Struggling for 70-532/3/4 study materials

UncleBUncleB Member Posts: 417
in Other Microsoft Electives
I wondered what study materials people here have used recently for the Azure cloud exams from Microsoft, namely 70-532/533/534.

I have the official Microsoft book for the exams (70-532 and 533) but I'm finding they are almost useless as the information is very out of date in spite of being less than a year old. I tried to buy the 70-534 book this week but it has been discontinued and I cannot even buy it as an ebook from Amazon, with physical copies at crazy money (over £200 for some of the 2015 versions although the 2016 version is a tenth of that).

The issue seems to be that the course material had a major revision a few months ago to catch up with the constantly evolving Azure environment but Microsoft don't even stock the books themselves so it is hard to find a good place to start.

I have the CBT Nuggets courses for these and the Microsoft official training course material (courtesy of a trainer) so between the blueprint and these I hope to get through.

For those who completed this recently, what have you used to get through the exam?

Thanks.
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Comments

  • tbgree00tbgree00 Member Posts: 553 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I have a trial to Linux Academy and used those videos. They were a good overview. I also learned a little powershell and paid a lot of attention to those parts of LA. Knowing the Azure PowerShell syntax is critical.
    I finally started that blog - www.thomgreene.com
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  • EagerDinosaurEagerDinosaur Member Posts: 114
    I'm preparing for 70-532, and not impressed with the official MS 70-532 book I've just bought - very out of date. At least it was cheap.

    I'm currently working through this free e-book, which seems relevant:
    https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/microsoft_press/2016/09/01/free-ebook-microsoft-azure-essentials-fundamentals-of-azure-second-edition/
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  • UncleBUncleB Member Posts: 417
    So far I have been able to track down a few resources that sort the issues for me in relation to the 533 and 534 exams:

    70-533
    Gareth Jones has a great article which links the blueprint with the current Azure documentation and related articles - I used this to bring my studies up to the current level and passed the exam based on it.
    FREE Azure Exam 70-533 – Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions – Exam Prep–ARM Refresh Edition November 2016 (Updated 22/11/2016) – Gareth's Blog

    70-534
    Gareth did the same as for the 533 exam and it looks like it is on target.
    FREE Azure Exam 70-534 – Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions – Exam Prep – Gareth's Blog

    I also found a lab book from this year that has a lot of related labs with detailed instructions using the new portal and current exam objectives. I have put the exam off as several others are being pushed up the priority but I'll report back on this when I sit the exam.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1544160623/

    If anyone finds 70-532 material of this nature I would be very interested.

    Again for anyone reading this - forget the Microsoft study guides as they are so far out of date as to be a risk to passing the exam by teaching obsolete technologies and naming conventions - burn, compost or turn them into building material, just don't waste time reading them.
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  • UncleBUncleB Member Posts: 417
    I came across a reasonable guide to the 70-532 exam here:
    https://www.slideshare.net/Vijaymohire/study-guide-70532-new-syllabus

    The same sort of layout using the blueprint and links to Azure documentation. Note that it does assume a degree of developer experience so if you are not familiar with coding, some parts of this course will be hard going (it was for me).

    Hopefully this thread gives a list of links that will be more than enough for people to study with on the current syllabus and have a decent chance of passing.
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  • nascar_paulnascar_paul Member Posts: 288 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Great resources! Thanks for the research that you've done! Please keep us up to date on your progress.
    2017 Goals: 70-411 [X], 74-409 [X], 70-533 [X], VCP5-DCV [], LX0-103 [], LX0-104 []
    "I PLAN to fail!" - No One Ever
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  • EagerDinosaurEagerDinosaur Member Posts: 114
    I've just passed 70-532, using the outdated first edition of Microsoft's 70-532 book, and more up-to-date resources such as https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/microsoft_press/2016/09/01/free-ebook-microsoft-azure-essentials-fundamentals-of-azure-second-edition/. I also spent a fair amount of hands-on time in the Azure Portal. I think the coding exercises in the 70-532 book are still mostly relevant.

    I reckon about 20% of the questions were on topics that the first edition of the 70-532 book doesn't cover at all, and I was convinced throughout the exam that I would be lucky to score 500. Then I passed with a score of 844, I'm not sure how that happened. I did give a pretzel to a hungry seagull just before entering the test centre, so maybe I gained some kind of karma from that.

    The second edition of Microsoft's 70-532 book is due to be published in September, if I had failed the exam I would probably have waited for that before attempting a re-take.
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  • someperson49someperson49 Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Is it possible to do all 3 exams in 6 months starting from zero?

    Anyone been able to do this?

    The offer expires at the end of the month so its now or never really.
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  • EagerDinosaurEagerDinosaur Member Posts: 114
    someperson49 wrote: »
    Is it possible to do all 3 exams in 6 months starting from zero?

    I've only done 532, but if the other 2 are similar, then I would say yes. It would depend on what zero means, 532 would be tricky without pre-existing programming experience for example. I estimate I spent between 50 and 100 hours studying for 532, and probably about $150 worth of Azure services (which I got for free via my employer's MSDN subscription).

    I did 461, 462 and 463 within 4 months with little help from my employer, once some "studying momentum" has been built up it gets easier.
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  • Rosco2382Rosco2382 Member Posts: 205 ■■■□□□□□□□
    What did you use to study? I have some experience with Azure, but mainly deploying virtual machines and deploying networks. I was debating on starting the studies for 532 but wasn't sure what material to use. I have a IUR Azure and CBT, was thinking about buying the book.
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  • UncleBUncleB Member Posts: 417
    someperson49 wrote: »
    Is it possible to do all 3 exams in 6 months starting from zero?

    It really depends on how much other IT experience you have. If it is not a lot then you will really struggle and you would be better off doing them one at a time at your own pace rather than trying to save a few $ and failing.

    There is a lot of overlap between the exams (I've done 532 and 533) - about 30% I would say, but without understanding a lot of the concepts underpinning how it is used I think it will be too big an ask unless you are doing only this pretty much full time.
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  • someperson49someperson49 Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I meant I had done zero work in Azure, I have BSc in computer science and have worked in IT a few years so not completely clueless.

    I have decided to give this a go though. The 6 months deadline should help focus the mind.



    Did you have to learn much coding for the 70-532?
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  • UncleBUncleB Member Posts: 417
    someperson49 wrote: »
    Did you have to learn much coding for the 70-532?

    No, but you need to be able to read coding and understand how it interacts with the rest of the environment. Have a look through the blueprint to get a taste for it then have a look at CBT Nuggets or similar to get more of an idea what is asked for - you shouldn't have any issue with your background.
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  • someperson49someperson49 Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Over the last 3 months I have been studying quite hard on Azure and have passed the 70-533 and 70-534.

    Mainly used Pluralsight (Azure Iaas, Architect, Admin and 70-354 paths) and Linuxacademy. These are free with a visual studio dev essential account.

    Also read the Azure Essential guide mentioned above, did all the free labs, the measureup tests and used the one month free trial.

    One thing I would suggest is to watch the training videos and do the free labs before signing up for the trial to get the most out of the free month. Also I was not able to use the free 12 months $300 dev essentials credit on the same account as the free trial.

    I only attempted them because I had the free re-takes and found both quite hard. Both times I thought I had failed but both times I nearly got 800. The funny thing even looking at the score sheet I cant see how they added up to a pass.

    Anyway onto the next exam...
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  • someperson49someperson49 Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Looks like Microsoft will be releasing three new Azure related exams in 2018.

    https://borntolearn.mslearn.net/b/weblog/posts/announcing-three-new-azure-exams
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  • someperson49someperson49 Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
    More updates on the Azure exams, looks like exam 534 will be replaced with a new exam 535 within a few weeks.

    https://borntolearn.mslearn.net/b/weblog/posts/exam-retirement-update-for-october-2017


    534: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions (This exam is being replaced by 535, which will cover similar content, but the exam content domain is changing significantly enough that we want a clear differentiator for candidates who are preparing for this exam. The exam title is not changing. Keep your eye on Born to Learn for more details.)
    535 – targeted to be available late November/early
    December

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  • nancyhenry89nancyhenry89 Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Pass your 70-532 exam easily in first attempt by the help of latest Microsoft 70-532 questions with valid answers. VceTests provide Microsoft Azure Solutions 70-532 **** guaranteed success. We have updated 70-532 practice test questions and providing with Microsoft Microsoft Azure Solutions exam passing assurance. https://www.vcetests.com/70-532-vce.html
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