Windows 7 and Vista exams

GBAKER2204

How do the Windows 7 and Vista exams compare in terms of complexity? I have yet to study for my Vista exam (70-621) but feel I know Vista pretty well, and am tempted by the Windows 7 exam. I notice that many of you who have passed the Windows 7 exam have already taken the 620, do you feel it's worth doing the 620 (621 in my case) before taking the Windows 7 exam? Is there much cross over, and would studying for the Vista make the study for the Windows 7 exam easier?

Any thoughts and feedback would be appreciated. Also I plan on studying hard (up to 2 hours a day) for a month for the Vista exam (work and family commitments not withstanding), do you think this is realistic amount of time to prepare for the 620 or 621?

Materials to be used: MS Press, CBT Nuggets and Syngress (and supplimented by TechNet).

Also thanks to StupidBoy and Claymoore for the excellent links for Windows 7 (and any others I may have missed) - it'll make my life easier.

msteinhilber

Well, preparing for the 620 vs the 621 is going to be slightly different because the 70-621 is supposed to cover material from 70-620 and 70-622. I haven't taken the 621 but from looking at the skills measured on Microsoft's website it doesn't seem like it would be that much more difficult than the 620 which is fairly easy if you have some solid hands-on Vista experience and study up some of the areas on the exam objectives that you might not get into often (Windows Mail, Meeting Space, Scan and Fax, etc).

The Windows 7 exam will probably require a lot more study than the Vista exam. The Windows 7 exam is actually an enterprise level exam again whereas the Vista exam (620 at least) when I took it was really a joke in terms of being an IT certification - it's more of a certification for being able to perform basic consumer level things on Vista. I probably put in a couple weeks of study for the 620, I felt I could have gone by with less but I tend to take any exam fairly serious regardless of how easy they may be perceived to be.

GBAKER2204

Thanks for the quick response.

I tend to prepare properly as I consider £88 per exam a lot to lose if I were to fail. I will probably go the route that I prepare for the 620/621 exams (I have a colleague studying for the 620) and will then use that knowledge to make the windows 7 exam easier (at least that's the hope). I guess I won't know how long I actually need to study for until I start my Vista studies (70-293 is booked for the 24/08/09).

I hope to have both exams done by early November (if at all possible). I have some experience on Vista so I hope that there won't be too much to study for - I use it at home and support some clients on it at work.

How did you find the Windows 7 exam? How long did you study for it, if you don't mind me asking?

GBAKER2204

Has anyone else done the 70-680 after doing the Vista Exams? How did you find the Windows 7 exam when compared to the Vista exams, are there many areas of overlap?

I plan to take the 621 (MCDST upgrade) in about a months time and want to get the 680 done within a month after that (want to get it passed whilst the certs say Chartered Member - every other exam I have taken has been out for years).

Would be interested in the thoughts of others. Thanks msteinhilber for your response .

skrpune

I did the 680 in beta form, and it was MUCH more involved than the Vista 620 exam. I spent a solid month to prepare for Vista - but I was new to the OS and I was working full time, and it was my first MS exam so it freaked me out a bit and I over-prepared a bit. By the time I was preparing for the Windows 7 exam, I was much more comfortable with MS exams and with Vista, and so I "just" had to focus on the differences between the OS's and the enterprise level stuff. I found it to be a pretty challenging exam, much more so than the 620 exam. If you have a good understanding of Vista and some experience with Windows 7, then you have a good start, but you will need to put a hefty amount of study into the enterprise topics, like imaging, deployment, etc.

GBAKER2204

Thanks for your reply.

Now I have (finally) finished with the 70-293 I will probably take the 621 and 680 within the next 2 months (a solid month of study for each).

I have a reasonably good understanding of the enterprise level stuff (well for server 2003), and will look at what has changed with both of these OSes. I will follow your guidance and look at imaging and deployment, as well reading through all of the links posted by claymoore and others (thanks to all who have posted links for this exam - it's very much appreciated).

I need to set up the labs for both OSes so that's my challenge for the next day or two.

Has anyone seen or used the 6291 and 6292 MOCs for this exam?