Imagine Cup Competition is a premier competition in tech world for student enthusiasts.

It is hosted by Microsoft corp. since 2002.

IT CHALLENGE is a part of this Competition. 

Courtesy : www.imaginecup.com
Microsoft.
The object of the IT Challenge is to highlight the art and science of developing, deploying, and maintaining IT systems that are efficient, functional, robust and secure. IT professionals have a base set of tools and techniques, but still have to work through customer needs and configurations that require an intimate understanding of how the pieces fit together. They also need to know how far the systems can be pushed before they will break, and how to make the systems highly available, so that they are always available.


Entry Level Requirement.
Each Round has unique entry requirements, described below. All required entry deliverables must be received within the designated Round in order for your entry to be eligible for judging.
Round 1 – Qualifying Quiz
During Round 1, you are required to pass one (1) quiz during one of the eight (8) quiz periods. All quiz periods are 12:01am-11:59pm GMT.
Quiz
Start Date and Time(all times 00:01 [12:01 AM] GMT) 
Quiz 1
September 22, 2010
Quiz 2
October 19, 2010
Quiz 3
November 2, 2010
Quiz 4
November 18, 2010
Quiz 5
December 3, 2010
Quiz 6
December 15, 2010
Quiz 7
January 14, 2011
Quiz 8
January 31, 2011
You will be able to register and take the online quizzes any time during any of the eight (8) quiz dates and you will be given 60 minutes to take a 30 question quiz. Regardless of when you start the quiz, you will have 60 minutes or until the end of the 24-hour quiz time to complete the quiz, whichever comes first.  For example, if you begin the quiz early in the 24-hour quiz time, you will have 60 full minutes to complete the quiz.  However if you start the quiz 45 minutes before the end of the 24-hour quiz period, you will only have 45-minutes to complete the quiz on that day. You may participate in every quiz period but you will only be allowed to take one quiz during each 24-hour period. One (1) of your scores must be 15 or higher (or 50% correctly answered questions) in order to advance to Round 2. Once advanced to Round 2, there is no need to take additional quizzes, but you are welcome to do so if you would like.
The questions will test your knowledge around Windows 2008 R2, Hyper-V Virtualization, Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Windows 7, System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, TMG 2010, UAG 2010, SQL 2008 R2, Office 2010, Office Communication Server 2007 R2, Windows Mobile, and other Microsoft server, client, and online products and services.  Each quiz will have a unique blend of questions on each topic.
Additionally, in Round 1, a Facebook page will be dedicated to the IT Challenge and maintained along with the IT Challenge forum. Technical tips, Challenge updates, preparation hints, and more will be made available. The IT Challenge captains will actively post and share information via this Facebook page, and it is the hope that competitors will interact with one another there as well as on the IT Challenge forum, which will continue to be monitored and supported.
Round 2 – Case Study
If you successfully advance to compete in Round 2 of the IT Challenge, you will compete against other Round 2 participants in a single case study submission.
This portion of your entry will be submitted via an essay-based submission and will test your ability to reason through and describe an architecture and method of implementation of a Microsoft networking environment. The goal of this round is to make sure you have a real world view of the technologies, and not just “book smart” but also some practical understanding of the technologies.  The scenario will include the Microsoft technologies covered in Round 1, and key hints, tips, and content will draw on information shared on the Imagine Cup IT Challenge Forum and Facebook page.  Competitors who actively participate in the Imagine Cup IT Challenge Forum will be provided clues and hints into the information needed to submit a “complete” Round 2 case study. IT Challenge Captains will be monitoring the information shared on the Imagine Cup IT Challenge Forum and Facebook page.  
Worldwide Finals
If you are invited to compete at the Worldwide Finals, you will compete in a “Hands-on Lab” round which will test your practical hands-on knowledge of IT solutions.
This lab will challenge you to build servers, server images, and configurations on a Hyper-V host server to prove your practical knowledge and experience with the technologies.  You will be asked to setup, install, and demonstrate knowledge and expertise around Windows 2008 R2, Exchange 2010, Windows 7, Office 2010, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, TMG 2010, SQL 2008 R2, Office Communications Server 2007 R2, etc. You will be given 24 hours to complete the hands-on lab challenge.  The competitors will be tasked to demonstrate their experience and expertise in a theme that aligns with the Imagine Cup 2011 theme
Resources 
There will be 8 quizzes. Dates and competition clock are in page:http://imaginecup.com/competitions/it-challenge 

* Quiz 1: September 22, 2010 
* Quiz 2: October 19, 2010 
* Quiz 3: November 2, 2010 
* Quiz 4: November 18, 2010 
* Quiz 5: December 3, 2010 
* Quiz 6: December 15, 2010 
* Quiz 7: January 14, 2011 
* Quiz 8: January 31, 2011 

Quiz Format: 

– Multiple choice quizzes. 
– Each quiz will have 30 questions. 
– Each question is scored with 1 (one) point. 
– You need to get 15 points to advance in the next Round. 
– Maximum time allocated for a quiz is 60 minutes. 

It is not necessary to compete in all quizzes, but is better for you to learn and to be competitive. Also we will made some unofficial ratings of competitors and if you want to be one of the best from this invitational is necessary to obtain as much points cumulated. 
Each quiz will have the same difficulty level, but questions will be completely different (almost completely  ). 

General Advice:
 If you do not pass from first Quiz, learn more and you have 7 (seven) more chances to be qualified in Round 2. If you do not pass from second quiz, learn more and more and you have 6 (six) more chances to win.Perseverance is very important in this invitational. 
If you get 22 points in Round 1, learn more to get more points. You have 7 (seven) more chances to get 30 points . Just try!

Learning resources collection 
The questions will test your knowledge around Windows 2008 R2, Hyper-V Virtualization, Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Windows 7, System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, TMG 2010, UAG 2010, SQL 2008 R2, Office 2010, Office Communication Server 2007 R2, Windows Mobile, and other Microsoft server, client, and online products and services. Each quiz will have a unique blend of questions on each topic. 
A. Resources for Base Level preparation: 
a. Encyclopedia of Security http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/book.aspx?ID=6429 
b. Encyclopedia of Networkinghttp://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/book.aspx?ID=5202 

B. Full documentations about servers technologies (http://technet.microsoft.com) 
C. Practice: Work with products: (TechNet Virtual Labs –http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb467605.aspx) 
D. Short technical video called: Microsoft Silverlight Learning Snacks 
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/format-learning-snacks.aspx 
E. The Microsoft Platform and SaaS:http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/saas/saasplatform.mspx 
F. Product page: Access each product page from Microsoft Site and learn about it. 
Office products: http://office.microsoft.com/ 
Servers and Tools: http://www.microsoft.com/servers/home.mspx 


Microsoft Press Books 
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory 
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-642): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure 
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-643): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure 
Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit 
Windows Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant 
Windows Server 2008 Networking and Network Access Protection (NAP) 
Windows Server 2008 Resource Kit 
Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant 
MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-646): Windows Server Administration 

Other Books on that Topic: 
Windows Server 2008 Unleashed 
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed 


My Blog:
IT challenge Help.
Tech Impressions

Sample IT Challenge questions 
Where in Windows 7 will one find the option to change the Time and Date on a system: 

a-Administrative Tools, 
b-Network Connections, 
c-Control Panel, 
d-Internet Explorer 
(answer is c-Control Panel) 
Which of the following is NOT a standard component in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: 
a-Document Library, 
b-Wiki, 
c-Blog, 
d-Shell 
(answer is d-Shell) 

Which of the following features are part of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2: 
a-Desired Configuration Manager, 
b-OS Deployment, 
c-Site Collections, 
d-all of the above 
(answer is d-all of the above) 
Data Protection Manager 2007 will backup which of the following applications: 
a-Exchange 2007, 
b-SharePoint 2007, 
c-Windows 2008, 
d-All of the Above 
(answer is d-All of the Above) 
Which of the following features are part of System Center Configuration Manager 2007: 
a-Desired Configuration Manager, 
b-OS Deployment, 
c-Site Collections, 
d-all of the above 
(answer is d-all of the above) 
Data Protection Manager 2007 will backup which of the following applications: 
a-Exchange 2007, 
b-SharePoint 2007, 
c-Windows 2008, 
d-All of the Above 
(answer is d-All of the Above) 
Which of the following is NOT a standard Windows 2008 Server “role”: 
a) DNS, 
b) Web Server (IIS), 
c) Exchange Server, 
d) Certificate Server 
(Answer is c-Exchange Server) http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/book.aspx?ID=6429


Keep Visiting http://sanketspace.blogspot.com 

Leave a Comment

Scroll to Top