Has anyone taken 71-680 yet?

I have it scheduled for Saturday the 16th. I am just wondering if anyone can share their experience. Not looking to violate the NDA. I installed the RC1 version over top of the beta version yesterday, not too much different as of yet.

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Megadeth4168

I just got back from the testing center.... I have to be honest, I think there is a good chance I failed this one. It was tough! I think coming off fresh from the Vista exam, allowed me to make the mistake of underestimating this exam.

I have 2 major regrets about this exam. The first is not having a 2008 Domain Environment with Windows & clients to play with. The other thing I regret, is really my own fault, but I should have spent a lot more time with the new features.

I watched all the videos posted in the resource link here, but I got lazy when it came to reading for this exam. I think that again, I misjudged how hard this exam was going to be.

The exam objectives are listed on the resource thread. That is a great place to start. I can tell you right now that I should have focused more on the following:

DISM
DirectAccess
BitLocker To Go
BranchCache

I knew enough about these feature to be dangerous. LOL. Watching the Video presentations on these technologies alone, in most cases only lead me to a 50/50 shot of answering the question... In the other cases, I drew a blank.

I felt comfortable with 60% of the test
I narrowed down between 2 options on about 15% of the test
The rest of the test... I honestly and regrettably didn't know.

If I end up passing this one, it will be 60% know how and the rest... Dumb Luck.

http://blog.lukeacha.com/2009/05/06/71-680-windows-7-beta-exam/

msethk

So you don't know what you make on the beta exam right after you take it? When do you find out then?

Megadeth4168

msethk wrote: »

So you don't know what you make on the beta exam right after you take it? When do you find out then?

Shortly before the public release of the exam... I'm not expecting anything until the fall season.

dynamik

I thought it was only a six week wait or so. You'll know before the exam goes live, and I think that's scheduled for June.

msethk

Hmmm... that kinda sucks. I didn't know that. So I guess we won't know if we really know what were doing in Windows 7 until we get our scores nearly 6 months later!

Megadeth4168

dynamik wrote: »

I thought it was only a six week wait or so. You'll know before the exam goes live, and I think that's scheduled for June.

I may be getting my beta exams mixed up!

It must be the Server+ Beta that I won't know until fall..... I'll look it up later, but chances are someone will beat me to it.

dynamik

Yea, Server+ is Q4.

Jordus

I just sat it as well.

I think its difficulty falls in between 620 and 622.

The first 20ish questions i was having a rough time with (they are proud of their new corporate features

)

Finally i hit a pile of deployment/upgrade/migration questions and since thats one of my favorite topics i think i nailed all those.

If i passed, id imagine the score to be in the mid-high 700s, lol.

msteinhilber

Sounds like they have made the Windows 7 client exam like they should have made the Vista client exam.

dynamik

msteinhilber wrote: »

Sounds like they have made the Windows 7 client exam like they should have made the Vista client exam.

Exactly!

rwwest7

msethk wrote: »

Hmmm... that kinda sucks. I didn't know that. So I guess we won't know if we really know what were doing in Windows 7 until we get our scores nearly 6 months later!

Pass or fail doesn't matter, you'll know exactly how well you know Windows 7 as your walking out of the exam room. You can guess enough to pass, that doesn't mean your a Windows 7 expert though.

I have this booked for 5-16, can't wait!

jibbajabba

rwwest7 wrote: »

Pass or fail doesn't matter, you'll know exactly how well you know Windows 7 as your walking out of the exam room. You can guess enough to pass, that doesn't mean your a Windows 7 expert though.

I have this booked for 5-16, can't wait!

Plus, if you fail you knoiw what to study for the re-take.

Claymoore

I took 71-680 this afternoon and I feel pretty confident that I passed. Definitely more of an enterprise-level OS exam than 620. Some of the questions surprised me, both in subject matter and in the depth of knowledge required, and I hope a few of the more difficult questions survive the beta and make it into the final exam.

The test may have been easier if I had actually installed and used Win7 before the exam, though. I was just too busy with work and Exchange exams.

Technowiz

Claymoore,

What did you use to prepare? I'm scheduled for Sunday.

Claymoore

Technowiz wrote: »

Claymoore,

What did you use to prepare? I'm scheduled for Sunday.

I used the best 71-680 exam resource on the web:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcts-mcitp-windows-2008-general/42480-71-680-resources.html

Seems kinda silly to go through all that work and then not use my own notes.

Non-Profit Techie

I used those links too. Worked like a charm. Plenty of info in there to get a pass mark. I found the test pretty easy after reading all those links.

Jordus

Claymoore wrote: »

Some of the questions surprised me, both in subject matter and in the depth of knowledge required, and I hope a few of the more difficult questions survive the beta and make it into the final exam.

I think i know which questions you are speaking of, and I feel like they were beyond the scope of a client config exam.

They were more well suited for something like the 291 or 642.

RobertKaucher

Jordus wrote: »

I think i know which questions you are speaking of, and I feel like they were beyond the scope of a client config exam.

They were more well suited for something like the 291 or 642.

I just got back from my test and think I passed in the 700s to very low 800s. I thought the exam was very good. Questions were good quality and pertained to the technology rather than trying to confuse. I totaly agree with the above statement. I am approaching the line here, but why was I using the calculator in binary mode <hint> on a client config exam?

This is truely an enterprise level exam. 75 question. Lots of good general questions about Windows 7 configuration and a good mix of WAIK related questions. Make sure you know the changes in WAIK from Vista to 7! I felt most of the BranchCache questions were easy if you knew the basics and have good deductive logic. Make sure you know the requirements for DirectAccess and the system requirements for Windows 7 itself, so you don't fool yourself into thinking questions are asking x when they are infact only asking y.

sterlingblue

I Just took this today. Not too shabby. I agree that it was a well designed exam. The questions were interesting and direct. I'm pretty sure I passed, mind you I was surprised, from this thread I thought the questions would be harder.

Only advice I can give is KNOW the new features. and have a strong understanding of the WAIK.

Jagged

Jordus wrote: »

They were more well suited for something like the 291 or 642.

I recently took 291 and I saw two questions on 680 that were from the version of 291 I took. Same answers and exhibits.

gomcse2002

I just got back from my 71-680 exam and I think I might failed because I had bad head ache this morning and can’t concentrate at all. Anyway this exam is tougher than I thought.

This is truly an enterprise level exam. 75 question. Please focus on the following areas:

DISM
DirectAccess
BitLocker To Go
Bitlocker on Hard Drive
BranchCache
WAIK
Windows Updates
Internet Explorer Settings
VHD
USMT
Windows 7 System Requirements
Windows Easy Transfer
System Restore
IPv6
Deployment
Imaging

msethk

I took it today also. I won't blame my failing on a headache, but I probably failed due to the fact that I only got 1 or 2 days of studying in (which wasn't much) because things were busy at my job. Who knows though, I may come out with a pass on it?

Seemed like every other question was about BitLocker, EFS, and the forms of image deployment. Oh yeah, and you better study up on the new AppLocker and controlling it with group policies. They are proud of that too. Some questions were just to easy and alot of the questions seemed to hard for this exam. It's an enterprise level exam.. no doubt. I actually thought the 70-622 was easier than this.

PC509

It was a lot more difficult than I thought, too. Although, a lot of the questions were more for the "marketing" crowd and how the new features work. There were a few that were out there that I would never have studied on. I think I got them right, but wow. Pretty broad exam.

colebert

Took this test on the last possible day... I also scheduled my 620 and 623 exams on Wednesday just because I felt there was some synergy value there.

The 680 was a little tougher than 620. Mostly because 680 had a corporate/active directory flavor to it. I liked that because I felt the 620 was kind of a joke being apart of the MCITP:EA track. Obviously not having any sims on the 680 was a big difference between it and the 620. For me that made it harder since sims are easier to do correctly than decipher poorly worded 4-choice question.

Anyway, I had 75 questions and liked it for the most part. There was definitely some "meat" to it. Even a couple straight up Cisco like questions that required subnetting knowledge. That's a welcome change to low-level MS exams since I feel alot of support techs don't understand the first thing about networking.

Overall a pretty good exam. I might not even have passed since some questions I did not know. Others I was able to narrow down to two. Some questions were crazy easy. Some I did not know at all.

aaronchristenson

I took it today as well. I have not taken the Vista exam yet so I do not have that experiance. The Win 7 exam was just as everyone has described. I think that I passed, we'll find out in 6 weeks or so. Next up is Exchange 2007, 70-236.

Revenue

Just back from the exam now.. Quite impressed with the level of knowledge needed for a client exam! Was fun, however I wish I took the time to study more.

I think I may have scraped a pass in. I finished with a couple hours to go so I took an hour to go back review the questions. I think I knew about 60% of the exam just from past experience and skimming Claymoore's links. The were lots of questions where I narrowed it down to two answers and just couldn't decide which one was correct!

That may fail me yet..

For people that haven't taken it yet I would definitely read the Early Adopters guides, Especially for branch cache. I found reading the overviews and skimming these was just not enough for some questions.

I would recommend focusing on:

DISM
BranchCache
USMT (Know the commands)
and anything Upgrade/Deployment

Good Luck

Breadfan

Just got back from my exam this morning. As others have said as well, I was very impressed with the level of knowledge needed for this exam, but at the same time I am glad they use the old Microsoft way of being ambiguous with the questions and answers.
Overall, I thought it was very straight forward for an IT exam (my only comparisons though are 1 MS exam and 3 CompTIA exams)
It took me about and hour and a half including doing comments and survey.
I had a lot of questions on BranchCache, DISM, deployment, and the other new features. I thought they would've given me more on IPv6 but had very few.
Thanks to those who gave tips for this exam and a few round of beers must go to Claymoore for the 71-680 Resources Sticky (I saw there were more for the 70-640 and others and look forward to those).

Good luck to anyone taking it. If you have used W7 at all and review the links Claymoore has put together, I think you will do fine.

Next stop is the Server+ 2009 Beta this friday....

Breadfan

kriscamaro68

Well I was scheduled to take it this morning and i called the testing center to ask if I could come in later because the network at work went down and i had to go into fix it. They told me that the beta wasnt working on their computer system. They said it crashes the system and then loggs you off. SO LAME!!!! I really wanted to take this test today but looks like its not gonna happen. Oh well.

jibbajabba

Went for the exam today, together with the Server+ Beta 2009.

Trouble is, I completely forgot to read up on VHDs, BranchCache and Bitlocker and also IPv6. Don't want to say to much (NDA you know), but it wouldn't surprise me if I fail considering how many questions actually caught me off-guard.

But heh, had nothing to lose

Apart from those certain questions I have the feeling that this exam is closer to a client exam than vista was.

I do agree with revenue though where some questions could have had easily two right answers... But like I said in the Server+ Beta thread - it is a beta exam so this is what comments are for

IF I fail, I don't think I will actually re-take it . .... I am not THAT interested in Microsoft exams anymore (RHCE here I come).

Slowhand

My coworker and I took this exam on Saturday afternoon. It was interesting because he's never taken a Microsoft exam before and I've taken several, so we had some pretty extreme ends of the expectation-spectrum. Suffice it to say, he was surprised at the exam, and probably a bit relieved that my prophecies of doom didn't come true.

My initial impression of the exam was that the questions were actually concise, I didn't see a single epic poem about Contoso Inc. anywhere. Yet, despite each question being only two or three sentences, the general feel of the exam was the same as older exams: you still had to watch for trick questions, you still had to dig into your memory to remember what the default settings for various accounts and programs are, and a lot of the questions still fall back to "the right way, the wrong way, and One Microsoft Way". Basically, the content and the feel of the questions are almost exactly the same, it's just that they're no longer several paragraphs long.

In terms of the Windows 7 content, I felt like a lot of the questions were very familiar from practice tests I've done on Vista, so having worked with Vista since it came out helped me a great deal in understanding the inner workings of 7. The new features were covered pretty well in Microsoft's freebie videos and TechNet documentation, but it's obvious that you need to have some more in-depth hands-on experience to handle the curve balls. There were a lot more command-line questions than I was expecting, and on things I'd never dreamed of, (reminded me a little bit of the Linux exams I've taken in the past where the command-line way is the "right" way, even if there is a way to configure the box from the GUI). Learn to do as much as you can from the command-line, learn the new CLI tools inside and out, and make sure you remember what each tool does and doesn't do. As someone else said, this is definitely an enterprise exam, a regular ol' power user or student shouldn't take this one lightly.

All in all, there were vast improvements in the format, the content is what you'd expect from Microsoft, but there's a higher expectation of professionals to know the inner workings of Windows than there has been in the past. I feel like I did well on this test, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't well enough to pass. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I certainly won't be surprised if I do battle with this one again.