70-741 failed first attempt

Jon_Cisco

I bought a voucher for 3 attempts so I used the first one today. I have watched the CBT Nuggets videos but I did not read the book yet. I considered this a practice test so I was happy enough with a score was a 606. I plan to schedule another try at the beginning of next month.

Things I noticed.

I need to read up on the IPAM and Remote access. I have not used either of them so mostly guessed based on the questions. Also Powershell was not over emphasized at all on my version of the test. I know I was weak on the commands because I have not done most of the reading yet but it was not overwhelming at all.

Hopefully next month I can report a passing score!

malachi1612

Good luck, this was the worst MS exam I had done, it's up there with 70-697. Some really crappy questions on that exam, took me 3 attempts to pass.

Jon_Cisco

I have booked my second attempt for Nov 19th. I feel pretty good about this date.

My goal is to read one chapter every three days.
MCSA 70-741 Cert Guide by Micheal Schulz

I also doing the CBT Nuggets. I will try to watch two nuggets per day and do the corresponding labbing that they provide.

I think I will do one practice test a week for the 4 weeks leading up to the test. Typically the last week I do very little review and just lab the concepts as time allows.

danielcreed

Hey Jon_Cisco What a name.

I just passed today first attempt. 700 was my score. I felt like it wasn't going to be my day. But it was. I studied CBT Nuggets to the end. I read the book slightly not fully. Practice tests from measureup. I felt it was a bit of guessing for me. Some questions felt easy but a lot were challenging. Long story short I believe its the luck of the draw.

It feels like a dream to me as I been studying MCSA for 2-3 years now. I was half way through the 2012 then moved to 2016.

Those IPAM questions I had revised a lot in the measure-up the explanations must of helped me.

Good luck with your attempt. Its a hard one for sure. I failed the 70-740 like 3 times. So I know what failure feels like. But my problem was learning how to study effectively.

poolmanjim

When I've looked at IPAM I have found that blind repetition is the best system for it. Go over the process for installing over and over again and then do the same with the RBAC roles (don't forget the non-IPAM RBAC stuff for DHCP, they love that curveball). Lastly, know the powershell for IPAM.

Remote Access is similar. Rote memorization of the protocols, ports, etc. is going to help. If you can, lab it a couple of times start to finish. It helps. One thing I found confusing with my Remote Access stuff was Connection Request Rules vs Network Rules. Know the differences and when to use each one.

Good luck!

Jon_Cisco

Well I am almost on schedule. I need to read about 15 pages tonight to finish chapter 3.

I took my first practice exam last night. I used the 1st exam bank from my Pearson test prep that comes with the cert guide.
First score was 67%. I need to review it tonight but I am sure my good points were DNS and DHCP. Everything else I am still weak in.

I plan to take one practice test a week. First using the questions provided by pearsons and then the ones from CBT Nuggets. Hopefully while the questions will be similar I will be able to avoid repeat questions by using the two different resources.

Jon_Cisco

Well I am realizing I did not give myself enough time to read the book. I just finished chapter 4 today. I am finding that if I read much more then 20 pages a day the topics start to blur and I zone out without retaining much of the information.

I have found it better to read slow and interpret each sentence as I read. This is forcing me to think about it rather then race through with no comprehension. I also find when I start to get distracted that it helps to read important lines out loud. Unfortunately this is much slower and I only read 10-15 pages at a time this way.

poolmanjim

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

I have found it better to read slow and interpret each sentence as I read. This is forcing me to think about it rather then race through with no comprehension.

I have ended up taking a similar approach. I usually read at least once slowly to make sure I spend time thinking about the objectives. I then usually do a power-reading session where I skim the content to see if there is anything I missed.

Good luck.

Jon_Cisco

I am not pleased with my current progress. I have been finding it hard to keep my interest while both reading and watching videos. It just seems like the DNS and DHCP sections go on forever.

I took a second practice exam from pearsontestprep that came with the book and my score went down to 46%.

I usually review the questions the next day so I will have to see which areas I did poorly in. Presumably it is the IPAM and SDN sections as I have barely covered that material yet.

My second attempt at the certification is on Nov 19th. At this point I would only give myself 50/50 odds at covering the material before I take it. I purchased a voucher that allows 3 attempts but I am hoping not to need it. I am actually excited to move on to Active Directory as that is something I have wanted to dive deep into for a while. I just have to suck it up and finish this exam first.

Thanks for listening!

malachi1612

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

I am not pleased with my current progress. I have been finding it hard to keep my interest while both reading and watching videos. It just seems like the DNS and DHCP sections go on forever.

I took a second practice exam from pearsontestprep that came with the book and my score went down to 46%.

I usually review the questions the next day so I will have to see which areas I did poorly in. Presumably it is the IPAM and SDN sections as I have barely covered that material yet.

My second attempt at the certification is on Nov 19th. At this point I would only give myself 50/50 odds at covering the material before I take it. I purchased a voucher that allows 3 attempts but I am hoping not to need it. I am actually excited to move on to Active Directory as that is something I have wanted to dive deep into for a while. I just have to suck it up and finish this exam first.

Thanks for listening!

Its a drag but get the last bits done even when you have no motivation to go on.

Jon_Cisco

I did try out some of the edX courses. It seems like a great resource but something I will have to put off. Possibly I can use them for 70-742 as something I can include from the beginning.

I finally got IPAM working today. It didn't work in the hands on labs from CBT Nuggets and when I created my own server the group policy would not create properly. In the end I had to scrap the first server and set it up again. The second time worked much better. I think part of the problem is my network is becoming messy with to many half configured servers still online.

I might need to considered starting a new clean domain when I start the next exam. I just finished chapter 7 so I still have a lot to do in the next two weeks.

malachi1612

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

I did try out some of the edX courses. It seems like a great resource but something I will have to put off. Possibly I can use them for 70-742 as something I can include from the beginning.

I finally got IPAM working today. It didn't work in the hands on labs from CBT Nuggets and when I created my own server the group policy would not create properly. In the end I had to scrap the first server and set it up again. The second time worked much better. I think part of the problem is my network is becoming messy with to many half configured servers still online.

I might need to considered starting a new clean domain when I start the next exam. I just finished chapter 7 so I still have a lot to do in the next two weeks.

When I was studying, every exam I started a new lab and built it from scratch. Made everything much cleaner, even with server 2016 IPAM never worked for me properly. Took 2 or 3 attempts from scratch to get it working. It a real pain to get working and I have yet to see anyone actually use it in a live environment.

Jon_Cisco

I have about one week to go before my second attempt.

This week I finished up IPAM and I am starting to work on Direct Access. There are some things I have done better preparing for this exam but I would say my number one mistake was not reading the book over the summer.

I don't plan to go into the exam prepared but I expect I have a 60-70% chance of passing.

Jon_Cisco

Taking my second attempt tomorrow. I am following my normal study plan and taking the weekend off from exam prep. I don't like to cram before the exams I figure I either know it or I don't.

I can say I don't expect to pass. I made the mistake of buying a voucher good for three tries and it sapped all of my motivation. Since the third try is free I never stuck to a proper study schedule. As it stands now I made it 2/3 through the book and watched the videos 1 1/2 times. I have done a bit of labbing but not enough.

In the end I figure I have a 60-70% chance at passing but I think it would be better for my learning if I fail and go back to finish the last half of the book. Either way I am going to bang out this exam in the next two months and move on to 70-742 which I am really looking forward to. I have wanted to work on active directory and group policy for a while and I think I will be much more focused on that exam.

Jon

malachi1612

Good luck 

Jon_Cisco

719!

Nothing to brag about but a pass is a pass! Time for a new thread on 70-742

malachi1612

Well done