70-290 Exam - How Many Questions?

ryanthelion84 · #1 18-Apr-2008, 04:17 PM

How many questions are in this, or any MCP exam? Do different questions carry more points than others for your final mark?

Also how is the best way to prepare for an exam once you have read all the content and re-read weak areas...

I know there are suggestions on here as to extra topics to revise from technet and so on.

Also there are exam practices in the MS Press book....i have the first edition, so not sure whether these are still relevant to the format of the modern exams?

Can you get any practice/mock exams from anywhere, ie microsoft website or other providers?

Thanks!!

Ryan

onoski · #2 18-Apr-2008, 07:06 PM

Hi Ryan, I presume you're preparing for the MS 70-290 exam and would advice the MS press book version second edition.

In terms of the exam questions they are in the range of about fifty questions, for exam prep test you can get transcender, measureup or preplogic. Do you currently work in the IT field or are aspiring to? Best wishes and remember with persistence and hard work it can be done

ryanthelion84 · #3 18-Apr-2008, 07:22 PM

Hey onoski!

I already work in IT - Healthcare, have done for the last 5 years, Healthcare IT salaries are grossly inflated and I'm looking to move outside of the industry as im a bit fed up with it! As such I need to re-skill in order to avoid a salary cut!

Anyway...70-290.., I appreciate that the 2nd ed of the MS Press book would be best, but I bought the first editions back in 2004 with good intentions and would see discarding them for the 2nd ed a waste of money, not to mention the fact i cant afford 2nd ed books tbh, the microsoft website must have a bunch of mock papers on it?

my game plan at the moment is to finish studying from my 70-290 first ed, then go over the exam practices in the book and the ones of the CD, review what i get wrong and restudy it, then i need some help from you folks on here to determine what the current hot topics seem to be in the exam and make sure im up to scratch on it. I might read up on WSUS as well, it would appear that has replaced SUS since my first ed book was written!!

Cheers! Ry

onoski · #4 18-Apr-2008, 07:54 PM

Good points Ryan, and yep! make microsoft technet your reference alongside the book you currently have. You should be fine and yes its now wsus being covered in the exams.

Xenophon · #5 18-Apr-2008, 08:53 PM

Yeah I am still not sure about this myself. For example most exams I have done have between 40-60 questions but your score is rated as 100-1000 with 700 being a pass. I assume that different questions have a different rating. I was also told by a trainer from QA-IQ at Reading UK that the answers you give can still score points even if you do not get the whole question correct. I guess that makes sense. Would be nice to get a confirmed explaination of all this from some official MS source?

As for questions, Transcenders are the best I have used so far, especially as there simulation questions are similar to the actual exam simulation question interface. Expensive though at about £80 each. You get what you pay for I guess!

Tinus1959 · #6 19-Apr-2008, 11:06 AM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xenophon

Yeah I am still not sure about this myself. For example most exams I have done have between 40-60 questions but your score is rated as 100-1000 with 700 being a pass.

”

I wonder where you got this information. If you answer no question at all you score 0. I once had to test a machine for prometric. They activated a live exam for me (70-291) and I answered only 1 question without reading. My score: 27 points. The number of questions is also not correct. I have seen exams with only 30 questions (exchange) and the largest was 65.

Quote:

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I assume that different questions have a different rating. I was also told by a trainer from QA-IQ at Reading UK that the answers you give can still score points even if you do not get the whole question correct. I guess that makes sense. Would be nice to get a confirmed explaination of all this from some official MS source?

”

This is correct. It is stated on the MS site that partly correct answers can be scored. It does not say will be scored. Look at the FAQ in www.microsoft.com/learning

Quote:

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As for questions, Transcenders are the best I have used so far, especially as there simulation questions are similar to the actual exam simulation question interface. Expensive though at about £80 each. You get what you pay for I guess!

”

Other options are MeasureUp (they also have simulations AND are mensioned on the MS website) or Boson. Transcender was good, but the quality is getting less.

ryanthelion84 · #7 19-Apr-2008, 02:29 PM

So basically MS dont offer any free mock exams and they cant even confirm for you on an by exam basis what their scoring system is, waste of £88 if you fail the exam then! What a load of bull!

Tinus1959 · #8 20-Apr-2008, 02:56 PM

Quote:

“

Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

So basically MS dont offer any free mock exams and they cant even confirm for you on an by exam basis what their scoring system is, waste of £88 if you fail the exam then! What a load of bull!

”

Nobody is forcing you to take these exams. If you want them, you'll have to play by their rules.

ryanthelion84 · #9 20-Apr-2008, 05:29 PM

Shocking. Got a mind to take your opinion and force it back down your throat, but i am generally too nice a person for that!

I'm father to a 3 month old baby girl, with a partner who is on maternity leave only getting paid the statutory pay, and a £800pm mortgage and no money to splash out on posh 'exam centre simulator 2008 software' (transenders and such) and would be just as happy for MS to say, 'here are a bunch of 70-290 exam questions we dont put in the exams anymore' so at least people can practice. I have been studying 5 days a week and because im studying from the 70-290 first ed (purchased in 2004) i am having to work extra hard to match up the differences between what i am learning and the current server 2k3 release. Now I am happy to fork out the £88 for each exam, all i'm asking for is a bit of advice on how to have the best possible chance of passing with the resources i have.

hopefully that shot you off your perch.

greenbrucelee · #10 20-Apr-2008, 06:04 PM

If you can't afford to pay for the practice exams then just try to make sure you know as much as you can then take the exams

Microsoft, compTIA etc don't tell a candidate how many questions there are or how they are marked to try and stamp out the cheats.

I recently asked compTIA if I could find out what questions I got wrong on the A+ but this isn't allowed either because I could tell someone about them.

Tinus1959 · #11 20-Apr-2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

Shocking. Got a mind to take your opinion and force it back down your throat, but i am generally too nice a person for that!

”

Why would you do that? I'm only trying to help.

Quote:

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I'm father to a 3 month old baby girl, with a partner who is on maternity leave only getting paid the statutory pay, and a £800pm mortgage and no money to splash out on posh 'exam centre simulator 2008 software' (transenders and such) and would be just as happy for MS to say, 'here are a bunch of 70-290 exam questions we dont put in the exams anymore' so at least people can practice. I have been studying 5 days a week and because im studying from the 70-290 first ed (purchased in 2004) i am having to work extra hard to match up the differences between what i am learning and the current server 2k3 release. Now I am happy to fork out the £88 for each exam, all i'm asking for is a bit of advice on how to have the best possible chance of passing with the resources i have.

”

MS does not give you free exams. They wil pay your retake if you fail the first time (at least up till the end of May). The best option is to get a good book and learn from there. MS-press is good and so is Sybex. Some libraries have them or search on amazon. They do sell second hand books.

**BosonMichael** · #12 20-Apr-2008, 07:20 PM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

Shocking. Got a mind to take your opinion and force it back down your throat, but i am generally too nice a person for that!

”

Do you want someone to help, or do you want someone to tell you what you want to hear?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

...and would be just as happy for MS to say, 'here are a bunch of 70-290 exam questions we dont put in the exams anymore' so at least people can practice.

”

Only problem with that is... to my knowledge, there AREN'T any questions they don't put in the exams anymore. New questions are put into the pool, and they're not taken out until they are found to be wrong or irrelevant/outdated - and in either case, it wouldn't do you any good to practice on them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

hopefully that shot you off your perch.

”

Tinus is one of the most humble guys I know... he's far from a perch-sitter.

Go ahead, and continue with that attitude towards people who attempt to help you... one by one, the guys who care enough to help will simply stop helping.

Cheers.

ryanthelion84 · #13 20-Apr-2008, 09:46 PM

peoples advice is exactly what i was after, i just didnt appreciate being told i was being forced into taking these qualifications. I'm not sure my posts thus far had justified bringing my lack of effort and dedication into question!

I have had lots of useful advice from other posts already on this forum, and that includes comments from tinus earlier on in this particular thread...I am sure he and all the other regular posters who have already helped me on this board (yourself, sparky, greenbrucelee, bluerinse and others) are all very nice people!

I was just trying to defend myself on one particular comment...thats all!

It turns out that my CD that came with my MS Press core books has exam questions on it similar to the exam experience - these are by measureup. BUT...until i discovered this this evening I had only heard of measureup on here in the same sentence as transcender and thus assumed, being new to certs, that it was something i had to pay for!!

Sorry folks!

Ryan

**Sparky** · #14 20-Apr-2008, 09:57 PM

You should be ok with the first edition MS press book for the 70-290. I’ve been using the first editions for all the Microsoft exams I’ve taken so far as I cant really justify forking out the extra £££ for the second editions.

Check the exam details on the MS website and you can get the info you need from technet rather than buying the second edition MS press book.

Also www.cramsession.com is useful and free, well some of it is!

**BosonMichael** · #15 21-Apr-2008, 02:18 AM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryanthelion84

peoples advice is exactly what i was after, i just didnt appreciate being told i was being forced into taking these qualifications.

”

Nobody told you that you are being forced into taking them.. In fact, Tinus said that nobody was forcing you to take them. And that's true. If you want to get certified with their certification, you can play by their rules, or you can choose not to play.

Glad to hear that you've found a few practice questions to help you out.

Let us know how you get on with the exam!