Next up 70-742

Jon_Cisco

So this week I'm starting on my  last exam for the Server 2016 MCSA. I have not picked an exam time but it seems like Early February. The resources i am planning to use are:

Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop 3rd Edition
by Jeremy Moskowitz (Author)

MCSA 70-742 Cert Guide: Identity with Windows Server 2016 (Certification Guide) 1st Edition
by Benjamin Finkel (Author)

CBT Nuggets

Home Lab as always.

I hope to track my progress with this post to keep me motivated!

Jon

malachi1612

Good luck, add these onto your study list

https://www.edx.org/course/windows-server-2016-directory-services-1

https://www.edx.org/course/microsoft-azure-identity-1

https://www.edx.org/course/managing-identity-0

kaiju

70-742 was definitely the easiest of the three tests. I only used the official study guide and invested about 40 hours of study time over a 2 week period before taking the test. However, I did have 2016 installed at home for tinkering and I also have a considerable amount of experience with 2012R2 on the enterprise level.

Good luck! 

malachi1612

I definitely did NOT find this exam easy, took me two attempts before I passed it.  Not as bad as 70-741 though.

Jon_Cisco

I don't currently work with Active Directory accept in my home lab so this is one I have been looking forward to all year. Sadly while I have plenty of work experience it is all in smaller work group environments. I have set up a few domains at home but I am almost always working as the administrator.

danielcreed

Good luck. I am writing the 70-697 next weekend. Crossing my fingers. If it doesn't work out i'm onto the 70-742 and scrapping the windows 10 MCSA for now. 

backtracker

Best of luck, you are making great progress.

Jon_Cisco

I'm really glad I picked up the group policy book to go along with the cert guide. Sometimes the certification books give you all the information but not in a practical structure. Working off the two books I feel like I am going to get a much better idea of how to implement the material on the job.

Crouching Camper

Hi I posted a question before and no one answer. can anyone help?

"Exam ref 70-742 - is it me or is it a typo???"

Basically it is this:

Hi guys, just joined the forum, doing my 70-742 and I found something weird about Exam ref (the green book)

on Exam Ref 70-742, page 374, where it talks about "Implement claim-based authentication, including replying party trusts" it says:

"To configure a claims provider trust, complete the following procedure on the AD FS server that is

providing the claims provider function:"

According to what I understand about Trust, it should be done from the opposite side. Suppose Server 1 is claim provider (also account holder, eg: AD), it should have relying party trust, and Server 2 is replying party, it should have claim provider trust. Meaning trust should flow the opposite direction.

This is what my understanding is based on:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Z7skgq8UA

Can someone help me clarify???

Thx in adv

thx

Jon_Cisco

Not much to add for the end of the year.

I had a few busy weeks at work and didn't really study over the Christmas week. I plan to pick up my studies in the second week of Jan. Probably push my goal to the end of February to give me time to read all of the material.

MontagueVandervort

Sometimes things get in the way, and that's ok. Just keep going. You've got this.

And keep us updated!

danielcreed

I am also starting this week on the 70-742. Hoping to write mid February too. The final one before the next set of exams.  

Jon_Cisco

So Feb is almost over. I have done most of my videos and I have about a 100 pages to go in my book.

I will probably start taking practice tests next week. I should be able to schedule the exam in about 3 weeks. I might schedule for Mid March just to force myself to step it up.

edit: Scheduled for March 25th. Time to get serious

N7Valiant

Scheduled mine for this Friday.  I'll be trying the practice test from Sybex, though I kind of feel like I'll need to set up at least 2 AD Forests to properly test the Federation features.

Jon_Cisco

I am looking to double up on the federation services myself. Several posters have commented on how it is covered a lot in the exam but not so much in the training.

N7Valiant

Yeah, gotta say those Sybex study guides are a bit lacking IMO after the 1st one.  They spell out how to create a GPO for certificate auto-enrollment and touch on how to publish a certificate template, but they completely missed a critical step in which you actually need to add Autoenroll in the security permissions that makes the whole thing work.  Finally got that part figured out from reviewing a few 2012 R2 guides and my little Root CA is finally doing something useful.

Jon_Cisco

I am starting to rethink my quiz strategy. A little late but were constantly learning. I usually wait till two weeks before the exam and then I take the 90 minute sample test format.

 For my next exam I am going to start almost right away doing small 5 question quizzes once a day to introduce me to the logic I will need to apply to answering questions.

N7Valiant

I'm of two minds about practice exams.  The KaplanIT ones in particular seem like they might be a negative influence.  One test might show I have a 66% score on a particular subject area while another test a few hours later shows 27% scoring on that same subject.  If an exam can't accurately gauge your ability from the same writers, it's practically worthless.

There's also a ton of tricky wording and logic that's far more backwards than what Microsoft would actually throw at you.  If what people say is true and Microsoft doesn't actually try to throw trick questions at you, it would work against you by training you to look out for things that aren't there and lead you to overthink certain questions.

malachi1612

Many people say Microsoft doesn't actually try to throw trick questions at you, after doing 6 MS exams over the past 2.5 years I have to strongly disagree.

Jon_Cisco

I decided to push my exam back a few weeks. From March 25th to April 15th. It's not a big change but I think it's enough time to finish out my studying.

I just finished the book this week but there are areas I feel just were not covered. Specifically the Federation services. However I still need a couple weeks just to review the rest of the material. I would say I am 60% there and I just didn't wanna force the test for no reason.

Next week I will start labbing and taking the practice exams. Hopefully the hands on will really make the information stick.

Jon_Cisco

Well I have not been updating this much. Partly because I am distracted and not doing a very good job following through on this. I take my exam on April 15th but I am certain I will not pass on the first attempt. I want to keep the date and see how good or bad I am doing anyway. I firmly believe the best practice test is the real exam.

Anyway I started reading a new book just to get a fresh perspective on the material. William Panek Sybex study guide for 70-742. I'm only on chapter two but it's very readable and I am hoping to read most of it in the next week. That's my best chance at retaining a few small details and passing on my first attempt.

My mind has already moved on to CCNA and VMware which I think is part of my problem. Just looking for some non Microsoft time!

Infosec_Sam

Good luck with the exam on the 15th! I've been studying for the CCNA for a while now, but my plan is to take it in May or June. The "accountability thread" is a great idea!

Jon_Cisco

Well I scored 631 so it was a little better then I expected but not good enough for me to move on to the next thing!

Like so many others I did poorly on the federation services. Some of them I guessed on when they asked about linking to Azure. I plan to reschedule for June 3rd. My lack of focus was obvious for all of the last four months but I'll get it next time!

Infosec_Sam

Jon_Cisco said:

Well I scored 631 so it was a little better then I expected but not good enough for me to move on to the next thing!

Like so many others I did poorly on the federation services. Some of them I guessed on when they asked about linking to Azure. I plan to reschedule for June 3rd. My lack of focus was obvious for all of the last four months but I'll get it next time!

That's the right mindset! It sounds like June 3rd gives you more than enough time to nail down your weak points. You're very close to a pass!

Jon_Cisco

Well as usual life gets in the way. I have scheduled the test for Fri May 17th. Unfortunately my study time before this is going to be extremely limited.

I plan to finish reading William Panek Sybex study guide for 70-742 and take a bunch of practice questions over the next two weeks. I doubt I'll have to much extra time for review but I was close so I'm gonna keep the test date.

Hoping to start a new job on the 20th. That is taking up the bulk of my time pursuing the opportunity. I am also starting the Stanley CC VMware course on May 23rd so I would really like to pass this test before I dive into virtualization.

As always thanks for supporting this journey!

Mike R

I'm thinking about starting to go for my MCSA. Do you have some books you would recommend? It appears the Microsoft labeled books are just exam references and not actually study material. I have some experience do basic things with server 2012/2016 but I'd like to work on increasing my value.

Jon_Cisco

I had no issues with the pearsons cert guides. I can't say if they are the best material but I started there. The books come with a code for practice tests.

november24

Mike R said:

I'm thinking about starting to go for my MCSA. Do you have some books you would recommend? It appears the Microsoft labeled books are just exam references and not actually study material. I have some experience do basic things with server 2012/2016 but I'd like to work on increasing my value.

I would recommend the Windows Server learning resources at edx.

Jon_Cisco

Even though I was unable to study the last three weeks I did take a chance and tried to pass the test again on Friday May 17th. As expected I did not pass but I was pleased that the results pretty much matched the first test. Very low in federation services and pretty decent in the other areas.

I start a new job tomorrow and a vmware course on Thursday so finishing my MCSA is going to have to take a month break. I current thought is I will take a month off to settle into my new job and then study up on federation services. Once I feel good about that topic I will schedule a test and review everything else.

Maybe early July? It's to early to tell but I don't want to wait more then two months and risk forgetting important topics.

N7Valiant

Definitely want to focus on studying 1 thing at a time, multitasking is a lie.  It might also help to purchase a MeasureUp practice exam to gauge where you're at.  I was scoring a consistent 90%, but only passed with an average score.