70-290 Exam booked and desperate!

[MorseLady]

I am and have been since September on a course at my local CoFE and I feel I am no nearer understanding the requirements of the exam, booked for 12th January than I was when we started.

Our MCT trainer bought some Test Prep software in bulk for us and we all paid £22 GBP for it. I am finding Test Prep Self Test Software confusing and the questions so long that by the time I get to the end I have forgotten what they are asking! By ten questions I am so tired and stressed I have to end the test and my score is only one or two questions right but when I do the practice tests on the M$ site I enjoy it do quite well and even got on the Leader Board some weeks ago with one. Our trainer says Test Prep is the only authentic way to prepare for MCP exams.

I feel let down because the exam is booked for 12th January, our Trainer is on extended leave to go on a course so we are missing the first two weeks of term and have no more classes before the exam which is being administered by a colleague of his and now I find Test Prep Online Mentor is unavailable until 2nd January! Our Trainer says that as I am funded (I am an OAP)if I fail he will not be able to let me progress any further or even redo the course or exam so I am really desperate now! I am not sure why I am doing this to myself as I am retired but my own self esteem is at stake and I will never be able to hold my head up in IT circles if I fail. I will just dump my computers and hide away.

I have not been able to go to all my classes due to illness and stress from problems with my disabled husband etc and our Trainer told me to go home from one class because I was coughing and disturbing the others and I sort of lost my way after that. The classes are hurried and taught rote and not all of the stuff in the M$ book is being taught and is marked on our timetables as self study and we are being fast tracked like the other week we were doing a lab on the computers and right in the middle he told us we were short of time and had to move on to the next topic. I was just beginning to get rhe hang of alab that has been bothering me too! The computers are so close together you are elbow to elbow unlike on the Server 2000 course in the old building where most of the time each student had a client and server computer. I think our Trainer is finding it hard to have to teach by the book because on the Server 2000 Course I was on two years ago he was free to devise the course himself within the framework of City and Guilds and College requirements and it was a brilliant course which, unlike this one, I quite enjoyed.

I am not sure what anyone can say! H E L P

[confus-ed]

..if I fail he will not be able to let me progress any further or even redo the course or exam so I am really desperate now! I am not sure why I am doing this to myself as I am retired but my own self esteem is at stake and I will never be able to hold my head up in IT circles if I fail. I will just dump my computers and hide away.

I have not been able to go to all my classes ..

First thing methinks is 'BREATHE' ... (you are definately in terms of stressing yourself your own worst enemy ! As my old mother used to say{well she still does ! } "Stop winding yourself up' ! all you can do is your best...") - there's no shame in failing some poxy M$ exams especially given both your own personal circumstances & by the sounds of it your course conditions too, they ain't meant to be simple !

So just what particular bits of Preparation Guide for Exam 70-290 (as that's got all the 'highlights' listed as a study aid) are you struggling with ?

Methinks us giving you sympathy & encoragement is all very well, but with exams a-loomin' some practical advice or discussion on your 'weaker areas' might be helpfull ?

[MorseLady]

So just what particular bits of Preparation Guide for Exam 70-290 (as that's got all the 'highlights' listed as a study aid) are you struggling with ?

Methinks us giving you sympathy & encoragement is all very well, but with exams a-loomin' some practical advice or discussion on your 'weaker areas' might be helpfull ?

[/QUOTE]


I am struggling with the whole lot and have gone backwards instead of forwards especially since I activated the Self Test Software Test Preps. A friend says Transcenders would have been better but our tutor got Test Prep in bulk at £22 each and we all subscribed.

Whilst I appreciate moral support etc I really need a Fairy GodPerson to wave a magic wand because I cannot see how I can cram in two weeks? On my practice tests I am getting maybe two out of ten right and some of those are guesses.

Rather than discuss my weaker points just lets say the only part of the test I am fairly OK on is disc management and the actual tech stuff. I am very weak on Users, GPO etc. I am sure I have opted for the wrong course and maybe should have gone for the new A+ but I gather if I fail 70-290 the College will bar me from being funded for any IT course ever again so I HAVE GOT TO PASS! It is making me very ill now and affecting my husband and my home life and even the cat picks up my stress.

One thing our tutor did say is that we must have access to Server 2003 at home or work but the eval copy we got with our materials messed up my computer so much I had to take it off. This computer is about to break down and I am scared to shut it down and replace the power supply in case I get it wrong. I have to keep it running all the time because if I shut it down it won't start up for maybe a whole day. I did order a new one from Dell but have had to cancel as I decided we could not afford it. The old Celeron machine is too slow for Server stuff.

You mention a preparation guide with a link which I found to be on the M$ site and we were not told about this or else I did not hear(I am deaf and miss bits).

Maybe I SHOULD take up pottery. Should I feel this depressed and stressed over a stupid exam?

[confus-ed]

Should I feel this depressed and stressed over a stupid exam?

You know the answer to that already - & its no ! .. but I/we have got the message on your 'desire' to pass & much as all our good wishes no doubt are appreciated, these aren't any help with practical matters ! ..

'We' are certainly in a position to help you, but you will need something/some machines to help you with practice (you've identified that as your 'main issue' besides poor explanations & content in your course) - so please detail what kit you do have & we can make a judgement on what will/will not 'be enough' & advise on any things we can do to make things better .. (server 2003 'evaluation' ain't the 'finnished' thing methinks or not the copies I've looked at compared to 'live' & maybe thats why its sooo unstable ? {driver support is iffy methinks} But you comment that a 'Celeron machine is too slow for Server stuff ' well maybe in the real world running something 'serious' it might well be, but bang enough memory in it & for home/testing/low volume stuff generally server 2003 is happy if dog slow on 'anything' {within reason!} ..)

I can't believe those 'cheeky gits' haven't given you the study material mentioned on that M$ link I gave you ! The two training kits under the section "Microsoft Press Self-Paced Training Products" are essential imho... (College library maybe has copies ?)

Methinks if we can get you 'live' with server 2003 & practicising a little, even 2 weeks will be enough to make a 'surprising difference' & fit it all together for you (I've been doing this for years & years & until I did it all practically I can say that all the wood, forests & trees stuff that came in with w2k server made me just like you are now - confus-ed ! {note to self:stop doing that joke !}, it made no sense whatsoever to me 'conceptually' & it made work quite hard for a bit until that Noo offered me Nike's advice - which is 'just do it' ! .. after a few dry runs I got what they meant - even if I still think its all conceptually dumb ! I mean how can you have a collection of domains (a forrest in billy speak) when a domain is the biggest thing ? Bloody Silly Billy ! )

[MorseLady]

Big Bertha aka Advent rubbish is down again, won't start, accidentally turned off the main switch when I went to bed last night instead of rebooting and leaving her to keep the cat warm. I normally leave it running and reboot again in the morning before I use it. So I am am using the XP Partition on my Celeron and BTW this one runs SP2 and seems fine.

This machine is an HP Pavilion 6712 about 5 years old and has Phoenix BIOS with restricted access, a 15GB HDD, 128MB RAM(was originally 32MB but I upgraded it with 2x64MB), Intel Celeron 667MHZ running to spec, integrated Intel 810 graphics and sound and CD ROM read only drive and floppy. I have added a NIC and a fast USB2 card which work fine.

I have all my settings from the other machine on here, backed up to my USB 512MB pen drive and data drive on here. This machine is partitioned using Partition Magic 8, ME being the system partition and the other XP Home SP2 NTFS of course and a data partition Fat32. I have in the past triple booted this machine with ME, XP Home and Server 2000 but cannot make it work with Server 2003 which seems to take over my XP Partition and refuses tobe hidden, our tutor says this is OK?

I can make space available on here by reducing the size of the ME partition to absolute minimum as I do not use ME now and I can reduce the size of the XP Partition a bit and looking at Disk Management window I estimate I can spare 4GB for the Server 2003 Partition. I could pop down to PC World and buy a bigger hard drive and I am sure there is room for two drives and I could use one drive for Server.

If I can the big machine to start, how long can I leave it on, thinking of two weeks until the exam?

I meant we have not been given the links to resources, not the books but the books are useless because there is no room at our workstations unless we balance them on our laps or put them up against the screen and I soon got aching joints and the books are so big and clumsy and I cannot read small print. The books we are using are the M$ Official Course 2273A with an eval ciopy of Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and some labs etc. and this is the one the exam is based on. Whilst practicing for 70-290 we have actually finished that course and I am confused because we are already working on the next exam, Course 2277B exam 70-291 but it is hard to be doing 70-291 in class and go home and do Test Prep for 70-290. The 70-291 exam is in February and we have had no mock exams in class time.

The bottom line is that I have precious little time to study without having to set up Server on dodgy machines. I may be retired but I am a carer and I am beginning to think I should drop the whole thing before it wrecks my home life. If only I could just go into College and use their facilities but the dedicated server and networking room we use is not available for private study and the Resource Centre does not have the facilities. Great College - how did they get accreddited

[confus-ed]

..The bottom line is that I have precious little time to study without having to set up Server on dodgy machines...

I think, sadly for you, its either bite this bullet or go with plan B ! (but methinks you don't want plan B at all {packing it in}, but to pass !)

So suitability to run server 2003 for your Celeron ? - well it has it in the cpu department (133 min) but proably NOT in memory terms - 128 being the absolute minimum see this table so unless we can get some memory in there this'll struggle - so I looked up your pavillion & got this HP Pavilion 6712 Desktop PC (UK) - Product Specifications which says

RAM (standard) 64 MB SDRAM (max 512 MB)

as I think (like the table) that 256 of memory is 'wanted' at least .. (to upgrade this shouldn't be so expensive especially as it'll boost up your 'old clunker' in performance terms - a 128 stick of pc 100 should be £20 or so - only two slots though ! so buy the biggest you can run to & check with the shop that its the right kind single or double sided also )

As to why your 'other one' don't want to work, its probably down to some unsupported device under 2003 like a soundcard or whatever & I think unless you want more disk space for 'something else' later I'd spend my money upgrading the memory of the Celeron as from over here on what you've said working out whats wrong with this 'other' may be involved & mess up other stuff, & we haven't got time to be 'pratting about' with that now .. (if you give me the model number for that I can take an 'educated' guess, but like I said..)

I feel if we could get you 'live at home' that you'd make considerable progress on your own 'despite' - so methinks go spend your pennies on some ram !

[MorseLady]

I lost it and my husband found me screaming and ranting having thrown the dratted faulty computer across the room. PC World rubbish, one month after I bought it they had to replace the video card and that took some phone calls before they would and they took no notice when I said it was not starting, just told me to do the take verything out and count ten thing, that did not work.

I lost it when I was doing my Radio Amateurs exam 18 years ago but I passed. But now my husband has said I have been behaving oddly for the past few days and I know myself I am cracking up so I have sent an email cancelling my exam. I am ashamed but I am nearly 64 and dare not risk my health on this. I have now gone off computers. I am packing up ham radio too.

I will be unsubscribing from this forum when I can find out how to because I am a pest. I know the rest of my class resent me because I am the only woman and am not working in IT, they never seem to talk to me and our tutor spends little time on me compared to them. I rarely give advice but I seem to need plenty. People outside IT are right, stick to woman things and stop being super gran or whatever. I may have been a dynamic trainee Legal Executive in my younger days before moving to teacher training as a music specialist but the years have taken their toll and I am tired and depressed.

I may even just wander off into the sunset never to be seen again, I am so ashamed.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me you are stars every one of you and I appreciate your freindship and support.


Happy New Year and God Bless.

[MorseLady]

I lost it and my husband found me screaming and ranting having thrown the dratted faulty computer across the room. PC World rubbish, one month after I bought it they had to replace the video card and that took some phone calls before they would and they took no notice when I said it was not starting, just told me to do the take verything out and count ten thing, that did not work.

I lost it when I was doing my Radio Amateurs exam 18 years ago but I passed. But now my husband has said I have been behaving oddly for the past few days and I know myself I am cracking up so I have sent an email cancelling my exam. I am ashamed but I am nearly 64 and dare not risk my health on this. I have now gone off computers. I am packing up ham radio too.

I will be unsubscribing from this forum when I can find out how to because I am a pest. I know the rest of my class resent me because I am the only woman and am not working in IT, they never seem to talk to me and our tutor spends little time on me compared to them. I rarely give advice but I seem to need plenty. People outside IT are right, stick to woman things and stop being super gran or whatever. I may have been a dynamic trainee Legal Executive in my younger days before moving to teacher training as a music specialist but the years have taken their toll and I am tired and depressed.

I may even just wander off into the sunset never to be seen again, I am so ashamed.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me you are stars every one of you and I appreciate your freindship and support.


Happy New Year and God Bless.

Re yesterday's message I have just edited, cannot find out how to leave the Forum so will just log out and leave you good people in peace. Bye
and thanks again everyone.

[confus-ed]

..I will be unsubscribing from this forum when I can find out how to because I am a pest...

Re yesterday's message I have just edited, cannot find out how to leave the Forum so will just log out and leave you good people in peace. Bye
and thanks again everyone.

Now then .. you aren't a pest ! - well not anymore than anyone else is & I like being able to talk to people who definately aren't teenagers - hang around to make me feel younger if nothing else ! ...

There's no requirement to be actively involved in computing 'somehow' to be a member here, an interest obviously helps in discussion/questioning terms, but definately not a requirement - all are welcome

If you do decide 'thats it - end of' you need to contact NooNoo to get her/Richard1 (our new 'boss' if you hadn't spotted Scotts 'departure') to remove your account - afaik you can't remove your own account.

Personally though, 'computer throwing' or not (That's one of my favourite stress busting mechanisms - though I use OLD kit ) - I'd still have a go at the exams (hell you never know !!! - some of the idiots that get MCSE now must pass by fluke, they don't know jack ! I do & he's very nice ) - however the last thing you need now is any more pressure - so I'll just ask you to think on it a little & hope to see you again either just being socialable or maybe, just maybe being 'pesky' ?

[MorseLady]

Now then .. you aren't a pest ! - well not anymore than anyone else is & I like being able to talk to people who definately aren't teenagers - hang around to make me feel younger if nothing else ! ...

There's no requirement to be actively involved in computing 'somehow' to be a member here, an interest obviously helps in discussion/questioning terms, but definately not a requirement - all are welcome

If you do decide 'thats it - end of' you need to contact NooNoo to get her/Richard1 (our new 'boss' if you hadn't spotted Scotts 'departure') to remove your account - afaik you can't remove your own account.]

I wasn't going to come back and I thought I had set my options for no email but finding one saying there was a reply I felt the least I could do was read it! Thanks con-fused for replying. I did not know Scott has left and I wish him well and better say welcome to the new Boss

I will not leave but I will lie low for a while and I have removed my profile. I am always stressed at this time of year, I HATE this season and often feel suicidal just because of that and having an exam so soon after is just more than I can take. I am still inclined to walk off for a few days but I am not young and I have a disabled husband to care for.

I might feel better this time next week when everything is back to normal and the College is open and Online Mentor at Test Prep is on again. In the meantime I am not doing any work at all, just playing with photos and maybe work on my websites which need updating. I might even try out the art set my husband bought me for Christmas and the art materials I have bought for myself over the past year.

I had already emailed cancelling the exam but have not had a reply from the contact at the College yet so I guess I can reverse that if I want but we will see. I have sent another email to ask for an urgent interview with the tutor who is Invigilating the exam as our tutor is on a course or an interview with someone in IT once the College is open. My tutor refuses to allow me to put the exam back a couple of weeks but a friend tells me it is not up to the College but the company who administer the exam for M$ and that I can ask for a later date.

I did not actually pick the computer up and throw it like a ball, I am only a little old lady, but I did push it off its table and across the room but it still works when I eventually got it to boot and it has been on all night and I will leave it on unless I forget like I did the other night and switch off from the master switch to my radio shack/workstation. I do actually throw things when I am upset but not usually computers.

Thanks for caring and I will be back when the time is right but I am logging out now, not leaving just logging out, promise

[confus-ed]

..Thanks for caring and I will be back when the time is right but I am logging out now, not leaving just logging out, promise

Good 'Tea & sympathy' isn't normally my department - I normally leave that to 'Aunty Noo', she being far better at it than I, but I see I'm getting better at it !

Methinks the important part of all of this as I've said before on other realted threads is that you ENJOY what you are studying, I still think you can get all this sorted out 'better' (certainly than it is now as the abscence of your course tutor is making this far worse imho than it ought, as I'm sure there'll be flex in this somehow - when I was at Uni I think I had to delay over 70% of my exams due to my daughters health problems & generally most Unis/Colleges are most accomodating if you have 'real life' issues to deal with ).

Anyway see you soon hopefully whatever your decision & if you have computer questions (as well as any others you want to discuss, as I think we've done every kind of advice possible here at some point, a problem shared being a problem 1/2'ed) I'm sure you know where to come !

& lets all hope its a Happy New Year for you !

[MorseLady]

Good 'Tea & sympathy' isn't normally my department - I normally leave that to 'Aunty Noo', she being far better at it than I, but I see I'm getting better at it !

Methinks the important part of all of this as I've said before on other realted threads is that you ENJOY what you are studying, I still think you can get all this sorted out 'better' (certainly than it is now as the abscence of your course tutor is making this far worse imho than it ought, as I'm sure there'll be flex in this somehow - when I was at Uni I think I had to delay over 70% of my exams due to my daughters health problems & generally most Unis/Colleges are most accomodating if you have 'real life' issues to deal with ).

Anyway see you soon hopefully whatever your decision & if you have computer questions (as well as any others you want to discuss, as I think we've done every kind of advice possible here at some point, a problem shared being a problem 1/2'ed) I'm sure you know where to come !

& lets all hope its a Happy New Year for you !

I forgo to tick no email so having got one curiosity and good manners got the the better of me.

Actually I do not enjoy this course and never have and actually find it very boring but I enjoyed the Server 2000 one which was much more relaxed and slower paced and included other elements like tech stuff and where there was one other lady, a smaller class and more amateurs. This one has been fast paced from the beginning and looking at the Audience M$ expect for MCP etc I should not be on it as candidates are assumed to have some experience on servers. I feel out of place with all these IT Managers and aspiring young techs in the class and I am so much older than any of them. They keep giving me funny looks and I know they wonder how I got to be funded when they have to pay. I feel bad about that and my tutor has accused me of wasting student funds because I have missed classes through illness or being a carer but he threw me out when I struggled in with a cold saying my coughing was disturbing the class and I lost interest completely then. I had to go that evening because he emailed me saying as I had been absent two weeks I would be dropped from the course unless I showed up. When I did he asked why I had not emailed that I was ill and I said the two previous weeks I did and he took no notice and it transpired that the College mail servers were down or something and he never got my emails.

I bitterly regret not having opted for the new A Plus or CIW, much more my thing and something with which I can make a bit of money from home too. But if I fail or do not do this exam I gather I will be barred from ever being funded for IT courses again by this College. I am actually thinking of making a complaint about the College and the way this course is being mis-run with our Instructor running out on us just before an exam to do a course and no stand in tutor for the first two weeks of term and there is a rumour he has actually left the College.

If only I could get to Barnfield College in Luton and it may be possible as there is a very good bus service and I get a fare concession. They do all sorts of IT courses and have been doing it for some time and do it properly. But I will not follow the MCSA/MCSE trail again. I wanted Webmaster in the first place but my College only offer web design at beginner level and I have been at it for some years and would have loved to develop my skills to CIW where what I have learned about servers would have been very useful.

Actually con-fused your messages are helping me think this thing through and this lovely sunny day is helping - not sure where in the UK you are but I am in North Herts.

I am going to do something that is not computer now or go out.

[confus-ed]

..Actually con-fused your messages are helping me think this thing through and this lovely sunny day is helping ...

Well its 'pissing it down' here in not so sunny Leeds, but I see you've sussed me out ! - Yup thats the entire point, think it through - I'm a great believer that poor decisions get made in haste, you've invested time, energy & pain (even though I've been labouring under the impression it was 'perverse enjoyment' {Your earlier, not on this thread, remarks about 'loving to beat things' }) ..

For what its worth , me now not being at all clear on your final intent (that maybe needs to have a 'rattle around your head' for a while ?), I would say you have considerable grounds for complaint against your college, I think also if you go tell your story to whoever actually provided the funding for you, they might be reviewing who they spend their money with & that may very well have more impact than you just complaining to the college direct

[MorseLady]

Well its 'pissing it down' here in not so sunny Leeds, but I see you've sussed me out ! - Yup thats the entire point, think it through - I'm a great believer that poor decisions get made in haste, you've invested time, energy & pain (even though I've been labouring under the impression it was 'perverse enjoyment' {Your earlier, not on this thread, remarks about 'loving to beat things' }) ..

For what its worth , me now not being at all clear on your final intent (that maybe needs to have a 'rattle around your head' for a while ?), I would say you have considerable grounds for complaint against your college, I think also if you go tell your story to whoever actually provided the funding for you, they might be reviewing who they spend their money with & that may very well have more impact than you just complaining to the college direct

Right, let's go over how I come to be on this course. Having completed the same tutor's excellent largely self devised within the remit of the City and Guilds Level Three Networking and Systems Management course two years ago, with a nice Certificate of Completion, I was told I would be more than welcome on the MCP course and this is the very same tutor who is now moaning about the professionals he has had to turn away because the course is full and I am taking up one of their places as the College have not got the resources to run more than one class and then moaning about the money from the College Access Fund which he put me up for that I am supposed to be wasting which pays fvor my materials and exams, the usual College unwaged student concessions pays for the course.

It is this very same tutor who interviewed me in August and said he was more than happy to accept me on the course and that I had the neccessary knowledge and previous study background. He was well aware then as he is now that I have hearing and other problems and am a carer and he knows my age and my professional background was outside IT.

I was told to keep my head down and keep quiet because he would not have much time to give me individual support or answer my questions as on the earlier course. If I called him over with a problem he would just look and say carry on you're doing OK when I wasn't sure what I was doing then halfway through a lab he would tell the class to stop what we were doing because there was no time and we had to move on.

I can understand why I was allowed on the earlier course because we were in danger of closing due to low numbers but this course is oversubscribed and I think he is now regretting taking me on it and panicking because some important local company like ICL or Fujitsu wants it's employee on the next module or someone has got wind that I am retired and publicaly funded and he has to offload someone - me!

I had to go and feed the cat and us but I wanted to add that when I signed up for the course I was told I could do all four modules, that progressing was not dependent on passing exams and indeed I was told I need not do the exams, just enjoy the course! Now I am told that it would be very unlikely that I would be funded for the next module if I don't pass 70-290 because of absences which I could not help. What he actually told me was that if I fail 70-290 he will not accept me on the next course. He made a deal, I pass and get on the XP course, I fail and I am off for good. How do you think that has contributed to my stress! This tutor used to be nice but since he got his MCT he has become bigheaded, he is the one who said he has passed all his exams(that is CISCO as well as M$) first time and would not be seen dead at a Boot Camp. I think he may be under pressure himself from his Boss or from the College because on the other course I recall him saying his FE tutor Salary was not enough to live on.

The next MCSA core module is XP support and I am much more likely to pass this exam and am very keen to do the XP course if only because I love XP and believe in it and just having the XP Support MCP could give me opportunities of a few hours work from home.

Almost worth cramming day and night just to pass and say b******s to them all!

[confus-ed]

..Almost worth cramming day and night just to pass and say b******s to them all!

.. the 'usual' morse lady makes a comeback !

So what are you wanting to do now ? I can see you are probably all fired up once again to take on your tutors/college for 'pooh teaching' (for want of a better phrase & avoiding any expletives ) but no doubt that can't happen until after new year - but we were going to try & fix up at least one of your machines so you could practice (if only for 2 tweeks) some of the routine 'chores' in w2k3 server etc - I'm happy to bash on with that if you like, but maybe you still want to 'consider' ?