Tips for preparing 70-410?

Cammern

Hello, I was wondering if anyone that have passed 410, or are studying for it may have some useful advice for preparing?

- What is the best way to lab (in your opinion)? My self I have used VMware, but curious to see how others approach it.
- What are the best practice test, and which is most relevant to the exam?
- Any tips for good video series on 70-410 exam? Like with 70-680 I used Professor Messor and IT Free Training, and some CBT Nuggets.

Also any where to find useful study notes? My self I am very bad at creating study notes.

kowboye

My most productive form of studying comes by matching the 70-410 exam objectives with an array of study materials. It seems that most who have taken the test have noted the strong emphasis on Windows PowerShell, which makes sense if you're going to be a sysadmin. I'm currently studying from the Windows PowerShell 3.0 book by Ed Wilson found on Amazon. Also try to utilize the virtual labs and "courses" offered in Microsoft Virtual Academy. Lastly, Microsoft Technet is a good source of how-to's, and don't forget to subscribe to a third-party practice exams like transcender, or measure up. Bottom line: I've had to pull from a variety of sources to make a strong study platform, but I'm in the groove now. Looking at taking the 70-410 by the end of October. I'm learning a lot and have found myself to be deeply buried in the Microsoft ecosystem.

I also create study notes using Microsoft OneNote.

Reference Links:
Amazon.com: Windows PowerShell 3.0 First Steps (Developer Reference) eBook: Ed Wilson: Kindle Store
Microsoft Virtual Academy
Resources and Tools for IT Professionals | TechNet

alan2308

I like kowboye's list of resources. The Cert guide, I could take it or leave it. Everything is covered, it just doesn't seem deep enough. The same can be said about just about any video series, CBT Nuggest, Trainsignal (or whatever they're called now) or whomever.

Technet also has a nice collection of things called "Step by Step Guides," many of which are downloadable as a PDF or Word doc. Great, detailed walk through for your first time setting up a technology. And as far as labbing goes, do yourself a favor and skip VMWare if at all possible. Hyper-V is on the MS exams (more and more as each exam goes by), VMWare isn't.

Louie1277

I have to agree after trying to pass the exam the first time I failed. I guess i didn't get enough lab or resources when I first started. Now I have 2 books that i'm going off. Read one chapter a week then switch to the other book to read that chapter. I did the vmware lab myself , and that worked great until i got the whole hyper-v setting up. Since you can't run hype-v in a vmware i had to figure out how to learn that. Lucky for me I had a hp mini server that I could load it. Now I'm starting my whole lab running hyper v when i get home. When I'm at work i still play around with vmware on my laptop.
I'm getting ready to take the exam once again the first week of Nov... I keep telling myself I will do better this time around. Good Luck on the exam

Cammern

Thanks for the reply guys. I have been going for a week now, and after reading kowboye's tip about matching the exam objectives with an array of study materials I feel like I have made a lot of process. I basically wrote down all the objectives and specific and writing notes to each, that way I have a overview of what I have done and not

I have found TechNet very usefull, and what ever I can't find there I use the Training Guide for, as well as watching CBT Nuggets, also came across this 70-410 lab manual, that I will be using for labbing later. It have lots of exercises to follow.

Exam 70-410 Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 Lab Manual: 9781118511589: Computer Science Books @ Amazon.com

Louie1277

Make sure you get the r2 one. it' the same price but make sure you get the correct one. Here's the link to the most current one. it's the one i bought

http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Configuring-Microsoft-Official-Academic/dp/1118882296/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413056660&sr=1-1&keywords=microsoft+official+academic+course+installing+and+configuring+windows+server+2012+r2