How to Prepare for an Exam

Preparing for any MCSE- related test (including Exam 70-293) requires that you obtain and study materials designed to provide comprehensive information about the product and its capabilities that will appear on the specific exam for which you are preparing. The following list of materials can help you study and prepare:

• The exam preparation materials, practice tests, and self-assessment exams on the Microsoft Training & Services page at http://www.microsoft.com/traincert. The Exam Resources link offers examples of the new question types on the MCAD and MCSD exams. You should find the materials, download them, and use them!

• The exam-preparation advice, practice tests, questions of the day, and discussion groups on the http://www.examcram2.com e-learning and certification destination Web site.

In addition, you might find the following materials useful in your quest for Windows Server 2003 expertise:

• Microsoft training kits ” Microsoft Press offers a training kit that specifically targets Exam 70-293. For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/certification/mcse.asp. This training kit contains information that's useful in preparing for the test.

• Study guides ” Several publishers, including Que Publishing, offer certification titles. Que Publishing offers the following:

  • The Exam Cram 2 series ” These books give you information about the material you need to know to pass the tests.

  • The MCSE Training Guide series ” These books offer more detail than the Exam Cram 2 books and are designed to teach you everything you need to know about the subject an exam covers. Each book comes with a CD-ROM containing interactive practice exams in a variety of testing formats.

Together, these two series make a perfect pair.

• Classroom training ” CTECs, online partners , and third-party training companies (such as New Horizons, Wave Technologies, Learning Tree, and Data-Tech) all offer classroom training on Windows Server 2003. These companies aim to help you prepare to pass Exam 70-293 (or other exams). Although training runs upward of $350 per day in class, most people lucky enough to partake find this training to be quite worthwhile.

• Other publications ” There's no shortage of materials available about Windows Server 2003. The "Need to Know More?" resource sections at the end of each chapter in this book give you an idea of where to look for more information.

This set of required and recommended materials represents an unparalleled collection of sources and resources for Windows Server 2003 and related topics. I hope you'll find that this book belongs in this company.

What This Book Is Designed To Do

This book is designed to be read as a pointer to the areas of knowledge you will be tested on. In other words, you might want to read the book one time, just to get an insight into how comprehensive your knowledge of computers is. The book is also designed to be read shortly before you go for the actual test and to give you a distillation of the entire field of Windows application development in as few pages as possible. You can use this book to get a sense of the underlying context of any topic in the chapters ”or to skim-read for Exam Alerts, bulleted points, summaries, and topic headings.

I've drawn on material from Microsoft's own listing of knowledge requirements, from other preparation guides, and from the exams themselves . I've also drawn from a battery of third-party test-preparation tools and technical Web sites and my own experience with application development and the exam. My aim is to walk you through the knowledge you will need ”looking over your shoulder, so to speak ”and point out what's important for the exam (through Exam Alerts, practice questions, and so on).

The 70-293 exam makes a basic assumption that you already have a strong background of experience with the Windows platform and its terminology. On the other hand, because the Windows 2003 Server environment is so new, no one can be a complete expert. I've tried to demystify the jargon, acronyms, terms, and concepts. Also, wherever I think you're likely to blur past an important concept, I've defined the assumptions and premises behind that concept.

What This Book Will Not Do

This book will not teach you everything you need to know about computers, or even about a given topic. Nor is this book an introduction to computer technology. If you're new to network administration and looking for an initial preparation guide, check out http://www.quepublishing.com, where you can find a whole section dedicated to the MCSA/MCSE certifications. This book reviews what you need to know before you take the test, with the fundamental purpose of reviewing the information needed for the Microsoft 70-293 certification exam.

This book uses a variety of teaching and memorization techniques to analyze exam-related topics and to recommend ways to input, index, and retrieve everything you need to know to pass the test. Again, it is not an introduction to managing a Windows 2003 network.