I have scheduled my 70-741 exam for the next week, any last minute advise? (updated failed 2nd try)

november24

Hello everyone, as it is stated in the post title, I've been preparing for this exam for more than 5 months, I did lab almost everything, still feel that I am not prepared enough, I decided to go for the exam because I feel that my brain can't absorb more information and if I "stuffed" my brain with something new an old piece of information will jump out of it. so I said to my self "that is enough, I am going for it".

november24

I sat for the exam yesterday and,  Failed, the questions were hard, time wasn't enough for me because most of the questions required a lot of thinking, the wording of the question was very challenging to me (English is not my 1st language), I even got a question about Containers!

I just can't memorize every Powershell with its switches and those questions heavily depend on memory. this is not fair, I've been studying for more than 6 months.

malachi1612

november24 said:

I sat for the exam yesterday and,  Failed, the questions were hard, time wasn't enough for me because most of the questions required a lot of thinking, the wording of the question was very challenging to me (English is not my 1st language), I even got a question about Containers!

I just can't memorize every Powershell with its switches and those questions heavily depend on memory. this is not fair, I've been studying for more than 6 months.

What was your score?

Don't let it dishearten you, get your retake booked within the next 4 weeks.

I was studying for about 6 months and I failed twice before I passed on the 3rd attempt!  This is the most hardest MS exam I had taken and yes, the exam is also very unfair because you need to remember crap which doesn't relate to real life technical problems.

november24

malachi1612 said:

november24 said:

I sat for the exam yesterday and,  Failed, the questions were hard, time wasn't enough for me because most of the questions required a lot of thinking, the wording of the question was very challenging to me (English is not my 1st language), I even got a question about Containers!

I just can't memorize every Powershell with its switches and those questions heavily depend on memory. this is not fair, I've been studying for more than 6 months.

What was your score?

Don't let it dishearten you, get your retake booked within the next 4 weeks.

I was studying for about 6 months and I failed twice before I passed on the 3rd attempt!  This is the most hardest MS exam I had taken and yes, the exam is also very unfair because you need to remember crap which doesn't relate to real life technical problems.

my score was 686, now I keep asking my self, does this certificate holds any value? at least to me? I have about 19 years of experience in the IT Support field, I recently knew that the MCSA is an entry-level certificate which really made me less willing to pursue this certificate but what made me keep going is that I've already passed 70740 and I am finished studying for the 70-741.

Realy I don't know what to do.

Jon_Cisco

Persistence will pay off. Certs might not be all that important at certain points in your career but the knowledge gained on the journey always will be.

malachi1612

november24 said:

malachi1612 said:

november24 said:

I sat for the exam yesterday and,  Failed, the questions were hard, time wasn't enough for me because most of the questions required a lot of thinking, the wording of the question was very challenging to me (English is not my 1st language), I even got a question about Containers!

I just can't memorize every Powershell with its switches and those questions heavily depend on memory. this is not fair, I've been studying for more than 6 months.

What was your score?

Don't let it dishearten you, get your retake booked within the next 4 weeks.

I was studying for about 6 months and I failed twice before I passed on the 3rd attempt!  This is the most hardest MS exam I had taken and yes, the exam is also very unfair because you need to remember crap which doesn't relate to real life technical problems.

my score was 686, now I keep asking my self, does this certificate holds any value? at least to me? I have about 19 years of experience in the IT Support field, I recently knew that the MCSA is an entry-level certificate which really made me less willing to pursue this certificate but what made me keep going is that I've already passed 70740 and I am finished studying for the 70-741.

Realy I don't know what to do.

MCSA's are not really classified as entry-level certificates, more of an intermediate cert.  But it depends what's your reason for getting these certs.

For me, I had 16 years experience working in IT from 2nd and 3rd line support.  But when I started looking for new jobs I realised the experience wasn't enough, I needed certs against my name.  So I decided to spend 2.5 years getting some MS certs.  As I needed to compete against those 21 year olds, fresh out of uni with a degree and I don't have a degree.  But I learnt so much from doing these certs I would never come across in my everyday job.  This was one of the main reasons why I decided to do them. Learn for my personal reason, so when I decided to start my own business.  Customers will take me more seriously with these certs.

Maybe if didn't do these certs, I still be in the UK doing 3rd line support learning nothing new, being bored.  Instead im now here in Switzerland, working as an system engineer which is so much better and im learning everyday.

You have already started so might aswell finish it and get them done.  What were your study resources?

november24

malachi1612 said:

MCSA's are not really classified as entry-level certificates, more of an intermediate cert.  But it depends what's your reason for getting these certs.

For me, I had 16 years experience working in IT from 2nd and 3rd line support.  But when I started looking for new jobs I realised the experience wasn't enough, I needed certs against my name.  So I decided to spend 2.5 years getting some MS certs.  As I needed to compete against those 21 year olds, fresh out of uni with a degree and I don't have a degree.  But I learnt so much from doing these certs I would never come across in my everyday job.  This was one of the main reasons why I decided to do them. Learn for my personal reason, so when I decided to start my own business.  Customers will take me more seriously with these certs.

Maybe if didn't do these certs, I still be in the UK doing 3rd line support learning nothing new, being bored.  Instead im now here in Switzerland, working as an system engineer which is so much better and im learning everyday.

You have already started so might aswell finish it and get them done.  What were your study resources?

That's really helping, you gave me a motivation to keep going on.

My study materials were CBT Nuggets, ITDVDS.com (wasn't that helpful to me), MS Docs and Exam Ref. book.

malachi1612

november24 said:

malachi1612 said:

MCSA's are not really classified as entry-level certificates, more of an intermediate cert.  But it depends what's your reason for getting these certs.

For me, I had 16 years experience working in IT from 2nd and 3rd line support.  But when I started looking for new jobs I realised the experience wasn't enough, I needed certs against my name.  So I decided to spend 2.5 years getting some MS certs.  As I needed to compete against those 21 year olds, fresh out of uni with a degree and I don't have a degree.  But I learnt so much from doing these certs I would never come across in my everyday job.  This was one of the main reasons why I decided to do them. Learn for my personal reason, so when I decided to start my own business.  Customers will take me more seriously with these certs.

Maybe if didn't do these certs, I still be in the UK doing 3rd line support learning nothing new, being bored.  Instead im now here in Switzerland, working as an system engineer which is so much better and im learning everyday.

You have already started so might aswell finish it and get them done.  What were your study resources?

That's really helping, you gave me a motivation to keep going on.

My study materials were CBT Nuggets, ITDVDS.com (wasn't that helpful to me), MS Docs and Exam Ref. book.

I found ITPro TV really helpful.  It got me through 741, 742, 744.  Their videos are longer than CBT Nuggets but you can use ITPro TV to fill in the gaps. 

There is a promotion code going round you can use to get their the monthly fees cheaper.

november24

I Just failed the 2nd try,

I missed 3 questions due to lack of time.

The exam questions where for someone who worked for more than 5 years on a daily bases one each area of the exam objectives.

I give up.

itdept

Hey November, I totally get the "give up" feeling you are having. Maybe go and work on another cert, something you can knock over in 2-3 weeks. I agree with what skylinez92 said as well, some good advice there. I would maybe give an extra month of study though if you have a bit of time off.
I totally get the feeling about having to remember all the powershell commands and switches - you just have to remember them. I went and learned about 500 of them for Comptia Linux so I do get it.