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Free at last, free at last...
... thank Og Almighty, I'm free of this degree at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
So I passed exam 70-297 today, a Microsoft industry exam, with a score of 863. I wasn't especially pleased about the score, I was hoping for 900+, but ultimately the score doesn't matter. It's pass/fail in the great scheme of things.
The exam consisted of a seemingly endless parade of case studies (though I think it might have actually been only 6). For the first time ever, I found myself struggling to finish the exam within the allotted time. Each case study had a particular time allocated to it, and once finished, you could not review previous case studies. So I had to be sure it was right! I wasn't even half-way through reading the first case study when it popped up and gave me a warning about only having 5 minutes left to complete the answers. Holy shit! My mind went into overdrive and I started speed-reading and jotting notes like a crazy cheetah on speed, hoping that I caught enough of the nuances to understand which answers would be right. Evidently, I got most of the answers right 
As for the practice exams I purchased.. Transcender practice exams were right on the money in terms of content and layout. MeasureUps blew chunks and I will not use them again.
In finishing this exam, I've completed the 2000 MCSE (only about 9 years too late) and I will be graduating from my degree with a GPA of 6.83. There's a tiny part of me that is smugly sure I'll be in the running for the university medal. But that, of course, requires that every other graduant not be as nerdy as me - which is certainly not a given. But in any case, I'll have a Masters of Networking and Systems Administration (with Distinctions). Fuck yeh!!!!! And importantly, I'll be done with this degree that's taken me six damn years to complete, I'll finally have a piece of paper worth highlighting in my resume, and maybe.. just maybe.. I can use it to get a better job.
I'm so glad to have this thing done and dusted. YEEEHAAARRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!