Thoughts on 70-431 anyone?

mvastarelli

I've been pondering taking this test for some time. At work I spend about 1/3 of my time in SSMS writing complex queries and stored procedure so I'm very comfortable with DDL/DML. However, my familiarity with some of the more esoteric features of SQL server is a little lacking. So notwithstanding a strong familiarity with T-SQL and SSMS in general, how is this test?

The last test I took was 70-526, and it was tricky in large part because it was all over the place as far as subject-matter went.

Any takers?

BeaverC32

I think I am the only one on these boards that has the MCTS: SQL Server 2005 certification (although I could be wrong), so I feel it is my duty to answer your questions

Have you viewed the objectives for the 70-431 exam? It will give you a good idea of what you are expected to know. The requirements for this exam cover a wide range of items a DBA should know, from database mail to XML structures to log shipping (and much more). I'm not sure what you would qualify an "esoteric feature" of SQL Server 2005, but many of these features are big reasons companies use SQL Server 2005.

Knowledge of T-SQL is a definite-must, but knowledge outside basic syntax isn't really required.

In terms of difficulty, this exam isn't too bad if you spend a significant amount of time using the features covered in the objectives. I believe I had over 10 simulation questions, which made up a large portion of the exam.