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In This Issue: :: What�s New @ MC MCSE :: Prosoft Gets NASDAQ Extension :: MCDST Exams To Enter Beta :: 70-297 Active Directory Exam :: MOS 2003 Exams Coming Soon :: Article: Keeping Your Skills Updated :: Article: My Experience With 640-801 :: At the Boards
BIG News Our parent company, 7 Seconds Resources, Inc., has acquired CertifyPro.com. CertifyPro offers our ExamSim practice test software to help you prepare for your certification exams. We have free 30 question downloads available so check it out and see how we compare to the competition. Currently, we are developing exams for the new CCNA 640-801, Windows 2003 and CompTIA A+ 2003 objectives. These exams are being written by industry experts and published authors and will begin appearing over the next month. We will keep you updated. New Testing Center is Live Our new free online Testing Center is now fully live here. There are currently 34 free practice exams containing over 1,600 questions - and there are more coming! I am sure that this makes our site one of the largest repositories of certification exams on the net. This project started with a free piece of testing software that has been heavily modified to do what we wanted it to. Most recently, we added the ability to select the number of questions that will appear on your exam. There is currently a bug with the way the statistics are reported and that will be corrected by the middle of next week. In order to make this all happen, I spent countless days and nights manually copying the questions from the old database to the new one. This combined with my exhaustion, has inevitably led to human error and a couple of visitors have already pointed out some mistakes. If you find mistakes, please report them to me and I will fix them ASAP. New Resource Pages We are now supporting a greatly expanded number of certifications. For that reason, we have had to add quite a few resource pages for the new certifications and exams. Here is the list of new resource pages that contain exam details and links to our resources. RHCE 302: RHCE Certification Lab Exam LPIC 101: Junior Level Administrator (test 1) LPIC 102: Junior Level Administrator (test 2) IBM Test 141: XML and Related Technologies 1D0-420: CIW Site Designer 70-175: Visual Basic 6.0 Distributed 70-176: Visual Basic 6.0 Desktop 70-228: SQL Server 2000 Administration 70-229: SQL Server 2000 Design 640-801: CCNA 640-801: CCNA
Read Prosoft's Press Release.
Exam 70-272, Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Windows XP Operating System, will be in beta from 11/14 to 11/20. Click here to read the full article.
Fortunately, upgrading your skill set does not necessarily mean enrolling in yet another expensive instructor-led course. Of course, there are many unique advantages when it comes to learning in a classroom environment, but there are also other cost-effective methods that will not deprive you of your social life and the bread for your family. User Manuals: If you are already using the application/product at work, there will most likely be a user manual lying around. Spend some time going through this piece of documentation as it will usually contain some form of introduction to the technology involved as well as some invaluable advice on how to utilize the application/product. Online Help: Similar to user manuals, you can actually learn a lot from using the application/product�s online help. One good example would be Microsoft Office. Practically everything you ever need to know about Microsoft Office is in there. All you need to do is �ask�. Online help can even be beneficial for certification candidates. For example, you can almost prepare for your Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator (CCSA) by just absorbing all the information in the online help provided by Checkpoint. Talk about cost effective! Public Library: Libraries of today are not the same as those of yesteryears. While it was impossible to find decent or updated IT related materials in public libraries a few years back, it is a different story nowadays. You will be amazed by the variety available. In addition, borrowing books instead of buying them saves you money and since IT technologies are so dynamic, there is no point in spending so much money on books that will be outdated in a few months anyway. The advantages of reading books is that you can do it almost anywhere, while waiting for a friend at the caf� or even during a train ride, however, please buy the book if you think it is good reference material that you will use in the future. Internet: When I was a tertiary student, the Internet wasn�t as readily available (not to mention as affordable) as it is now. Perform a search in your favorite search engine (try google.com if you don�t have a preference) and you�ll be rewarded with tons of free information. However, if you are looking for information on a popular topic, try Web Portals dedicated to it. For example, if you are looking for certification related articles or tutorials, where else better to start than MCMCSE.com? Another valuable online resource is Forums. Decent forums are populated with people from all over the world. These people possess valuable knowledge and experiences and the best part is they are willing to share and guide you! (If you ask properly) I personally love to direct my queries at online forums, but only if I can�t find what I need from the Internet or through Web Portals. Vendor�s Website: If the information you are looking for is proprietary, the best place to look is at the vendor's web site. For example, if you are a Systems Administrator on the Microsoft platform, your best friend would most likely be Microsoft�s online knowledgebase. And similar to online help files, vendor web sites can be a goldmine for certification related material. User Groups: User Groups offer you the chance to mingle with like-minded people near you. This is valuable peer support, especially if you prefer to talk to real people or get valuable hands-on practice. The best example would be your local Palm or Linux User Group where enthusiasts gather and learn from each other. As with instructor taught courses, the possible knowledge gained through the above resources is only as valuable as the article�s author or the person offering the advice and nothing beats the real thing � experience. While it is not advisable to fool around with your production servers, it is a great idea to install demo versions of applications/products on your PC. For example, you can request an evaluation copy of Microsoft�s Operating Systems, SQL Server or even Checkpoint�s Firewall and try them out without the real risk involved. By Adam Chee W.S.
I am obviously elated but at the same time I think that a faulty simulation question caused me to waste 30 minutes is not an acceptable standard. The thing that turned me off the most was the response of the keyboard in the simulations. It was absolutely ridiculous!! Imagine typing and the characters popping up on the screen after 3 seconds or more. Don�t even think of suggesting that something was wrong with the computer as the invigilator confirmed that it was the same on all of the computers. Besides, I am pretty sure that while the exam was loading it did some kind of a test to validate that the machine had met the minimum specifications. In all the experience was of a far less standard than I expected from Cisco. I discussed the particular simulation question with a CCNA tutor afterwards even though I did the full self-study method and he told me that what I did seemed right. I will definitely give Cisco feedback. Unlike the CISSP which is described as 2 miles wide and an inch thick, this one seems more like a mile wide and a mile thick�.and it is. I was told that you NEVER quite feel prepared for this exam and I agree wholeheartedly as this was also my experience. Don�t overlook any area while preparing for this exam! I have found that there was a heavy focus on ACLs, frame-relay, switching, knowing the differences between the routing protocols as well as subnetting. I answered all of the subnetting questions by calculating the answers in my head. This becomes absolute necessary when you are left with too much to do in too little time. I did not expect such an outcome and it is a good thing that I regained my composure after I initially panicked. If I weren't for the fact that I am a quick subnetter I would have failed for sure. I am also convinced that an angel was sitting next to me in that room. I studied for this exam using Richard Deal's book ISBN: 0072229349 included with the Boson NetSim. I am not overly impressed with either the book or the Sim. The book had too many mistakes and the Sim was clearly designed to frustrate you to the point of buying the full blown version just so you would get rid of the annoying popup that reminds you of the limitations of the LE version. Sorry, I just don't admire that kind of marketing. See my review on Amazon. Before that however, I used the 4-CD pack CD-baces training from CBT Nuggets as a precursor to prepare me mentally for the scope of the exam. They were well worth it and covered most if not every topic. As with all CBT Nuggets products I have used so far, the trainer really knows his stuff. By Anson
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