Failed 70-410: Recommendations please

urstuffplz1

Hi all,

Failed tonight with 628. Not the end of the world as I have a second re-shot to use in the next 30 days, but I want to get this certificate out of the way now to concentrate solely on my university studies till after the New Year.

I've been watching video series on YouTube, and read the majority of the Microsoft Exam Ref book. I've got the CBT Nuggets series to watch, and in hindsight I should of watched it before the exam today.

Can anyone recommend some good resources that will push me over that magical 700 mark?

Stephen.

iBrokeIT

Microsoft Technet articles which are free. Haven't taken this one specifically but there is a sticky with 70-410 resources that includes a bunch links to Technet articles.

Microsoft also has free videos on Microsoft Virtual Academy that you could use to brush up on the areas you are weak on

poolmanjim

CBT Nuggets, PluralSight, etc. will not cover enough to pass the exam. They are really intended to give you a preview into the interfaces and the how-tos to encourage your study.

One thing it looks like you didn't do, or at least you didn't mention doing it, is labs. The 70-410 has a lot of content and a vast majority of it (almost all of it) can easily be labbed. You may run into a little trouble with Hyper-V without dedicated hardware but you still may be able to get by. Labbing by far will teach you a lot about the material. Try doing something in the GUI and the immediately turn around and try to duplicate that using command line and powershell as much as you can.

Having failed you also have a score report. Look at the areas you were weak. Your score isn't to far off so as long as you sharpen the areas you were doing well on and hit hard the areas it said you were weak you should have a good shot at the retake. Try to improve every area at least a little.

urstuffplz1

Thank for you the replies.

I had done some labbing, but not to the extent of what I should have, as I'm a little unsure how to setup a home lab to be most beneficial, or replicate real life setups.

I've just reschuled my exam for the 18th of November (gives me a week extension if I need it almost).

I am going to recap on areas that I am not strongest in by reading and researching. I will also try and setup a better labbing environment and get stuck in with the commands a lot more. I hadn't though of doing them side by side with GUI study.. it does make sense to do it that way now you've mentioned it.

Dojiscalper

I'm just starting reading/labbing for the 70-410 and all these failed threads are scaring me. Did the exams change? From the lurking I've been doing the past few months and reading back through this forum it seems the exams do change to keep up with additional stuff, ie R2, and now azure stuff.
How do we prepare for this stuff? Buying books means the info is dated, I guess MS Virtual Academy might give clues as to whats new.

poolmanjim

The exams are changing constantly. This is to circumvent the people stealing answers and making braindumps.

However, the objectives don't change very often. I believe the last major update to the exam objectives took place in 2014. If you focus on the content listed on the exam's skills measured section, you'll have an idea of the material on the exam. Microsoft doesn't publish very much information about questions that are on the exam or anything so preparation is challenging as it requires learning a lot of seemingly random information in significant detail.

People fail exams for a number of reasons. Some people aren't good at tests, some people didn't study the content the way they needed to understand it, some people didn't lab enough/do practice tests, etc. If you keep studying, focusing on the exam objectives and try to understand everything you can about those topics, this test is passible. It may not be easy and it may take a try or two, but it is doable.

manc

poolmanjim wrote: »

The exams are changing constantly. This is to circumvent the people stealing answers and making braindumps.

However, the objectives don't change very often. I believe the last major update to the exam objectives took place in 2014. If you focus on the content listed on the exam's skills measured section, you'll have an idea of the material on the exam. Microsoft doesn't publish very much information about questions that are on the exam or anything so preparation is challenging as it requires learning a lot of seemingly random information in significant detail.

People fail exams for a number of reasons. Some people aren't good at tests, some people didn't study the content the way they needed to understand it, some people didn't lab enough/do practice tests, etc. If you keep studying, focusing on the exam objectives and try to understand everything you can about those topics, this test is passible. It may not be easy and it may take a try or two, but it is doable.

Wise an inspirational words!

Off topic I know, I find myself working towards this exam by the end of the year but some of the topics are just so vast and complex, especially Active Directory and Group Policy, I am comfortable with all the other objectives but these two are HUGE, so much so I am doubting whether this exam has to be done with 4-5mths study rather than 2.5mths with 2/3hours study each day, my only saving grace is the second-shot but I wonder if failing this exam in Dec will ruin my mood for the holidays , never the less I am ploughing on with my studies, sorry for the hijack and going on!

ManC

Louie1277

poolmanjim wrote: »

The exams are changing constantly. This is to circumvent the people stealing answers and making braindumps.

However, the objectives don't change very often. I believe the last major update to the exam objectives took place in 2014. If you focus on the content listed on the exam's skills measured section, you'll have an idea of the material on the exam. Microsoft doesn't publish very much information about questions that are on the exam or anything so preparation is challenging as it requires learning a lot of seemingly random information in significant detail.

People fail exams for a number of reasons. Some people aren't good at tests, some people didn't study the content the way they needed to understand it, some people didn't lab enough/do practice tests, etc. If you keep studying, focusing on the exam objectives and try to understand everything you can about those topics, this test is passible. It may not be easy and it may take a try or two, but it is doable.

You are so right about you are talking about.

"People fail exams for a number of reasons. Some people aren't good at tests, some people didn't study the content the way they needed to understand it, some people didn't lab enough/do practice tests, etc"

I could say i have more of this. I think the biggest thing for me is I'm not good at taking test.. I just need to work on that more and some other issues i have when taking test.

poolmanjim

What I found helped me (because I too am not the best test taker) was to slow down and take in the questions piece by piece (especially with the big ones). I read the whole question once. Then I read the "object" portion again (or a couple of times). This is the part that tells me what I am trying to accomplish. I then look at the answers. When I land on an answer I like OR I can't figure it out I go over the question again looking for qualifiers in the question (what version of server, what details about the network, etc) and use that to confirm I am right. I then read the question again and double check myself.

There will be questions where you are truly 50/50 on the answer. Look for things that have tripped you up and where you may be thinking one thing and MS is thinking something else.

Lastly, answer every question. There aren't penalties for wrong answers. You just don't get them right if they are wrong. That's it!

I hope this helps some. These tests are tricky and challenging.

thatguy67

Amen to everything said in this thread. This exam was very difficult for me. The best advice I could give is to go into the exam knowing that the writers want you to fail. The second time I took it, I walked in with the attitude that "Microsoft knows that I know the content, but they want me to fail anyway and will do whatever they can to get another voucher purchased." It helped a lot psychologically.

There are some d-bag exam writers out there that want to trip you up for reading comprehension. As in, they understand how the mind can associate certain things together when under stress/time limit and will purposely mix it up. One question in particular was very lame in that aspect, and I commented about it after the exam haha.

Louie1277

That's the thing i answer every question and read it over and over. I don't know what it is but I get sleepy some times during the test. I don't know if that's an issue i'm having or something. I know when i'm reading i have to stop some time, or i notice i lose focus and can't remember.

Other thing is when i do take the test and i'm at the end I don't like going back to check the answer because i'm afraid i might pick the wrong answer and second guess myself. Stupid test we will see soon how i do. This time i been pushing myself on reading at least 30 mins or something.