What is the best way of tackling an MCP

[Cyber-Dude]

Hello fellow geeks,

 

What do you think is the best way to tackle an MCP exam. I've never done an MCP before. Iam looking right now at the 2003 network infrastructure book I bought from amazon for £20 including delivery.

 

I've thought about skimming through the book pick up the ideas then go through it again to enhance my knowledge.

 

Any tips, hints or ways of passing will be greatly appreciated.

[ChrisH]

Seems to be a lot of questions lately about Microsoft certification 8O

The problem with Microsoft exams is there is their way of doing things and everyone elses so you have to get used to how they say things should be done so you can answer the question properly and then get used to their style of questions.

If you are fairly experienced I would say buy the books and do it yourself otherwise look into doing a course.

The other thing you have got to ask yourself is are expensive Microsoft exams that expire every few years for you?

I'm currently working towards a foundation degree although I'm already an MCSA which I think will be more beneficial in the long run. If I did just the systems side of the foundation I would actually do the core exams again (which I aint gonna ) these kind of courses include other courses that are not vendor specific as well which would be more beneficial.

 

Anyway of to the courses section with you

[Cyber-Dude]

The courses tend to cost a bomb I've heard that they just reiterate what is in the book and follow through the lab exercises. I've a dummy server set up to simulate the lab exercises.

 

What extra's do you get from the course what are the pros compared to the cost and studying at home?

 

When do you think win 2003 will expire? I know its nearly 2007

[ChrisH]

You get the discipline of covering the materials in an ordered fashion and get to ask questions etc. The MOC (Microsoft Official Courseware (I think)) does differ a little from the books and has more exercises etc to do but I suppose this can all be done by yourself with a little dedication and asking questions in places like this forum.

 

For a test setup I would recommend using VMware/Virtual PC as you can have your own little network on your desktop providing you have enough memory. I usually run XP clients with 128 meg and Server with 256 so with 1 gig of memory you can run XP underneath and have a server and 2 clients running or maybe just 2 servers for when you need them. Course if you have more memory then great

[Dos_Box]

After my NT 4.0 MCSE courses I realised that they ofetn bear little resemblence to the reality of an average network. Once you add in other peoples products and hardware you have to change the way the book syas it shouyld be done, therefore making the knowlege redundant. The courses at Lancaster uni are better value and more 'real world' orientated as they discuss the knowlege without getting bogged down in manufactures methods and processes

[ChrisH]

After my NT 4.0 MCSE courses I realised that they ofetn bear little resemblence to the reality of an average network. Once you add in other peoples products and hardware you have to change the way the book syas it shouyld be done, therefore making the knowlege redundant. The courses at Lancaster uni are better value and more 'real world' orientated as they discuss the knowlege without getting bogged down in manufactures methods and processes

 

Plus if you really want to do the MS certificates the core are incorperated into the systems path if you wanted to go the whole hog.

[Cyber-Dude]

I've virtual pc set up on my work pc with 1GB of ram P4 3GHZ 8) it used to be the olde server. Back at home I am running it on a laptop with 512MB ram 1.7GHZ. Once win 2003 is up and running and you run xp as well the system really starts creaking

 

I have skipped and skimmed through a few chapters and realise that I can backup my DHCP data and take home to be imported. Is there an easy way to backup all AD, DNS and DCHP configuration data to neatly take home? Should start a new thread on this

[Guest frances]

barnfield college, Luton do intensive block courses for about £180 an exam. It includes the exam fee as well so it is good value. I have no idea what the quality of the couse is like though, but I am thinking of doing it.

[Norphy]

Hmm

 

That sounds tempting. I think I'd like to give that a go too.

[Cyber-Dude]

barnfield college, Luton do intensive block courses for about £180 an exam. It includes the exam fee as well so it is good value. I have no idea what the quality of the couse is like though, but I am thinking of doing it.

Thats pretty good value for a course considering the MCP exams cost about £100. Is that like a 2 day intensive course?

[ChrisH]

From what I have seen you seem to get the best value for money from the courses at the Universities as they usually have the exams thrown in.

[Cyber-Dude]

A degree is a broad area covering many aspects in the course and involves team working in a project. Skills which you cannot get from Microsoft. People skills is very important coupled with 3 years determination shows you are a true learner with commitment.

 

Dilemma

 

A young man who has just finished college who wants to embark on a networking career. Does he go to uni and end up with a huge student debt and not being very specialised in networking because the course was too broad. He may not get a job straight away when he graduates and pay off his debts. Would this young man be better off if he had started in an MCSA and Cisco and completed that within 2 years of his time and starting off in a junior poisition and being a senior in another 2 years.

 

What are your thoughts? Would your thoughts be different if this person was not a young man but middle aged? I hope to hear some interesting feedback. If that person was you what would you've done back then?

 

ps: will start a separate thread on this

[ind13]

ive done a couple of the exams, and ive used a variety of training materials,

 

when i first started, i signed up to a training centre i paid some and the school paid some, but it ended up being here's the microsoft book work your way through it call us if your stuck, they had a few machines available to mess around with but wasn't that impressed with the place.

 

the first place to check is the microsoft website, find the exam you want to do and it'll have a list of all the topics that are covered in that exam.

 

ive used the microsoft books and sybex books, there both good, but the thing you'll find is that certain topics will get more coverage in one book and less in an other, (either get work to buy books from different publishers, or find someone that you can swap books with)

 

i also blagged school into buying the training cd's from a company called learnkey, which are good but a bit pricey.

 

the best ones ive seen are buy a company called Trainsignal.

you can get the whole set on a load of cd's or a external HD.

but they cover every thing in lots of detail. the videos are organised in a bit of a weird way ie instead of video 1 - exam 70-290, its more of a video 1 = dhcp, video 2 - file servers,

 

head over to http://www.petri.co.il

theres some good reviews of the trainsignal stuff and also loads of useful mcse info. especially in the forums,

[beast_gts]

I've just finished the second year of my "Foundation Degree in IT Networking". I'm doing it part-time (2 nights a week) at Sunderland Uni and it includes MCSA and CCNA.

 

http://osiris.sund.ac.uk/webedit/allweb/courses/progmode.php?prog=G000&mode=PT&mode2=&dmode=C

[budgester]

What is the best way of tackling an MCP ?

 

I find creeping up behind them quitely and saying "Step away from the computer" usually works.

 

However if they are an MCSE i usually resort to a LART, as they tend to have a profound over confidence in their own capabilities.

 

Regards

 

Budgester

[OverWorked]

I've seen ludicrous prices like £6,000 quoted for an MCSA course. I've got the MCSA, and I think it's worth having (if it's backed up by the experience), but not worth spending much more than the exam fees on.

 

I just bought the MS books, and worked through it at home with virtual servers running in VMWare.

 

I don't know what the uni courses are like. I've already spent five years of my life at uni, and can't justify spending any more time in full-time education.

 

Save yourself the expense of a course. Just study the book for about three months, then try the exam. Make use of MS second shot promotion where possible. It seems to come round every few months.