Officially re-certified as a Microsoft Small Business Specialist!
March 10th, 2010—Victory is mine! My company, The Computer Doctor, prides itself on being a Mcrosoft Certified Partner, so when I exited the Prometric testing center, passing the latest Microsoft Certification I sat for, I was feeling pretty good. Scored an 800 on the test (you need 700 or better) so didn’t exactly “ace” it, but a win is a win. It was a challenging test, and in preparing for it this time I took a chance by only using the Microsoft Press Kit Book and the test simulator included with it.
I have SBS 2008 installed on two client sites, so I do have some hands on experience, including one attempt at an SBS 2003 migration that (ahem) turned into a “custom” install (if you know what I mean). Usually I like to get the Measure Up test simulator for about $120 but all I did this time was buy the book on Amazon for about $50 and read it, used the 250 question practice test software, and passed the test.
What is on the test? Seemed like a lot of question on migrating from SBS 2003. There were several questions where the correct answer used those old command line tools, DCPROMO and TELNET. Many questions about using the SBS Console wizards popped up. Remote access and mobile phones were in a couple of questions, too.
I’m glad to have this one behind me and looking forward to my next goal of passing the Google AdWords Professional test!
Hi Ralph!
You are such a geek! (I say that in a GOOD way!!) Very cool that you passed that very geeky Microsoft test! I can’t wrap my head around someone being so smart!
Good luck on that Adwords test. I am sure it’s pretty hard! Need some studying?? (you probably already know it all!) =)
Take care and let us know how you do!!
Good luck!
Lisa~
hey Ralph,
I’m a few weeks away from taking the 70-653 exam and was just reading your blog. I’m also using only the MS book and included test simulator. In the past, I’ve always used Transcender, Self-Test, etc,. It’s good to hear that you were able to pass with a good score using just the MS book and sim. Just to confirm, if you don’t mind, is this the MS kit you used:
http://www.amazon.com/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-Exam-70-653/dp/0735626782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250698876&sr=8-1
Thanks!
Haha, Howdy,I’m a long-time reader and also was too shy to create a comment.
Thanks Lisa! Val–That is the exact book I used. Good luck on the test!
Thanks Ralph! What a coincidence – my exam was scheduled for this morning. I thought it was very difficult, had to make a lot more educated guesses than I thought, considering how much I studied for it. I figured my score would not be all that high, but I got a total of 940 points. Unbelievable – I was shocked!
Nice work Val–you got close to a perfect score!