Where to start?

I am a student who is finallly getting serious about getting MCDST Certified,
and was wondering where to start. I have a few books, and have a virtual
machine to practice methods on, but I want to know what has worked for people
in the past. Any advice helps! Thanks!

 

What kind of experience do you have with the following:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-271.mspx#EOD
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-272.mspx#EQD

If you have little to no experience with the skills above, then get
some.

 

Michael, you seem to be the resident expert in these discussion groups. My
question is this and hopefully you reply quickly: I believe the 70-271 and
70-272 exams expire in Dec 2010, is this right? I notice some people are
still taking them. Right now IT is moving slowly to Vista. Are those exams
still worth it or should we just take the Vista exams instead?

 

I have not heard, nor read, any publicized statement from Microsoft
stating the retirement for the 70-271 and/or 70-272 exams. Many
businesses and residential users operate Windows XP and will continue to
do so for many different reasons. Regardless if this is true or not
(which again I have not heard anything about this), obtaining any
certification is a personal matter which only you can answer. My reasons
for obtaining my certifications were influenced by the job/career I do.
Certifications require time, money, and dedication. It should not be
pursued lightly.

--
Michael D. Alligood, MCITP, MCTS, MCSA, MCDST
The I.T. Classroom - http://www.theitclassroom.com/
CertGuard, Inc. - http://www.certguard.com/
Microsoft's Six Steps to Certifications -
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/sixsteps.mspx

 

Andy,

As a best practice what I have done to prepare for the MCDST ( besides
having a lot of experience in XP ) is to read both MS eBooks and also some
Training Videos like CBT Nuggets and doing some simulator exams to get
prepared for day 0.

Virtual Machines like Virtual PC is highly recomended since you can mess
with it without touhching your PC.

Good Luck in your Cert.
Ricardo Parraga
A+, MCP, MCDST.

 

I think those exams are still worth it because home users will be using XP
for a while and also once you get your MCDST you can take one test to upgrade
and get 2 certs for Vista as well.

 

I agree, take these two exams, then shoot for the MCDST Upgrade to MCITP
Vista Ent....all three of these exams will get you 4 titles:

MCP
MCDST
MCITP: Vista Enterprise
MCTS: Vista Config