Please, Sir! May I have another!

I'm totally wracked. I was up till 3 last night studying, tried to
catch 4 hours sleep and resume at 7 but the damn cat started howling
at 5am. That woke me up, and with all the coffee I had the night
before, I couldn't get back to sleep. I can't imagine how bad that
cat would be if it still had it's balls. I hammer-tossed the cat in
the direction of Canada and got back to studying some more.

Thank god for him, though. I had a feeling I needed to really review
automated/unattended installs. I was feeling hazy on that stuff and
as it turns out, half the test focused on it.

Well, I just finished taking the MS Windows XP exam. I guess I really
underestimated this test. I know there were a lot of "paper" MCSEs in
the
NT4 days but I don't think that's gonna be the case anymore. This
test was
HARD.

I picked up a cram book and it did an OK job. It was 430 pages and I
went
though it in about seven days. Last night and this morning put
together I
spent about 9 hours reviewing and taking practice tests. So basically
about
50 hours total.

The test really went into a lot of depth, though, and the cram book
just
scratched the surface. I'd be reading a question and thinking, "okay,
I
know where they're going with this, I know what the solution will be".
Nope. Every single question was tough. There wasn't a single
"gimme".

Each question would intentionally discard the obvious answers or give
scenarios where the most common solution wasn't applicable, so you
have to
know all those backwater voodoo solutions. There *were* a lot of
real-world
scenarios but they were the kind you would typically approach in real
life
with a trial-and-error methodology. Obviously, that isn't an option
on a
test. You had to be able to mentally troubleshoot a minimum of three
steps
ahead. It was crazy.

It was 50 questions and I finished with about three minutes left on
the
clock. I had enough time to review two questions and then got peaced
out to
the "Printing Report" screen. Passing score was 700 and I got a 737.

Doesn't get any closer than that. Guess I got rethink my strategy
going into the core exams.

Bill Bixby

>I know there were a lot of "paper" MCSEs in
>the
>NT4 days but I don't think that's gonna be the case anymore.

You are mistaken, there are more than ever.

Kline Sphere (Chalk) MCNGP #3

The Poster Formerly Known as Kline Sphere

Ouch..
The exams are tough. Every certification exam sets you up to fail the next.
Studying doesn't cut it - someone needs to write a guide on how to detect
the little secret microsoft voodoo methodology.

I must also note that the Outlook Express spell checker wants to capitalize
"microsoft".
I won't give them the dignity!

"Bill Bixby" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> I'm totally wracked. I was up till 3 last night studying, tried to
> catch 4 hours sleep and resume at 7 but the damn cat started howling
> at 5am. That woke me up, and with all the coffee I had the night
> before, I couldn't get back to sleep. I can't imagine how bad that
> cat would be if it still had it's balls. I hammer-tossed the cat in
> the direction of Canada and got back to studying some more.
>
> Thank god for him, though. I had a feeling I needed to really review
> automated/unattended installs. I was feeling hazy on that stuff and
> as it turns out, half the test focused on it.
>
> Well, I just finished taking the MS Windows XP exam. I guess I really
> underestimated this test. I know there were a lot of "paper" MCSEs in
> the
> NT4 days but I don't think that's gonna be the case anymore. This
> test was
> HARD.
>
> I picked up a cram book and it did an OK job. It was 430 pages and I
> went
> though it in about seven days. Last night and this morning put
> together I
> spent about 9 hours reviewing and taking practice tests. So basically
> about
> 50 hours total.
>
> The test really went into a lot of depth, though, and the cram book
> just
> scratched the surface. I'd be reading a question and thinking, "okay,
> I
> know where they're going with this, I know what the solution will be".
> Nope. Every single question was tough. There wasn't a single
> "gimme".
>
> Each question would intentionally discard the obvious answers or give
> scenarios where the most common solution wasn't applicable, so you
> have to
> know all those backwater voodoo solutions. There *were* a lot of
> real-world
> scenarios but they were the kind you would typically approach in real
> life
> with a trial-and-error methodology. Obviously, that isn't an option
> on a
> test. You had to be able to mentally troubleshoot a minimum of three
> steps
> ahead. It was crazy.
>
> It was 50 questions and I finished with about three minutes left on
> the
> clock. I had enough time to review two questions and then got peaced
> out to
> the "Printing Report" screen. Passing score was 700 and I got a 737.
>
> Doesn't get any closer than that. Guess I got rethink my strategy
> going into the core exams.

Sartan Dragonbane

The Poster Formerly Known as Kline Sphere <.> wrote in message news:<>. ..
> >I know there were a lot of "paper" MCSEs in
> >the
> >NT4 days but I don't think that's gonna be the case anymore.
>
> You are mistaken, there are more than ever.
>
> Kline Sphere (Chalk) MCNGP #3

Well, according to the MS site, only about five thousand MCSE 2003
certs have been issued (and you have to figure a good portion of those
were upgrade certs requiring only the 2 tests).

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.asp

I think you are probably lamenting the current state of affairs (2000
and NT4 certs) and I was speculating on things going forward.

Bill Bixby

(Bill Bixby) wrote in
news: om:

> Well, according to the MS site, only about five thousand MCSE 2003
> certs have been issued

it's early and there are always those who will cheat to get what they want
so the paper MCSE's will appear...

--
Neil MCNGP #30
"you'd do what, to who, for how many biscuits?"

Neil

Neil <> wrote in message news:<Xns94E49D15F22A0neilmcsehotmailcom@207.46.24 8.16>...
> (Bill Bixby) wrote in
> news: om:
>
> > Well, according to the MS site, only about five thousand MCSE 2003
> > certs have been issued
>
> it's early and there are always those who will cheat to get what they want
> so the paper MCSE's will appear...

Well, yes, some people will find a way to cheat at anything. I'm sure
there are a few people out there with CISSP certs that somehow cheated
to get it.

The problem with the 'paper' MCSEs is that they *weren't* cheating.
Their were a lot of people that were able to study for the tests and
legitimately pass them but who bore no semblance to a qualified
professional in real-life situations. I think that will be sharply
reduced going forward and add more credibility to the exams and certs.

Man, sounds like you guys just want something to bitch about.
Shouldn't you be using Unix?

Bill Bixby