70-298 Training Kit & Exam Format

Guest · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:15 am Post subject: 70-298 Training Kit & Exam Format

I just wanted to moan about the 70-298 training kit and exam and to
see if anyone else out there agrees or disagrees with me.

I've taken about 10 MS exams before and all of which have been
supported by very good official training books. However, the official
training kit for exam 70-298 is the driest, dullest, most poorly
written and difficult to digest MS training book I've ever come
across. It is full of rhetorical questions rather than solid training
material. It would actually make a fantastic reference book for
someone who wants to secure their network but because it is just full
of "things to consider" type questions, it just doesn't sit in your
head very well. I really wish I had purchased the Exam Cram 70-298
book now as they normally cut out the crap and explain things in
English.

The exam "format" I have NO objections to. I totally agree that design
exams should use the format of case studies followed by some questions
relating to the case study as this strongly simulates the real world.
However, I do not agree with the way the test is conducted. The severe
time pressure is completely unnecessary and actually doesn't give you
enough time to consider your answer. I know the idea of the exam is
too filter through all the crap in the case study and find the
relevant information but in the real world you would not get 23
minutes to read through a 1,800 word case study, consider and answer
10 questions. Of course, in the exam you wouldn't read the entire case
study but because there is so much text to sift through you end up
with a very small amount of time to actually consider answers to the
questions. By enforcing such short time constraints on candidates,
they turn the exam focus away from "security knowledge" and instead to
the "how good you are at the exam method". This is completely wrong
and Microsoft should seriously consider how much time they provide
candidates to do each testlet. Even if each testlet had an extra 5
minutes, it would still be tough going but an extra 5 minutes would
make a massive difference. Having to be fantastic at an exam method
means the gap between examination world and the real world is
certainly much wider with 70-298. You shouldn't need to train on the
exam method. As an IT professional you should need to walk into the
exam and use your knowledge and experience to answer the questions
presented to you. You really shouldn't need to spend lots of time
prior to the exam practising the method just because if you don't, no
matter how ***-hot your knowledge and experience is, your chance of
passing will have reduced substantially.

The combination of a poorly written, difficult to digest training book
and stupid time constraints resulted in my failing of this exam. I
normally pass them first time. I will be resitting this exam again
shortly but I will need to do lots of practice on the method seeing
that this is the "key skill" necessary to pass an MS design exam...