How long did you study for each test?

sdeyoung

Just curious how long everybody here spent on each exam before feeling ready? I started in Jan 2018 for the 70-740, thought I'd be ready to take the exam within 4-5 months. I'm still only half way through my Pluralsight content and my MCSA book. I read one section of the book, then I move on to the Pluralsight doing the hands on stuff. I sometimes get stuck re-creating the environment which I guess can lead to spending a little more time on each topic. I realize it's all in how much time you have to dedicate to studying. I just feel like I should be further ahead.

malachi1612

3 to 4 months on each exam. 6 months on 70-741 as i failed it multiple times.

poolmanjim

I spent about 3 months prepping for the combined upgrade exam. For the 2012 MCSA I spent around 3ish months per test.

As far as having to recreate your lab over and over again: are you using virtual labs somewhere or a home lab? You can probably leave the lab up and running for most of the stuff and just go back to it.

If you must rebuild it each time, this is a perfect case to look into an answer file and some scripts to automate as much of the setup as you can.

backtracker

poolmanjim wrote: »

If you must rebuild it each time, this is a perfect case to look into an answer file and some scripts to automate as much of the setup as you can.

^^This. Also, Pluralsight has some great DSC files you literally just type a few PowerShell commands walk away for 30 mins, come back and the lab is setup. Setting stuff up manually is great practice too and really shouldn't be viewed as a set back.

I think the answer to your original question can vary wildly based off quite a few factors...I'll second and third what others have said and toss out 3-4 mos. per exam.

jpanda206

This is about 10-15 hours a week of study depending on how motivated i felt at the time. Studying included CBT Nuggets videos, Self made labs, Measure Up Practice Tests, and Pearson Cert Books.

70-740 - 3 months, my first cert exam in a while so I had to get back in the groove.
70-741 - 2 months
70-742 - 2 months, tried it @ 6 weeks and failed, studied 2 more weeks and passed.

Jon_Cisco

I am hoping to spend about 3 months each. That is just my personal goal and not really based on actual experience.

sdeyoung

Wow, I have to step it up. I'm about 5 months in and I'm not even ready to take the test yet. Mind you, I use mornings before work to study and a little bit of extra time during work (which is allowed).

sdeyoung

malachi1612 wrote: »

3 to 4 months on each exam. 6 months on 70-741 as i failed it multiple times.

I'm not re-creating them, I just mean the initial setup of each environment. Or if I'm following along, sometimes I'll get stuck somewhere not very often though. Getting stuck and working through it is probably the best practice I'll get, that's the way I look at it anyways

Jon_Cisco

sdeyoung wrote: »

I'm not re-creating them, I just mean the initial setup of each environment. Or if I'm following along, sometimes I'll get stuck somewhere not very often though. Getting stuck and working through it is probably the best practice I'll get, that's the way I look at it anyways

Most of the real learning comes when you have to troubleshoot it.

sdeyoung

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

Most of the real learning comes when you have to troubleshoot it.

Exactly