How to Prepare for an Exam

Preparing for any MCSE-related test (including Exam 70-297) 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 Windows Server 2003 product CD. Some of the best resources you can use when preparing for an exam are the help files included with the operating system. They usually cover different aspects of all the technologies included with the operating system.

• The exam preparation materials, practice tests, and self-assessment exams on the Microsoft Training & Services page at www.microsoft.com/traincert. The Exam Resources link offers examples of the new question types found on the MCSE 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 www.examcram2.com e-learning and certification destination Web site.

In addition, you might find any or all 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 70-297. For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/certification/mcse.asp. This training kit contains information that you will find useful in preparing for the test.

• Microsoft TechNet This monthly publication provides information on the latest technologies and topics some of which pertain to the exam topics covered in 70-297.

• 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 provide a greater level of detail than the Exam Cram 2 books and are designed to teach you everything you need to know about the subject covered by an exam. Each book comes with a CD-ROM that contains interactive practice exams in a variety of testing formats.

  Together, these two series make a perfect pair.

• Classroom training Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centers (CTECs), online partners, and third-party training companies all offer classroom training on Windows Server 2003. These companies aim to help you prepare to pass Exam 70-297 (and other exams). Although such training costs more than $350 per day in class, most of the individuals 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 section at the end of each chapter in this book will give you an idea of where we think you should look for further discussion.

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

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 or networking in general and looking for an initial preparation guide, check out www.quepublishing.com, where you will find a whole section dedicated to the MCSE certifications. This book will review what you need to know before you take the test, with the fundamental purpose dedicated to reviewing the information needed on the Microsoft 70-297 certification exam.

This book uses a variety of teaching and memorization techniques to analyze the exam-related topics and to provide you with ways to input, index, and retrieve everything you'll need to know to pass the test. Again, this book is not an introduction to networking and network administration, nor does it cover introductory topics as they pertain to Windows Server 2003.

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 designing a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and network infrastructure in as few pages as possible. We think 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.

The material covered in this book is based on Microsoft's own listing of exam objectives. These are the topics that Microsoft intends to test you on during the exam. The book also covers a number of other topics you're likely to encounter both on the exam and on the job.

The 70-297 exam makes the assumption that you already have a strong background of experience with Windows Server 2003 and its related technologies. On the other hand, because the platform is so new, no one can be a complete expert. We've tried to demystify the jargon, acronyms, terms, and concepts. Also, wherever we think you're likely to blur past an important concept, we've defined the assumptions and premises behind that concept.