I applied one of my personal motivational techniques at the weekend and used the online facility at 2 Test to book my next MCP exam. When I get to the stage when I think I am refining what I know rather than learning new material, I give myself focus by booking the exam. Although it is possible to reschedule, i have never used that facility and gear up for the exam. And it tends to work for me, giving the last four weeks before the exam a bit of a boost.

At this stage in my process I explore the edges of the curriculum covered by the exam by using Transcender test exams. These are regularly updated and in my experience have served to be a more accurate coverage of the source material than the exam related reading material you see on Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, I use such books as the first stage, as most are structured in the best way to approach the material.

My use of Transcenders is to check my incorrect answers, and read all of the referenced material. To this end I’d like to recommend Microsoft for their open approach to product documentation. For the exam I am preparing for, the online help and Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit are both available online.

Both of these are invaluable, and I am already finding material that I have had access to but never used. Something I’d never quite got about AD design clicked yesterday when I was looking into Group Policy Objects and Organisational Units. Excellent.