70-298 Exam Study Notes

By Author: Alyssa
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70-298: Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network

About These Notes
These are notes that I took while studying for the 70-298 Exam(http://www.mcse-70-298.com). I've boiled them down to what you need to know when you take the exam and added many links to web resources for good measure.
I strongly recommend reading your book first, if you haven't, already. Follow that up by studying all of the notes here and studying all of the pages that I've linked to (very important). That'll go a long way in preparing you for the exam.
I hope that these notes prove helpful to you and good luck on the exam!
Consider taking your own notes while studying. Writing things down helps the memorization process. Besides, it's possible that a topic that I know well and didn't think to include is one that you may not be so strong in.
Print these notes out and carry them with you (along with your own notes) on the day of the exam. Go over them on breaks, in the car and, most importantly, immediately before walking into the exam room (leave them outside, of course). For the most part, I've designed ...
... them to be succint and memorizable.
Bring a pen with you and, should you fail the exam, as soon as you leave the testing center, write down (on the back of the printout or paper that you brought with you) everything from the free Microsoft practice tests(http://www.examshots.com/vendor/Microsoft-1.html) that you can remember, especially questions and answers that you weren't sure of. Spend a good 15-30 minutes. You won't recall much even a few hours later, unless you have a better memory than I do.

It really, really helps if you made good use of the "Select for Review" checkboxes while taking the test, since it means that all of the questions and answers that you weren't sure of are the freshest things in your mind when you leave the testing center. Use everything that you wrote down as the basis for your re-take studying.

General Advice
I highly recommend studying for and taking 70-299 before this exam. You should always take the administration exams before their design counterparts, anyways. In addition, there is a severe lack of good study material for this exam, but 70-299 has many (especially Microsoft's training kit, which is one of the best study guides that I've ever used). After passing 70-299, you should be able to pass70-298 within the next week.
I used the ExamCram 70-298 study guide, but realize that this is a weak guide that you should use only if you feel you know everything in 70-299 and want a quick read to help you pass 70-298 a few days later.
This exam is a moderately difficult one, so you shouldn't take it too lightly. My main pieces of advice are:

See if Microsoft is offering their "Second Shot" (free re-take) promotion and take advantage of it (even if you think that you'll pass. There's no reason not to, since you can use it more than once. You must sign up with Microsoft and use the special promotion code when scheduling your first sitting in order to be eligible to re-take it free (should you fail).
Consider taking your own notes while studying. Writing things down helps the memorization process. Besides, it's possible that a topic that I know well and didn't think to include is one that you may not be so strong in.
Print these notes out and carry them with you (along with your own notes) on the day of the exam. Go over them on breaks, in the car and, most importantly, immediately before walking into the exam room (leave them outside, of course). For the most part, I've designed them to be succint and memorizable.
Bring a pen with you and, should you fail the exam, as soon as you leave the testing center, write down (on the back of the printout or paper that you brought with you) everything from the exam that you can remember, especially free practice IT questions(http://www.examshots.com) that you weren't sure of. Spend a good 15-30 minutes. You won't recall much even a few hours later, unless you have a better memory than I do.

It really, really helps if you made good use of the "Select for Review" checkboxes while taking the test, since it means that all of the questions and answers that you weren't sure of are the freshest things in your mind when you leave the testing center. Use everything that you wrote down as the basis for your re-take studying.