my experience with the 70-620

I took the exam today and all I have to say is I am quite disappointed on how the test was structured. I have my CCENT A+ and work at GeekSquad dealing with Vista on a daily basis. I failed the exam by ten points but I do have to admit that I did not study at all for this exam and while taking it, I thought I knew pretty much all the questions and simulations asked except RSS.

A lot of the questions either had no right answer (so pick the best wrong answer?) or would give you a situation and none of the answers would be something that I thought would be more efficient in solving the problem or all the answers provided wouldn't solve the situation given. Though I know my solution would solve the problem, we don't exactly have the option of "provide your own answer for the situation".

The simlets were very straight forward and easy to comprehend and felt too easy to the point where I might have started second guessing my answer. Many of the situations on this exam are not even used in a real life environment (atleast ive never had to use any of it in my 1+ year of work experience).

Luckily the test voucher was free because I am a full time student at a Microsoft certified school. I may or may not retake this exam depending on the situation and Microsoft 7 is coming out in roughly six months, so I may hold out till then.

Good luck to everyone planning on taking the exam and I hope I did not discourage anyone from pursuing this certification.

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Comments

Jordus

LOL!

There are right answers to the questions. A common theme in MS tests is that there are MULTIPLE right answers but only 1 is the best answer. I dont know why you consider yourself to be an authority to tell micrsoft how to work on their own OS? There are nearly 68,000 people with this cert, so obviously those people arent all wrong when choosing answers on the exam.

Also, working at Geek Squad isnt conducive to real work in this field.

Geek squad is to real IT work as a mcdonalds burger flipper is to a gourmet chef.

Good luck if you decide to take it again. Don't assume the Windwos 7 test will be any easier, it isnt.

whatthehell

Sorry to hear! Good luck with your next chance and hope you pass!

d00dle

to hell with vista

windows 7 is around the corner. it's a dead technology and ancient. it's like a lite version of windows 7. I wouldn't bother w/ Vista if im in the field rite now.

coax31

Jordus wrote: »

LOL!

There are right answers to the questions. A common theme in MS tests is that there are MULTIPLE right answers but only 1 is the best answer. I dont know why you consider yourself to be an authority to tell micrsoft how to work on their own OS? There are nearly 68,000 people with this cert, so obviously those people arent all wrong when choosing answers on the exam.

Also, working at Geek Squad isnt conducive to real work in this field.

Geek squad is to real IT work as a mcdonalds burger flipper is to a gourmet chef.

Good luck if you decide to take it again. Don't assume the Windwos 7 test will be any easier, it isnt.

Damn Jordus don't be so hard on this person; we all were new in this field at one time or another. Who cares if he works at Geek squad you got to start somewhere. Maybe that was the best job he could find. IT is one of the hardest fields to break into, I am a systems administrator and been in IT for 9 years and I never act arrogant, in fact I meet people all the time that blow my skills out of the water and I am good. I am not saying you are arrogant but cut this dude some slack.

dynamik

Yea, there's no need to be hard on him. However, missing a pass by only 10 points without studying shouldn't invoke a whole lot of sympathy either

While the scenarios may not be real-world to you, they may be to others who use the technology in different ways. These exams strive to ensure that you have a grasp on all areas of the technology.

I personally couldn't stand leaving an unresolved fail on my record, but there also isn't any reason to put a lot into Vista with Windows 7 being around the corner. They both can be applied to the MCITP: EA. If you're looking at the MCSA/E track, Vista does count as an elective, and I haven't seen anything indicating that Windows 7 will (but it might).

rwwest7

onji wrote: »

I took the exam today and all I have to say is I am quite disappointed on how the test was structured. I have my CCENT A+ and work at GeekSquad dealing with Vista on a daily basis. I failed the exam by ten points but I do have to admit that I did not study at all for this exam and while taking it, I thought I knew pretty much all the questions and simulations asked except RSS.

A lot of the questions either had no right answer (so pick the best wrong answer?) or would give you a situation and none of the answers would be something that I thought would be more efficient in solving the problem or all the answers provided wouldn't solve the situation given. Though I know my solution would solve the problem, we don't exactly have the option of "provide your own answer for the situation".

Trust me, there was a right answer. Maybe a little study time would prove usefull. Keep in mind there is more to computers then what your company asks you to do with them. Sometimes it sucks having to learn the "Microsoft way" of doing things, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Jordus

coax31 wrote: »

Damn Jordus don't be so hard on this person; we all were new in this field at one time or another. Who cares if he works at Geek squad you got to start somewhere. Maybe that was the best job he could find. IT is one of the hardest fields to break into, I am a systems administrator and been in IT for 9 years and I never act arrogant, in fact I meet people all the time that blow my skills out of the water and I am good. I am not saying you are arrogant but cut this dude some slack.

I may have been a bit harsh. But its insulting to every other person with this cert and MS for him to say the test is wrong and we could only pass by choosing wrong answers.

I think its funny he claims he knew it all, yet failed.

I hope he can scrap together a better perspective of the field before he tries it again.

msteinhilber

The real problem here is the lack of study. I can think of at least a few areas which you should be familiar with that I highly doubt you get any exposure to while working at Geek Squad. Windows Fax and Scan, Meeting Space, Windows Calendar, the Tablet PC stuff, etc. You probably get very limited if any exposure to the Sync Center and since I know how much Geek Squad loves to push Webroot you probably get limited exposure to Windows Defender. Simply put, there is a lot more that is tested than basic Vista knowledge that you get when dealing with your typical consumer.

Some of the questions probably seemed like they had no right answer very likely because you did not study, same for why some of the simlets probably seemed too easy that you second guessed yourself. I've only actually taken one MS exam (70-620 coincidentally) and it was fairly straight forward with a bit of study on the areas I knew I would be weak (I looked at the objectives). But I can say after following MS Press study guides for certifications dating back to the NT 4.0 MCSE, there are often ways you can accomplish a task - and then there are the way's that MS says you should accomplish a task. The ways that MS says you should accomplish a task are what you are tested on, and that is one important reason to study regardless of how much you think you already know a product.

If you decide to sit the Windows 7 exam when it's released - I strongly suggest studying for that one. It is much harder when compared to the Vista exam (Windows 7 exam will actually be once again like an enterprise client OS exam). You will need to know a good amount of information that you will not pickup through years of hands-on working with Windows 7 at the Geek Squad.

Best of luck on however you proceed!

ipconfig.all

What is the point of being certified in windows 7

I mean at the moment most companies use xp and vista is rapidly catching up.So in 3 or 4 years it would be ideal to get certified in windows 7 when the actual operating system is released its still in beta.

msteinhilber

ipconfig.all wrote: »

What is the point of being certified in windows 7

I mean at the moment most companies use xp and vista is rapidly catching up.So in 3 or 4 years it would be ideal to get certified in windows 7 when the actual operating system is released its still in beta.

There is a lot of buzz out there how a lot of corporations are holding out for Windows 7 rather than adopting Vista. In addition, and this may be unlikely that others in a position to hire would realize/acknowledge this, but the Vista configuring exam is a complete joke when compared to the Windows 7 exam - the Windows 7 exam is much more useful to an enterprise environment whereas the Vista exam is really more geared towards supporting your small workgroup or home user.

The Windows 7 exam will count towards the MCITP: EA and frankly is a much better choice than the Vista exam I think. That or consider taking the business desktop deployment exam if you want to gain some knowledge that would be more useful for the enterprise.

Psoasman

Lighten up Jordus...at least he had the courage to post that he failed by what was probably one question.

Onji- I would look over the material and take the test again. It can only benefit to have that cert, so what if 7 is around the corner....its not here yet and Vista still is.

goforthbmerry

msteinhilber wrote: »

There is a lot of buzz out there how a lot of corporations are holding out for Windows 7 rather than adopting Vista. In addition, and this may be unlikely that others in a position to hire would realize/acknowledge this, but the Vista configuring exam is a complete joke when compared to the Windows 7 exam - the Windows 7 exam is much more useful to an enterprise environment whereas the Vista exam is really more geared towards supporting your small workgroup or home user.

The Windows 7 exam will count towards the MCITP: EA and frankly is a much better choice than the Vista exam I think.

I am curious as to where you got this information. Are you making assumptions or is there actually something posted out there about the exam and what it will count for that I have missed? I would love to read more about the exam but I didn't even know there was a Beta level exam out there yet. I am trying to decide whether I should take the Vista exam for my MCSA or wait for the 7 exam. For my situation the 2003 series of certifications now and upgrading later makes the most sense.

dynamik

Credit Toward Certification
When you pass Exam 70-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring, you complete the requirements for the following certification(s):

MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration

Exam 70-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring: counts as credit toward the following certification(s):

MCITP: Enterprise Administrator
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-680.aspx

It doesn't look like it's going to count as a client or an elective exam for the MCSE though...

skrpune

The 620 is arguably one of the easiest MS exams, but it's still something that needs preparation and practice. If you have extensive usage of all the different features of Vista, then maybe you can get away without having to study, but at least some preparation and review of the subject matter is warranted. Just my opinion.

As for skipping Vista exam for the maybe-released-soon Windows 7 exam...hrm, not sure about that one. There may be some companies out there that are going from XP to 7, but my company upgraded to Vista last year and it's going to be at least 2 years before they even think of upgrading to Windows 7. It's a shame but with as many users as they have (hundreds campus-wide), it'd be an expensive venture to upgrade everyone so soon after a relatively recent Vista upgrade.

I have to agree with msteinhilber that there is NO comparison between the Vista and Windows 7 configuration exams, at least if they keep the 680 objectives as is and if the final exam is as challenging as the beta was (at least for me).

My recommendation for the OP would be to pick up the MS Press book for 620 and at least skim through it and do the labs in it and then give the 620 another shot. If he/she is currently working for Geek Squad, there's really no way that will give the experience needed for the enterprise-level stuff that's on the 680 exam unless he/she is prepared to do a lot of studying & preparation & practice in virtual/real labs on the side. Plus, the 620 exam counts towards both the MCSA/MCSE path and the MCITP path, so there's some flexibility there as well for future certifications. Nothing against the 680 exam, it's just that in the OP's situation, it might just be a bit too much to handle without some additional and fairly intensive preparation & practice.

pztpenguin

I've failed my first attempt last week with a 680 and I've been building and repairing computers for 10 years.. The first crack at a Microsoft cert for me. I scheduled the test after 4 days of catching up on vista. I really screwed up on the upgrades portion. I'm retaking the test (thanks second shot) it's been driving me crazy failing by 20 points. This time I won't be so stupid and be prepped. The funny thing is I did great in mobile and I don't even work on laptops much..:)

megatran808

We gotta give the guy some credit for missing the exam by 10 points for not studying and with only 1+ years of experience.

But I do hope this humbles people for thinking that certs are easy to get and don't mean anything. I know a lot of us here have spent countless hours studying for our exams and the years of experience to get where we are at.

Best advice I can give is at least review some of the materials before taking any type of certification. Unless you feel like throwing away $100+ on test fees every time. Good thing you got it for free.

If you studied and passed, you would have gotten a free cert to your name.

allegiance

I didn't study and got a 828/1000 on the 620. It was my first MS exam as well. I suppose it was luck, however I do use alot of the different technology in Vista.

I don't condone not studying though, there is no point going into an exam thinking that your top **** and know everything. It does seem like the OP had that attitude towards the exam. I am currently studying for 70-640 and wouldn't dream of trying to pass that without study, I am going to be reading all 951 pages of the MS book.