For those that passed the 70-461 Exam What was the format?

sunpack

Hello Everyone,

New to this forum. I am a software developer that wants to go down the SQL DBA path. I have read the 70-461 MS Press book by Itzik Ben-Gan and can consistently pass the practice tests on the CD. What I would like to know is the exam all multiple choice? Are you required to write the SQL code for a given problem or choose from code that is already written? Is the exam on the CD comparable to the format that will be given?

My study material is the following?

Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Training Kit
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 High-Performance T-SQL Using Window Functions
Trainsignal - Querying SQL Server 2012 Videos
Lynda.com - Querying SQL Server 2012 Videos

I feel like the material is fairly intuitive, however it is the syntax that seems daunting. Trying to remember all the syntax, every stored procedure every aggregate function, etc...seems to be a lot.

So for those of you that have passed if you could just quickly comment on the format of the exam when you took it.

Thanks in advance

NotHackingYou

If I remember correctly the exam was all multiple choice. Good luck!

knownhero

As Carl mentioned. Its all multiple choice, you be required to read the code and understand what its doing. So you can notice any mistakes, and below will show you a list which you select the correct one.

dr0ck

I just took (and passed) the 70-461 exam this morning and it was absolutely NOT all multiple choice. Most of it was multiple choice, but there were a few where you had to hand code in an editor and a few where you are given some chunks of code and you have to select the correct ones and arrange them in the correct order.

Let me know if you have any other questions while it's still fresh in my mind.

sunpack

Thanks drOck and congratulations. Are you studying for the entire MCSE track? The code you had to write, in your opinion, do you feel it was overly complicated. I am comfortable writing queries, however I have not memorized every aggregate or stored procedure or rarely used SQL functions. Could you give an example. Don't expect you to give exact problem just an general idea:) - Thanks

dr0ck

sunpack wrote: »

Thanks drOck and congratulations. Are you studying for the entire MCSE track? The code you had to write, in your opinion, do you feel it was overly complicated. I am comfortable writing queries, however I have not memorized every aggregate or stored procedure or rarely used SQL functions. Could you give an example. Don't expect you to give exact problem just an general idea:) - Thanks

Thanks! For now, I have my sights set on the MCSA. I plan on working towards the MCSE, but it's a few years away and who knows what'll happen between now and then.

No, they were not overly complicated. Most of them were adding to incomplete code like adding a GROUP BY, WITH SCHEMABINDING to a view, or adding a column. The one where I had to write all the code from scratch was an easy aggregation with select,from,group by,and order by. Nothing too hard. I do wish I would've been more familiar with the syntax of Functions...

N2IT

I had several drag and drop type questions and some where you had to write out the code.

Tawaz

The exam is not all multiple choice,i met about 7 drag n drop questions and a few that you have to complete the code.its good to know the code dude.

zaleonardz

Know your main functions with aggregation, when to use Rollup, grouping sets, Ntile and rank. just by understanding those exactly, you can almost answer the question without reading it.

I must still write that XML article.

But in all fairness MeasureUp has been the closest to the exams for me. tramscemder is useless...