70-411 completed!!!!!

Gago77

70-411 tamed on the first try with a 788. After 2 weeks of 4-6 hours of study a day I decided to go take the exam. I concentrated my studies on NPS, File and Print services, group policies, and Active directory. I used the sybex book and read the chapters on topics I was unsure of a couple of times to really learn the material. I also used skillsoft, which is provided by my current employer. Guys is you have this option I encourage you to use it. The MCT for 411 is awesome. Murph taught me a lot. You will get out of the skillsoft training what ever you put into it. So don't just put on headphones and click play if you are not going to pay attention to everything he says. He has a ton of experience and broke things down very detailed in my opinion as well as gave great tips on what a test taker should really focus on depending on the chapter. I also did some labs and the practice test on the sybex websites those really helped. I had some NAP questions which am glad I made sure I understood even though MS has deprecated it they still ask questions about it on the 70-411.

djrabes

Congrats! 70-411 is a hard exam as there is a lot to learn and understand.

Are you onto 70-412 now? I can tell you now that 412 is really difficult to get your head around, although I found the exam quite easy as I was able to single out the wrong answers relatively fine.

Gago77

Thank you. Yes am moving right into 70-412. I have devoted so much time into the other two exams that I believe everything I have learned will help tremendously.

djrabes

Absolutely. 412 builds on nicely from the first two exams. Just keep at it and I'm sure you'll pass 412. How long did it take you to study 411?

Gago77

2 weeks. I studied for 4-6 hours each day. I felt really good about what I knew so decided to go for it.

djrabes

That's pretty good You taking 412 next Tuesday then?

Gago77

LOL. We shall see. It will all come down to how much time I can spent studying. I have to teach this week so we shall see. It will be nice to be ready for it by the end of the month.

Louie1277

Congrats on passing the exam. I been studying for at least 1hr or 1 1/2 hr . Work and family plus little one always busy. Plan on pushing myself this week on getting some more reading and more lab. Been doing the plurasight video for 411 and doing the MOAC for 70-411.

Really like to pass this exam the first time... I will have to check out the skillsoft site, and see what I could learn from there.

Congrats once again.

Gago77

Thank you!

Nik 99

Amazing, congrats.

You only studied for 2 weeks? Thats crazy fast. Do you already have a lot of 2012 R2 experience? Also is NAP the same as NAC? Basically health check done on the machine before being allowed onto network?

Gago77

Yes only two weeks. I was even dreaming about what I read and went over. No am not kidding. No I do not have a lot of experience on 2012 r2. The book, skillsoft and labs have been my learning/experience tools. Yes Network Access Protection and Network Admission or Access Control are essentially the same. One technology belongs to Windows while the other belongs to Cisco. Like I mentioned on my initial post NAP has been deprecated and will not be an option on Server versions moving forward.

AndersonSmith

Congratulations!

stunnedsoup

Congrats! You're on a roll!

CyberCop123

Congrats to the OP.

That's interesting that it only took you two weeks to pass. I have thought taking a whole week off work before to try to study/learn about a specific certification in a more intensive manner.

I think in many ways it can be far better than 1 hour a day and some at the weekends as you can really focus on the subject and immerse yourself in it.

Out of interest what was your experience and knowledge like before?

The MCSA is on my to-do list as work are paying for the exams but it's up to my to self study.

Gago77

@Cybercop123, I teach Mariners Win2k3 and WIN 2k8 administration. Am also a data recovery engineer. That's what is called but all the course focus on in creating users and groups in AD, as well as how to create mailboxes in exchange and outlook profiles. This is what got me interested in pursuing MCSA in 2012. I want to learn more so that I can break things down to my students Barney style. Some of them have very little to no experience at times and are so nervous they barely remember the introduction to the topic.

As far as studying goes, taking a several hours to myself instead of the ones and twos here and there works better for me. The first time I took 70-410 I was only studying an hour a day at most. Even though I felt I was retaining the information, I was brought to a rude awakening come test day. I bombed it so bad that I asked myself if I was dumb or remedial. That's when I decided that am going to have to step it up and really set time to study. At times is hard since the honey do list never seems to get smaller, kids always have an event, and work sometimes follows us home. So I made a deal with the fam, I will run around like a chicken with my head cut off until 830. Come 9 is study time like you stated I was able to immerse myself into the subject. Good luck!!