question was "as much hard disk space as possible" not "as much hard disk space as possible, while still making sense" :p
 
Yes very true. I'd also recommend setting youself goals along the way. The only way I could do it was in stages (i.e. MCDST then MCSA then MCSE whilst having a break along the way).



M.
 
m4cc45 said:
In one question I was told that i had a WUS server and that all users pointed to this for there updates. You need to save as much hard drive as possible, how would you do this? I thought that, because by default WUS downloads all languages, that changing the locale to UK would be the right answer. In fact it was not. The answer was redirecting the clients to Windows Update. I mean why would you implement WUS to redirect them to Windows Update?
Click to expand...

Thats probably one of the worst MS questions i've ever seen. The "right" answer is just totally wrong in any sort of real world scenario.
 
some great info in this thread now thanks all :)

very interested to here some more examples of questions that may get asked and the "microsoft" way they should be answered.

hope the company don't make me rush through it. IF I get the job :)

G
 
I've been given a training budget from my new place and they hinted that part of it needs to be spent on an MCSE :)

I'll be shooting off to a 2 week boot camp though as it's purely to get the thing, although I'm sure I'll learn loads I don't really need it in my current role. But if they want all their server guys to have them who am I to complain :)

But if I didn't have the experiance behind me I'd definitely be doing one of the longer courses, maybe :p Can't see how you'd really take in all that info in 2 weeks and retain it well.
 
The WUS question was a question in exam 70-299.

The only other question I can remember of the top of my head is:

You need to enforce a Terminal Services Policy. Enterprise Admins will never be able to use Terminal Services. Domain Admins will always be able to use Terminal Services. Members of the Staff group will be able to access Terminal Services through the day.

Drag and Drop Scenario:

Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.

Answers for the steps are from:

Staff - Allow Access Always
Staff - Allow Access Day Only
Domain Admins - Allow Access Always
Domain Admins - Deny Access Always
Enterprise Admins - Allow Access Always
Enterprise Admins - Deny Access Always


You guys can answer that one (easy enough!)


M.
 
I have my MCSE 2003 + Security. Will be doing Exchange 2007 soon (wish I had done MCSE 2003 + Messaging! :( )

Great qualifications despite what the naysayers say. Not a massive amount of people in the world have a 2003 MCSE.

However, I find myself wanting/getting moved down the processes line so, hopefully will get my Prince2 and ITIL soon.

Roll on the big money then!

Edit: The MCSE did f'all for my money at the moment... :(
 
I get a pay review in February so I'll let you know how it goes for money!

I read somewhere on Microsofts site that, World-wide, there are 90,000 MCSE 2003's which isn't all that much!




M.
 
I may have got the wrong end of the stick but is some sort of update happening in March?

I'm thinking of buying the following:

MCSE Self Paced Training Kit: Windows Server 2003 Core Requirements (Pro-Certification) (Paperback)

Is this any good, and is this likely to be updated in the near future?
 
Also, if you self learn completely, practical experience aside, its the above documentation enough to get you by?

How much does it cost if you "go it alone" as it were?
 
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