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MC MCSE Newsletter :: 81st Edition :: March 1st, 2003
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In This Issue:
What�s New @ MC MCSE
Windows Server 2003 Certs Announced
Cisco Revises Certifications Again
It Is Official - A+ Will Be Updated
Osbourne 70-218 Book Review
Career Academy CCNA Product Review
Training Directory Update
At the Boards
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Incredible Deal On Training Software!!!
Purchased separately, you would pay $854.65 for this incredible certification package which includes the ExamBlaster� Test Simulation software and the Windows� 2000 Virtual Conference 2.0 Training Kit for exams 70-210, 70-215, 70-216, 70-217, 70-219, 70-220 and 70-221. As a special promotion with MC MCSE, we are offering you an opportunity to purchase this package for only $139.00 - that's almost 85% off the regular price!
Click here for details.
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New Tutorials:
We have added several new tutorials written by Jason Zandri as follows:
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| Windows Server 2003 Certs Announced |
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On February 17th, Microsoft announced their plans for the MCSA and MCSE certifications and MOC courses for Windows Server 2003.
Current MCSE and MCSA certificate holders will not be required at this time to upgrade their certs and will retain them.
For those who wish to upgrade their MCSE or MCSA to the current track, upgrade paths will be available. For the MCSA, the upgrade will consist of 1 upgrade exam. For the MCSE, the upgrade will be made up of 2 exams.
To view the new certification tracks and details, click here.
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| It Is Official - A+ Will Be Updated |
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On February 19th, CompTIA announced that they will be upgrading the A+ exams to reflect current technologies. The new questions will begin appearing on exams this summer but will not count toward the exam score until sometime in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.
CompTIA states that the upgrade will be minor and specifically mentions subjects such as latest memory, bus, peripherals, operating systems (Me and XP) and wireless.
More information about the upgrade and the new exam objectives can be found here.
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| Cisco Revises Certifications Again |
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Is it me or is it really difficult to keep up with all of the changes that Cisco makes to their certification programs? Well, they are at it again. This time they they have revised the CCDA certification by removing exam 640-605 (Remote Access) and replaced it with ARCH 642-871.
In addition, Cisco has retired the following exams.
Cisco Internet Solutions Specialist
Cisco SNA/IP Design Specialist
Cisco SNA/IP Support Specialist
Cisco Security Specialist 1
They have also changed their recertification policies.
More information about all of this can be found here.
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CBT Nuggets offers top quality CBT products covering MCSA, MCSE, MCSD, CCNA, A+, Network+, Server+, Linux+ and MOUS certifications. Check out the free demos at their web site!
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| Osbourne 70-218 Book Review |
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This review covers the "MCSA Managing a Windows 2000 Network Environment Study Guide". This guide is written by Rory McCaw
and Alan Simpson. This title was published by McGraw Hill/Osborne.
The book begins with an introduction to the MCSA certification, exam objectives, study tips, etc. Most of this information you can find at Microsoft's web site, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have it listed in the book.
The body of this text follows the format of the other certification books in this series and CD contains an e-book in PDF format. I was impressed with the number of tables, diagrams and screenshots included in this book and found them to relevant and helpful. The book also includes a number of side notes such as "Exam Watch", "On the Job", "In the Classroom", etc. The book is well written, easy to understand and thoroughly covers the exam objectives. The book also includes over 550 review questions which are located at the end of each chapter as well as a lab exercise. Do not expect the chapter end review questions to be like the real thing. They are intended to help you identify areas where you may still be weak and give you the opportunity to go back and review the material.
The book is accompanied by a CD that contains a good amount of content including Online Training, MasterExam, MasterSim and CertCam.
The online training features 1 free session from LearnKey. I tried to check out the features on one computer and received JavaScript errors. I tried on a different computer and got RealOne Player errors, so I was unable to find out what is being offered here.
MasterExam is a demo of LearnKey's test prep software containing 70 questions. I had the MasterExam software already installed from my review of the 70-270 study guide and when I tried to install this one for 70-218, the installer did not update the software to include this new exam. I had to remove the previous version and install the new one. The MasterExam software does a good job of simulating the real exam environment and the questions are comparable to the real thing.
MasterSim, also by LearnKey, is a Windows 2000 Advanced environment that contains 15 exercises that have you perform various tasks. The simulations are well done and will definitely help you learn what you have been reading about. The CD included with the 70-270 book contained 30 of these simulations and it would have been nice to have around that many included with this text.
The CertCam feature consists of 20 AVI video clips that provide step-by-step video instruction for various tasks discussed in the book. There are markers titled "CertCam" in the text that let you know that there is a CertCam clip available for that section. The clips are narrated by 2 different people and their usefulness depends greatly upon which one of them is at bat. The clips narrated by Rory McCaw are excellent and explain the concepts very well. The clips by the other narrator do not explain the "whys" and "hows" of what he is doing.
If you are looking for a good book, this is definitely one to consider. While the accompanying CD contains a lot of features and material, it appears to have its fair share of technical problems and some of the content is not on par with the book.
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| Career Academy CCNA Product Review |
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Career Academy CCNA Training Review
By David J. Schultz, CCNA
I have always looked on canned trainers as interesting, but I was never going to spend the money to find out. After looking at what Career Academy has to offer, I have changed my mind. For one price you get everything you need � a book, the instructor�s lectures on CD-ROMs so you can go back over them, test prep software, email and telephone access to the instructor, and an excellent virtual lab.
This package includes instructor led videos. I paid for an expensive IT school with an instructor. Recertification is coming up and where is he now? This instruction was better than my really expensive instructor was and I do not have to go at a slower pace with other students in a class when I am ready to move on. I wish that I had purchased this product the first time. The instructor was very interesting and he kept me going. He did not seem canned or like a puppet reading lines and he really knew how to deliver this information to a class and what topics to spend extra time on. He appeared to have a lot of experience in the classroom.
The book is the Sybex study guide by Todd Lammle, which many people feel is the book to use. This study guide covers both the theory and practical aspects for the new CCNA 640-607 exam.
The CCNA virtual lab contains three routers and a switch. It includes a realistic of all router and switch functionality that gears to the new CCNA exam. You can practice the routers on your own, follow the structural labs with step by step instructions or even build your own custom labs. It�s designed in conjunction with the Sybex CCNA Study Guide.
The test prep software that came with the package is good and I believe it provides a quality evaluation of your preparedness for the test. It contains over 400 CCNA questions Note that it did not have a built-in simulator like the real test has. On the other hand, you have the virtual lab and if you can do those you will be fine.
In all, this is a great product and I will be buying from Career Academy when I go for my CCNP, but I do have a minor issue with it. A couple of times the writing on the white board was difficult to see. Add this to the video compression and it made me have to take a second look on a few occasions. Fortunately, this never happened when key information was being discussed.
I have and will continue to recommend this product to anyone that is thinking of attending a technical school.
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| Training Directory Update |
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Our Training Directory contains hundreds of quality products that we recommend for your Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco and CIW certifications. Below you will find the products that have recently been added to our directory.
MeasureUp
Offers quality practice exams in online, download and CDROM formats for Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, CIW, Oracle, HIPAA, Sun, Novell and SCP certifications. Our visitors get an additional 15% off these exams at checkout.
(Added:
02-21-2003, Hits:
94, Rating:
5.00, Votes:
1, Reviews:
0)
With over 5,950 members and 5,406 posts, our forums provide a place where you can get answers to your certification and technical questions. Below are some of our favorite posts from the last 2 weeks.
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Replies |
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Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Need Info On A+ exams 220-221 220-222 |
4 |
29 |
February 27, 2003 |
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print Log |
3 |
17 |
February 26, 2003 |
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Network Cable - Laptop - Problem
Network card present, but not recognized |
2 |
14 |
February 24, 2003 |
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Interviw Questions
Need some advices |
4 |
43 |
February 24, 2003 |
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What to do next?
70-215 70-218 70-270 |
1 |
22 |
February 21, 2003 |
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xp distribution on w2k server? |
3 |
20 |
February 20, 2003 |
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DNS phantoms |
14 |
81 |
February 20, 2003 |
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Network Security
Where to start? |
4 |
33 |
February 20, 2003 |
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Securing Resources with NTFS Permissions |
4 |
46 |
February 19, 2003 |
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Test Network
Win 2k AD |
8 |
70 |
February 12, 2003 |
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