Certification Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 19)

place to get to know one another better is part of establishing a community here on the site. Over the summer, we saw an example of an interestingly off-topic discussion when forum regular masterssullivan posted a thread in General Discussion titled, “Anyone see ‘Fantastic Four’ this weekend?” Masters asked, “Was it any good? The special effects looked amazing in the trailer. The Silver Surfer always seemed stupid to me, but he looks like T-1000 in the movie! Any thoughts/opinions? Do the themes of the movie relate to certification?” Wagnerk did his best to twist this prompt back around to certification. “Of course, the movie industry uses special effects and CGI on computers, and those computers are supported by technicians and engineers who, in turn, do certifications to gain the knowledge to support the movie industry that entertains us. Does that make any sense at all? “Anyway, haven’t seen the movie yet. With any luck, I will be seeing ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ soon. I was never a big fan of the FF — I guess the big turning point for me was Jessica Alba.” We know IT professionals are often also rabid fans of pop culture, and we encourage IT pros gathering at CertMag.com to engage in such off-topic conversations as they see fit. But back to our main topic. Also in General Discussion, junior member chrislehr voiced his frustration with a particular certification in a thread titled, “70297 — I am hating this exam.” “I’ve failed twice now. The second try was worse than the first. I passed all other exams the first time with the exception of 291 (just flat didn’t prepare enough for that one). I think the case study test format is what’s killing me here. Anyone taken this recently? What did you prepare with?” Wagnerk responded, “Hi, chrislehr. Glad to hear that you’ve passed quite a few of the exams MS has thrown at you. As for the 70-297, I can’t say specifically how to prepare for that exam, as I did the 2K route, then the upgrade exams. But I also had case studies in the route I took. “The materials that I use generally for MS exams are Learnkey CBTs, CBT Nuggets or TestOut (so two CBT programs from different vendors). I also use at least two books. These would include Exam Cram, Want more resume advice? Enter ‘resume’ into CertScope and peruse more than 100 CertMag articles and ﬁnd links to 187 Web sites. Microsoft Press, Syngress (you can even buy their books in PDF format very cheap) and/or Sybex. I use Transcender and, more recently, PrepLogic. And last but not least, I use experience by using virtual labs or, in my case, also using a live environment.” Wagnerk also recommended looking into Microsoft Exam Insurance. “It gives you a second chance for free or a 25 percent discount on your next one,” he wrote. “Really, the only other thing that I can say is good luck and don’t give up.” Regular CertMag.com forum contributor Wayne Anderson also added a sympathetic comment. “Ah, in a bit of embarrassing history, this is the only exam to date that I have ever failed. I was unprepared for the case study-based method of examination. I have described to other people that these tests are hard, not necessarily difficult, as they do not really test a deep technical capacity but rather ask you to look for the one tiny bit of information in the case study that drives the particular answer and then guess what mood Microsoft was in that day and how that scenario fits into ‘The Microsoft Way.’ Try not to get downtrodden.” Wireless Over in our Wireless discussion board, junior member hiwfc had a question about online training for certs. “Has anyone tried online training for their certifications? I am looking at taking the CWNA online training with vLogic. Any suggestions or recommendations?” Wagnerk offered this feedback: “The only online training that I’ve used is from Microsoft. However, I do use CBTs a lot. I have used the following CBT providers for other vendors’ certs: CBT Nuggets or Learnkey, or you may even want to buy the official study guide from CWNP itself.” Anyone with a comment to add to this or any of our discussion boards should head over to our forums at www.certmag.com/forums. 8 – Daniel Margolis, dmargolis@certmag.com October 2007 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 19 http://www.CertMag.com http://CertMag.com http://CertMag.com http://www.certmag.com/forums

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - October 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Virtual Village Rebooting Your Career Development Inside Certification Forensics Investigators: Cybercrime Fighters Interface Building Your Skills Through Security Tools Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - October 2007

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