Onward, Through the Fog!

Once you've assessed your readiness, undertaken the right background studies, obtained the hands-on experience that will help you understand the products and technologies at work, and reviewed the many sources of information to help you prepare for a test, you'll be ready to take a round of practice tests. When your scores come back positive enough to get you through the exam, you're ready to go after the real thing. If you follow our assessment regime , you'll not only know what you need to study, but when you're ready to make a test date at Sylvan or VUE. Good luck!

Chapter 1. Microsoft Certification Exams

Terms you'll need to understand:

• Case study

• Multiple-choice question formats

• Build-list-and-reorder question format

• Create-a-tree question format

• Drag-and-connect question format

• Select-and-place question format

• Fixed-length tests

• Simulations

• Adaptive tests

• Short-form tests

Techniques you'll need to master:

• Assessing your exam-readiness

• Answering Microsoft's varying question types

• Altering your test strategy depending on the exam format

• Practicing (to make perfect)

• Making the best use of the testing software

• Budgeting your time

• Guessing (as a last resort)

Introduction

Exam-taking is not something that most people anticipate eagerly, no matter how well prepared they may be. In most cases, familiarity helps offset test anxiety. In plain English, this means you probably won't be as nervous when you take your fourth or fifth Microsoft certification exam as you'll be when you take your first one.

Whether it's your first exam or your tenth, however, understanding the details of taking the new exam (how much time to spend on questions, the environment you'll be in, and so on) and the new exam software will help you concentrate on the material rather than on the setting. Likewise, mastering a few basic exam-taking skills should help you recognize (and perhaps even outfox) some of the tricks and snares you're bound to find in some exam questions.

This chapter explains the exam environment and software and describes some proven exam-taking strategies that you can use to your advantage.

Assessing Exam-Readiness

We strongly recommend that you read through and take the Self-Assessment included with this book (it appears just before this chapter). This will help you compare your knowledge to the requirements for obtaining an MCSE or MCSA, and it will also help you identify parts of your background or experience that may need improvement, enhancement, or further learning. If you get the right set of basics under your belt, obtaining Microsoft certification will be that much easier.

After you've gone through the Self-Assessment, you can remedy those topical areas in which your background or experience may be lacking. You can also tackle subject matter for individual tests at the same time, so you can continue making progress while you're catching up in some areas.

After you've worked through an Exam Cram 2 , have read the supplementary materials, and have taken the practice test, you'll have a pretty clear idea of when you should be ready to take the real exam. Although we strongly recommend that you keep practicing until your scores top the 75 percent mark, 80 percent is a better goal because it gives some margin for error when you are in an actual, stressful exam situation. Keep taking practice tests and studying the materials until you attain that score. You'll find more pointers on how to study and prepare in the Self-Assessment. But now, on to the exam itself.