Am I ready?

emid

So I've read the MS Press book and played around with Vista for a bit. It took me about a week or so to finish the book. I've been taking the practice tests that came with it and have been consistently scoring in the 80%-90% range. Do you guys think I'm ready to take the test?

Also, has anyone else noticed that there are several errors in the practice tests? I think I've counted about 3 or 4 so far. I can't really complain because I'm borrowing the book from a friend, but it seems weird since this is Microsoft's own study material.

I don't really use Vista on a day to day basis, I just installed it in a virtual machine for the purposes of studying for 70-620.

Any input would be appreciated.

jovan88

I'm hoping you applied for the free resit. If so, just take it!

elaverick1981

How ready you are is quite a personal thing and it's going to be tough for anyone else to gauge that.

How much general IT knowledge do you have? Do you have any existing certs? Do you feel you know the answers to the questions in the practise exam or does it feel more like you've learnt that particular question bank?

Try reading through the exam objective from the MS site - http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exams/70-620.aspx
If you can explain/answer each of them in your own words then you're probably doing pretty well.

If you want to try some more questions from another perspective I've got some free one's up here - 70-620: Microsoft Windows Vista, Configuring - Random Output: rnd()|stdout;

Also Jovan88 has a good point about Second Shot. Hopefully the prospect of a free retake should make you slightly less nervous, if the worst happens you can use the skill bars from the exam to figure out what you need to look at.

Best of luck with your exam and let us know how you get on.

emid

Yeah, I suppose I could've given a little more information about myself in my first post.

I did sign up for the second shot, so it isn't the end of the world if I fail. I've already taken and passed 270, 290, 291, and 293. I do have a fair amount of experience in IT. I found that most of the practice questions were common sense. The only things that were potentially tricky were when you have questions about how to get to a specific feature, and then you have a few answers that sound plausible. I suppose it's really just a matter of memorizing where things are in Vista. Like I said before, I don't really use Vista (I'm on linux most of the time). I have plenty of experience with XP though.

I guess I'm also wondering about the simulations, although if you just root around long enough it shouldn't be impossible to find the correct answer for those. I scheduled the test for Wednesday, so we'll see what happens.

msteinhilber

I would think that if you went through the book and performed some of the labs, especially those for the new features in Vista, that you will probably be ok. Definitely lab the items which you are not familiar with from prior versions of Windows though such as Windows Mail and so forth.

emid

Ok, I took it yesterday and passed. It was pretty much how everyone described it, not very difficult if you look through the MS Press book and familiarize yourself with Vista. I got an 871, and I'm pretty sure I would have done better if I spent a bit more time memorizing what menu was where and what certain settings were called exactly. Overall, definitely not Microsoft's toughest exam .

Thanks for the help.

Oh yeah, I'm now officially an MCSA (and an MCTS I think).

elaverick1981

Congratulations, enjoy your MCSA

Gimmyno

congratsss mannn!!