passed MCITP: EA and MCITP: SA
FattyAcid
Member Posts: 57 ■■□□□□□□□□
I recently passed MCITP: SA (70-646) and MCITP: SA (70-647) with very high scores.
What do I think of these exams?
I would say that Microsoft needs to re-think these tests completely. They are junk.
First, they are *very* braindump-able. Whilst waiting for my scheduled appointment to take the 70-647 at my local Prometric test center, I met another person who was there to take 70-646 at the same time. He finished his test in like 15 minutes. I couldn't believe how quickly he was done given it took me over an hour for the 70-647. The only possible explanation is that he had memorized the questions/answers.
Second, I thought too many of the questions were guessable without understanding the technology/feature. I did very little studying of ADFS but I was able to guess the right answer on most of these questions. It was too easy to eliminate the wrong answers. The wrong answers were almost always obviously wrong. Almost every single question had 2 obviously wrong answers, one suspicious/questionable answer, and one answer that seemed "right".
Third, there were way too many questions that were pure trivia. That is, questions that do not require an understanding of a technology or concept but require possessing a bit of trivia about .Net 1.0 Framework, specific steps/order of operations that have to occur for upgrading a 2003 cluster to 2008, etc. Things that you would look up before doing/deploying/implementing to make sure you had the correct order, security configuration, etc.
Materials I used for studying:
1) 3 x Windows Server 2008 DC VMs (one Full, one Core, one RODC) and 1 x Win2K3 DC
2) Windows Server 2008 Inside Out
3) Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit
4) Windows Server 2008 Technical Library - knowing this thing inside and out is almost enough to pass the tests
My real world experience:
1) ran a WinNT 4 domain for 300-400 users (1 PDC, 2 BDC) back around 1996-1998
2) ran a Win2k domain for 500-600 users (4 DCs) back around 2000-2003
3) currently run a Win2K/Win2K3 domain for 2,400 users (6 DCs), 2003-current
What do I think of these exams?
I would say that Microsoft needs to re-think these tests completely. They are junk.
First, they are *very* braindump-able. Whilst waiting for my scheduled appointment to take the 70-647 at my local Prometric test center, I met another person who was there to take 70-646 at the same time. He finished his test in like 15 minutes. I couldn't believe how quickly he was done given it took me over an hour for the 70-647. The only possible explanation is that he had memorized the questions/answers.
Second, I thought too many of the questions were guessable without understanding the technology/feature. I did very little studying of ADFS but I was able to guess the right answer on most of these questions. It was too easy to eliminate the wrong answers. The wrong answers were almost always obviously wrong. Almost every single question had 2 obviously wrong answers, one suspicious/questionable answer, and one answer that seemed "right".
Third, there were way too many questions that were pure trivia. That is, questions that do not require an understanding of a technology or concept but require possessing a bit of trivia about .Net 1.0 Framework, specific steps/order of operations that have to occur for upgrading a 2003 cluster to 2008, etc. Things that you would look up before doing/deploying/implementing to make sure you had the correct order, security configuration, etc.
Materials I used for studying:
1) 3 x Windows Server 2008 DC VMs (one Full, one Core, one RODC) and 1 x Win2K3 DC
2) Windows Server 2008 Inside Out
3) Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit
4) Windows Server 2008 Technical Library - knowing this thing inside and out is almost enough to pass the tests
My real world experience:
1) ran a WinNT 4 domain for 300-400 users (1 PDC, 2 BDC) back around 1996-1998
2) ran a Win2k domain for 500-600 users (4 DCs) back around 2000-2003
3) currently run a Win2K/Win2K3 domain for 2,400 users (6 DCs), 2003-current
Comments
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ajs1976
Member Posts: 1,945 ■■■■□□□□□□
congrats. MS is going to be adding sims to these tests in the coming months. Supposedly they will be a lot better then the sims they had in the older exams.Andy
2020 Goals: 0 of 2 courses complete, 0 of 2 exams complete -
FattyAcid
Member Posts: 57 ■■□□□□□□□□
You know, I have no idea why I took both EA and SA. There seemed to be so much overlap in material and prerequisites, I figured why not take both exams...
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Kasor
Member Posts: 934 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrat.. U are just smart and with deep understanding on the MS infrastructure. Experience always the key to success in IT world.Kill All Suffer T "o" ReBorn
