The first couple of weeks were spent...
...buying and setting up two new, low-end PCs on which I will be doing all the hands-on practices and labs in the six books I'll be studying. Short story: there were many hardware problems with these computers that ate up too much time over many days.
...doing a couple of handyman jobs that ate up several days. New Rule: no more handyman work until I get my MCSE! (except for the stuff I already committed to do at Tracy & Lisa's.)
Well, after I got those distractions out of the way, I focused 100% on studying. So, for the
last two weeks, here's where I've been sitting for 8 to 12 hours a day studying and drinking WAAAAAY too much coffee. See all those pretty colored tabs in that book? Each one of those roughly 45 tabs marks a "lesson." Each lesson includes:
- many pages of material to read and understand.
- one or more "practice exercises" to do on the computers.
- a short quiz.
- a lesson summary.
Four or five lessons comprise a chapter. In addition to the lesson stuff above, each chapter ends with:
- a lengthy "case scenario" exercise including questions.
- a lengthy "troubleshooting lab" with more stuff to do on the computers.
- a chapter summary.
- a brief chapter review focusing on what to expect on the real exam.
- a list of key terms with definitions.
Each lesson is probably taking me about an hour to complete AND I'VE BEEN SKIPPING THE CASE SCENARIOS AND TROUBLESHOOTING LABS! Oh, and every so often these past 4 weeks I've been taking 90 minute practice tests on my laptop.
Well, tonight I reached a sub-milestone which is why I'm writing.
Tonight I finished the last lesson in the last chapter of this first book! Yay!
Starting tomorrow, I'll take another 90 minute practice test on the laptop, then I'll begin the process of going back through the whole book again to do all the case scenarios and troubleshooting labs that I skipped the first time. That should take at least a couple of days, then we'll see if I'm ready to take the real exam.
I'm studying this one book just so I can take one real exam at an official testing center.
There are five more books I need to study for five more real exams!
This is all a pain in the ass, but right now, having made it once through this thickest of books, I'm pretty excited! My life right now has a very focused and clearly defined purpose and I like that.
1 comment:
Hang in there Ken! It will all be worth it when those bigger, fatter paychecks start a-rollin' in. Hopefully you won't have pickled your stomach with coffee by then!
Post a Comment