MCDST Study Guide

[craigie]

Key Points

Study Time: One Month (One Hour Daily Min)
Materials: MS Press Book & CBT Nuggets
Mock Exam: MS Readiness Review Suite
Lab: VMWare Windows XP

The main piece of advice I would give, is to do something every day towards your exam (whether you feel like it or not) this keeps the momentum going and also keeps you in good habits.

Think I have posted this a few times in the MCDST forum and on PM's to various people. Just a quick recap for anyone who is interested.

1. I start of reading the MS Press book and make notes on relevant points that I could either forget or need to reinforce. I normally study for around 1 hour per day weekdays and 2 hours per day at the weekends. I manage to get the MS Press book down to around 100 - 150 pages of A4 note paper.

2. Once I have finished the MS Press book, I then use CBT Nuggets. When I have watched the first objective video, I then take the Objective Exam in the MS Press book. The purpose of this is to reinforce the oldest material that I have learnt.

3. I then keep going over my Notes on a daily basis at work, during lunch, in the evening. Just a brief flick threw.

4. The last of all I take the MS Readiness Review tests on a daily basis. Normally do around one a day for three days before the exam as not to get to many questions repeated. Also in my limited experience so far, the MS Readiness Review has always been alot harder than the exam.

5. Take the exam!

Hope that helps some people out and if you have any questions please ask.

[zimbo]

good work craig, thanks for giving some study tips to future mcdsts!

[Mordred]

Great post!

Added a reputation point as it explained to me exactly what I needed to know. Looking to build on my A+ and N+ and keep the knowledge ticking over. I stopped learning for a while after getting my A+ and am currently in the middle of doing an A+ refresher as a result. Consequently I dont want to lose momentum again and MCDST seems like a good next step to take.

Just a couple of questions: I know MCDST focuses on XP and consists of two exams, what is the subject of each exam? ie when I did A+ it was a hardware exam and a software exam. And does the MS-Press book cover both exams?


Cheers

[craigie]

Originally Posted by Mordred

Great post!

Added a reputation point as it explained to me exactly what I needed to know. Looking to build on my A+ and N+ and keep the knowledge ticking over. I stopped learning for a while after getting my A+ and am currently in the middle of doing an A+ refresher as a result. Consequently I dont want to lose momentum again and MCDST seems like a good next step to take.

Just a couple of questions: I know MCDST focuses on XP and consists of two exams, what is the subject of each exam? ie when I did A+ it was a hardware exam and a software exam. And does the MS-Press book cover both exams?


Cheers

Thanks for the rep

The best place to look for each MS Exam is the Exam Objectives. Here is a link to them for the MCDST:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...ms/70-271.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...ms/70-272.mspx

They are at the bottom of each page.

Naturally, the exams can cover any elements in the Exam Objectives. In the 70-271 the main areas in my exam where Permissions and Network Issues.

In the 70-272, there was no real focus area, I pretty much had a question on each of the Exam Objectives.

Hope this helps

[JonGlory]

Great post, my work want me to do this cert.

[UCHEEKYMONKEY]

Originally Posted by JonGlory

Great post, my work want me to do this cert.

I hope they will be paying for this mate???

I have just found out the ITIL course I'm doing on Thursday/Friday is just a brief introduction to ITIL with an IT contractor, who's not a qualified IT trainer! The Company wants everyone to be ITIL green badge but won't pay for it!

Jon - make sure you get it in writing (if you can) that company pays for the course!

[UCHEEKYMONKEY]

Excellent thread craigie

Rep Left

[craigie]

Originally Posted by UCHEEKYMONKEY

Excellent thread craigie

Rep Left

Thank you very much

[Mordred]

Originally Posted by craigie1977

Thanks for the rep

The best place to look for each MS Exam is the Exam Objectives. Here is a link to them for the MCDST:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...ms/70-271.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...ms/70-272.mspx

They are at the bottom of each page.

Naturally, the exams can cover any elements in the Exam Objectives. In the 70-271 the main areas in my exam where Permissions and Network Issues.

In the 70-272, there was no real focus area, I pretty much had a question on each of the Exam Objectives.

Hope this helps

Sweet! I thought there were two subject areas, one per exam but its more like one set of objectives split over two exams, pot luck deciding what questions actually come up- like Comptia exams.

Cheers for the help mate. Gonna pick up the MS Press book and take it from there

[Ryan]

Anyone know if theres any free online practice tests that can be taken?

[craigie]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Anyone know if theres any free online practice tests that can be taken?

I'm not aware of any Ryan.

[UCHEEKYMONKEY]

Originally Posted by craigie1977

Key Points


4. The last of all I take the MS Readiness Review tests on a daily basis. Normally do around one a day for three days before the exam as not to get to many questions repeated. Also in my limited experience so far, the MS Readiness Review has always been alot harder than the exam.

5. Take the exam!

Hope that helps some people out and if you have any questions please ask.

Craigie - The MS Readiness review is this included on the CD's you get with MS books or available online?

[craigie]

Originally Posted by UCHEEKYMONKEY

Craigie - The MS Readiness review is this included on the CD's you get with MS books or available online?

The ones available with the books.

Hope that helps.

[craigie]

Just to let everyone know. That the CBT Nugget videos can be purchased from here http://www.cbtnuggets.com/

Also, they are running 10% off at the moment, details are as follows:

"Gain valuable on-the-job skills and prepare for Microsoft and other IT professional certifications. CBT Nuggets training is content-driven, created by instructors who are experts in their field. This is knowledge you can apply right away. Save 10 percent today online or call (88 507-6283 and mention promotional code MCP804."

[craigie]

/Bump

Bumping this post as we seem to getting alot of people asking about studying for the MCDST.