PASSED 74-409: MCSA Server 2012 R2 = DONE

Hey everyone, I just passed the 409 which was the last test I needed to pass to earn the MCSA Server 2012 R2 certification! Score was mid-700s which I'm fine with. I had actually planned on studying a few more weeks before taking it but on a whim today I decided I'd give it a shot and luckily it paid off! I have to say it was a lot more difficult than I expected after a lot of users on this forum have said how easy it was, but then again I have a relatively low amount of experience with these technologies anyway so I guess that could be why.

I do have a question though for those of you who have gone the route of taking the 409 instead of the 412 for your MCSA - When does it show in the MCP Portal under Benefits and Exams that you passed the MCSA? It says Congratulations on passing the 409 but it doesn't say anything about the MCSA. It also shows all 3 exams on my transcript as passed but it doesn't give me the option to print certificates for either one. Just wondering if this was the case for anyone else after passing.

Study materials used were:

- Of course the Orin Thomas Study Guide - Very good and provided a way to help me understand some of the things I wasn't grasping otherwise but not in-depth enough to use by itself, which is why it's just called a guide and not a book.

- Pluralsight videos related to the 410, 412, and 414 exams that mapped to the objectives on this exam. Most of them were pretty good so I'd recommend them.

- Infinite Skills videos related to the 410, 412, and 414 exams that mapped to the objectives on this exam. Again, they were pretty good, definitely recommend.

- The Official MVA course on Server Virtualization with Hyper-V and System Center - This was perhaps the most beneficial of all of them. I watched them all and took notes on EVERYTHING and then went through the notes before the test.

- The Technet Virtual Labs - These were the other big things that REALLY helped me grasp the concepts and understand what I was doing.

- Several videos on clustering from John Savill on YouTube. These really helped me to understand a lot I was missing with clustering.

- I did also build a small test environment with VirtualBox for a few things to lab myself but didn't really use it a whole lot. I found the Technet labs to be more beneficial and more than sufficient for the exam.

Total Study Time: 5 weeks

As stated previously, I really was planning on studying for closer to 8 weeks before taking this test but I was starting to get anxious and thought I'd give it a try. I also didn't study as hard during those 5 weeks as I did for the 410 or 411, so maybe if I had studied harder and waited a few more weeks I would've thought it was as easy as everyone else did. Oh well, either way I'm excited to be now MCSA Server 2012 R2 certified and MCS Server Virtualization certified as well.

As a closing thought, I'd like to thank everyone on this forum who either has commented on my posts or posted their own posts that helped me prepare for and pass these tests. I really have enjoyed this forum and will continue to be a part of everything even after passing these exams. I'm going to give myself a few months off to enjoy life again and then see what I want to do next!

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Comments

NetworkNewb

Congratz!!!!

AndersonSmith

Thank you!

gespenstern

Congratz!

Louie1277

That's awesome!!! I'm really hoping that by the end of the year I will be like you MCSA.... Just been busy skipping days on studying.

Once again great job!

Piers

Congrats!!

DY770

Congrats on the pass!

netsysllc

Congratulations! It took a bit more than a month for my MCSE to show up in the portal, so don't be surprised if it takes a while.

alfred06

congrats Anderson. have you guys used the MCSA in Cybrary.it? I am planning on starting MCSA:2012

Congrats

great job

Congrats.
Good job.

netsysllc wrote: »

Congratulations! It took a bit more than a month for my MCSE to show up in the portal, so don't be surprised if it takes a while.

Thanks. It actually showed up about an hour after I posted this lol.

AndersonSmith

alfred06 wrote: »

congrats Anderson. have you guys used the MCSA in Cybrary.it? I am planning on starting MCSA:2012

Hey Netsysllc, thanks, and no I haven't used Cybrary.it. I looked over the modules and they seem somewhat shorter than a lot of the Pluralsight and Infinite Skills videos so be sure to supplement with some other training material as well. Good luck in your studies!

culpano

Well done !

MeanDrunkR2D2

Congrats! It's a great thing to have this cert done and passed! Hopefully Friday afternoon I can post a happy dance post about the 70-417 that I'll be sitting for.

AndersonSmith

MeanDrunkR2D2 wrote: »

Congrats! It's a great thing to have this cert done and passed! Hopefully Friday afternoon I can post a happy dance post about the 70-417 that I'll be sitting for.

Good Luck, I wish you well!

jdeck

Congrats!! Hard work pays off. Jealous and inspired here.

alfred06

Hey Anderson, I've seen your 410/1 no 12. is this a substitution for 12? cant find in microsoft site about this route.
trying to follow your study habits really good stuff.

gncsmith

Yes, alfred06, it can be a substitution for 412.
On the MCSA 2012 page there's a + (expand) to explain options/substitutions.

alfred06

thank you gncsmith

AndersonSmith

Gncsmith already said it, but yes, it's a substitution for the 412. Actually there are a few substitution options. I decided to go the 409 route because the topics on the 412 exam didn't really interest me and I have no need for them for my current job. Virtualization has always interested me a lot and I find it very applicable to my current job so I felt it best to go with that instead. I think I made a good choice as I was able to start immediately implementing virtualization in my job environment. Good luck to you!