410 passed, MSCA done!

PiersPiers Member Posts: 454 ■■■□□□□□□□
in MCSA / MCSE on Windows 2012 General
The journey that started over a year ago finally came to its conclusion yesterday as I wrote my 70-410 exam (from home, which I only recently found out was available in Canada). I had purchased the retake pack, so was completely relaxed for the exam, knowing I had 4 more tries for free. I had the morning off of work to review notes etc, and felt great. 47 questions, I marked about 12-13 that I was more than just unsure of, read every question very carefully so that I didn't miss a key point (like a server being 2008, or a GPO that was linking something irrelevant), changed a few of the marked for review and felt somewhat stressed about changing something that was a gut instinct answer, but when I clicked Finish, I was smiling because I felt like I'd be even more ready for retake #1.

Result? 700!

I actually laughed when I saw the Congratulations on the screen (after I raised my arms in victory), reaching the absolute bare minimum to pass, with all those retakes in my back pocket. Thankfully work paid for that

So the MCSA journey looked something like this:
74-409 - When a free exam and MVA training came out, I thought, why not? It had nothing to do with my job, but free is free, so I watched the entire course, read up on the objectives on technet, and watched the course again, now that I had a better grasp of topics and procedures. I passed that with a score in the 700s (don't remember exactly but I just checked my transcript and interestingly enough, it was April 8, 2014 I passed, exactly 2 years ago to the day).

70-411 - Fast forward 8 months, I started working from home to support a high priority business conversion to Windows 7 and as the project went on, the onsite techs were getting better and procedures were streamlined and I found myself with a lot of free time in the early am (like from 2am til 6) so I cracked open the 70-410 book online and started reading with the intention of writing the exam in the summer, or perhaps fall with a second shot. After the project ended in March, I went back to my cubicle downtown and things got really busy so my studies went to the backburner. a few months later, the IT higherups put out 70-411 as an optional certification goal, so in September when things were quieter, I transitioned to the 411 objectives. 4 months of reading, labbing what I could on company servers icon_redface.gif, technetting everything remotely close to the objectives, and with a second shot in my pocket, I wrote the 411 exam in January. And failed. NO biggie, got the second shot. Went over my weaknesses (which funnily enough was AD and GP, areas I felt strong in based on my Server 2008 certification experience. I probably glossed over the topics feeling arrogantly confident). I covered all the topics again, and passed my second shot in February with a 746 or something close

70-410 - I went right into the 410 objectives the next week, wanting to keep everything fresh in my mind knowing there was a lot of overlaps in the material. This time, my co-worker had gotten the CBT Nuggets videos for the course, which was nice to have. 2 months of about 3-4 hours per weekday with the videos and Minasi book supplemented by technet culminated in the pass yesterday. I feel so mentally drained but I'm so happy, even though I paid $200 for the exam lol (ok, work paid, so I'm only feeling a little guilty, I'm tempted to give them $50 back haha.. fat chance)

I got drunk and watched Star Wars to celebrate icon_cheers.gif


since someone always asks, here's what and how I studied:
The 409 I already said, MVA and technet alone got me through. I would recommend this as an easier and more relevant to the other 2 exams as a good option
411 - Minasi Mastering Server 2012 as well as Panek's Administration Study Guide, technet a lot as guided by the Born To Learn blog and a video series from videotrainer.com and labbing what I could on a contingency server at work
410 - Same reading materials; Minasi, the other Panek book, technet, the videotrainer AND CBT nugget video series, and the 90 days to MCSA challenge notes (Big thanks to lmoworld for putting that together). Same labbing as 411


Time for a short rest. I have taxes to do and divorce papers to resubmit, so that's going to be my goal next week, then it's onto the next work requirements: Mobility+ and Windows 10. I'm hoping that Microsoft has a Supporting Windows 10 exam soon, and ideally a 1-step upgrade exam like the XP->7 70-682, 7->8 70-689. I have the 680 and 685 so I'd like to write just one exam.

Sorry for the long read, I haven't posted the whole story in quite a while so there was a lot to say lol
:study: Office 365 70-347 / 698 later
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