RICHARD reason
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 Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 2:54 am Post subject: Re: Server+ exam afterthoughts |
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Thanks for tip on the study books i am starting to study for that now
"Rick Blythin" <mosguy@gosympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:r1KUa.9718$1I5.1373540@news20.bellglobal.com...
| Quote: | James,
Thanks for the thoughts, I started studying for Server after I passed
Network. But it ended up on the back burner, now I'm studying for Linux. I
plan to get server after I pass Linux then it's off to more vender
specific
certs. Very helpful post. As for your question at the end I'd say I,II,III
&
IV  .
Rick
--
A+, Network+
"James D. Murray" <jdmurray@surfcity.net> wrote in message
news:KMCUa.2670$R43.1200@fe01.atl2.webusenet.com...
I just passed the Server+ exam and I thought I'd cast my afterthoughts
about
the exam on to the Internet for any other interested people to read.
I passed the A+ exam two months ago. The typical track is to next
acquire
the Network+ cert. However, after reviewing the material for both
Network+
and Server+, I decided the Server+ exam looked to be more of the natural
next step after the A+. Although I have years of both server and network
experience, it looked as though I'd have a much tougher time passing
Server+, so might as well get it out of the way ASAP.
I studied for about six weeks, starting with reading through the Server+
Certification Bible by Trevor Kay and Sybex's Server+ Study Guide, and
the
MS Press Server+ Certification Training Kit. Both Kay's and Sybex's
books
are definitely worth reading. The one from MS Press is lacking in depth.
I viewed most of the VTC Training CD for Server Plus. The material was
not
detailed enough to be truly useful for the exam. Also, the speaker on
the
video didn't make the presentation of the material very interesting.
I also had a skim through the usual TestKing and CramSession braindump
publications. They cover a lot of material, but most of their questions
don'
t really resemble those on the actual exam. Neither does most of the
Question Of the Day (QOD) practice questions available from several
certification web sites.
Starting two weeks before my exam, I started going through the Server+
practice exams by Transcender, Boson, and MeasureUp. I'd have to say
that
the format and content of Transcender's questions most closely match the
actual Server+ exam. Both Boson and MeasureUp have nice practice exams,
but
many of the questions contain material that you won't see on the Server+
exam. If you can pass all of these practice exams then you definitely
know
your server stuff.
As for the Server+ exam itself, it is 80 questions in length, you have
90
minutes to complete it, and a score of 75 or better is required to pass.
It
took me just over an hour to answer all of the questions and I passed
with
an 82. I spent 10 minutes or so reviewing a few of my answers and ended
up
changing one or two. I decided that second-guessing my gut was not a
good
thing, so I didn't bother to completely review the entire exam (I might
have
ended up with a lower score if I did).
Make no mistake that the Server+ exam is about HARDWARE. At least half
of
the questions in some way involved RAID, SCSI, or tape backup
strategies.
A
significant portion involved trouble-shooting of failed components,
network
problems, and performance problems using "best practices" methodology.
The
networking questions were fairly easy, so I really don't think you need
a
Network+ cert before getting your Server+ if you are already comfortable
with network design and troubleshooting. There was only two or three MS
Windows-specific questions, and only one involving multiple OSes.
Probably one-third of the questions were the complex, scenario-based
questions that describe a problem in detail and ask you how to diagnose
and/or resolve it. These weren't nearly as complex as many on the M$
exams,
but two or three were so ambiguous that it was truly impossible to
determine
a single, correct answer. I won't give an example, but all of the
commercial
practice exams have the same type of head scratchers in them.
One funny thing I noticed was that none of the exam questions were
multiple
choice (i.e., all radio button and no check boxes). There were also no
"none
of the choices" selections. There were a dozen or so questions that
offered
four possible explanations and asked you to choose the one(s) you
thought
would apply. For example (not an actual exam question):
Thirty minutes before taking the Server+ exam you should:
I. Arrive at the test center.
II. Make sure you have two forms of identification.
III. Flirt with all the women at the test center taking
nursing exams.
IV. Slam some coffee and ephedra and engage in Primal
Scream therapy.
O I and III
O II and IV
O III only
O I, II, III and IV
Now keep in mind that my exam contained only 80 of the hundreds (or
thousands?) of questions in the Server+ exam questions pool. Just
because
I
saw or didn't see something on my exam doesn't mean you will or won't
see
it. As the saying goes: Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).
In My Humble Opinion: THE SERVER+ EXAM IS PASSABLE AND THE CERT IS WORTH
AQUIRING! Learn everything you can about RAID, SCSI, tape backup
hardware
and strategies, and server problem troubleshooting. Make server
upgrading,
configuring, networking, performance tuning, and environmental
conditions
and security secondary in your study. And, of course, you must have
experience working in that big, cold machine room!
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