questions :(

Mister Fish

Hi,
I signed up for this course this company offers, for the exams of MCTS:windows 7, mcitp: enterprise admin, server admin and ccna.

I have no previous knowledge whatsoever, if I fail at the MCTS:win7 exam twice they'll pay me back the cost that I paid for the course, and if I succeed ill continue the course to MCITP server and enterprise admin exams.

now the course starts at 24th of march. ive started reading the first chapter of the self-paced book and the introduction page of the book says this:
"You should have at least one year of
experience in the IT field, as well as experience implementing and administering any Windows
client operating system in a networked environment."

ive already encountered difficulties understanding methods like USMT, and terms like windows PE, WDS and more...

ive done some practice tests about installing, upgrading and migrated to windows 7. I got most of the questions right, but I would be clueless if I was asked to migrate several computers with windows XP to windows 7 with USMT or upgrade to windows 7 over the network...

is it possible for me to succeed? with no previous knowledge

thanks in advance..

Dracula28

What do you mean by "no previous knowledge"? Perhaps you should start with the A+ certifications.

Synthros

Mister Fish wrote: »

is it possible for me to succeed? with no previous knowledge

Sure, you just need to be willing to continue with the reading and follow all of the course materials and labs. You can't go wrong with studying in conjunction with a lot of hands-on experience, so if you don't have a copy of Windows 7, for instance, you'll want to get your hands on a trial version. So long as you study hard, do all the labs that you encounter, and absorb the study material, you have just as good a shot at succeeding as anyone else.

BTW, welcome to the forums

Psoasman

I jumped into IT from the medical field. I started with the A+, did Network+, Security+, then hit the MS tracks. Having a good grasp of hardware and some basic networking skills will help a lot when working on higher level courses.

Welcome to the forums!

Mister Fish

Synthros wrote: »

Sure, you just need to be willing to continue with the reading and follow all of the course materials and labs. You can't go wrong with studying in conjunction with a lot of hands-on experience, so if you don't have a copy of Windows 7, for instance, you'll want to get your hands on a trial version. So long as you study hard, do all the labs that you encounter, and absorb the study material, you have just as good a shot at succeeding as anyone else.

BTW, welcome to the forums

thanks!
and yeah, I did get the trial version of windows 7 and installed it on a virtual PC as the book reccomended. I just find it hard understanding all of those terms and methods the book doesnt explain step by step.
especially USMT (well, i just read chapter 1 a few times up until now), ive also saw all those walkthroughs microsoft's technet made but theyre difficult to understand, they skip alot of basics of the processes they find irrelevant to show...

and by no previous knowledge I mean no experiance at all in the IT field.

Synthros

USMT is definitely one of the deeper-level technologies on the desktop side of things, especially considering it's all command-line. I've personally never needed to use it professionally (clients that I've worked for tend to use their own methods for migrations), but it's something that you must know for exam purposes if nothing else.

One piece of advice I can offer for subjects that don't seem to click: try getting a different perspective. If USMT doesn't make sense in the book you're currently reading, pick up another book (you're always better off having more than one book for each exam for this very reason). You're also more than welcome to post questions about any snags you run into here on the forums -- someone may be able to explain a concept that you're having trouble with in a way that makes more sense.

phoeneous

Mister Fish wrote: »

and by no previous knowledge I mean no experiance at all in the IT field.

You should start from the beginning then. Check out the CompTIA A+ Certification.

Mister Fish

phoeneous wrote: »

You should start from the beginning then. Check out the CompTIA A+ Certification.

Unfortunately I already signed up for the course, the good thing is they'll pay me back the money if I fail the 70-680 exam twice.
if that happens ill consider this, thanks.

ally_uk

I wouldn't worry about it, Take your time with the 70-680 it's not a race to complete the exam, I also have the Microsoft Press book the book seems pretty good, you just need to read the material make notes and complete the end of chapter practice exercises, Also read the technotes on this site.

When I first picked up this book and got to the deployment chapter I was a bit put off, half this stuff I wouldn't use in real life, and I found it difficult to get a grasp of the tools, But then I decided to take it slow break down the information for example when it mentions stuff like WIM, VHD I initially was like ok this is good but wtf is a WIM or VHD????

My advice is to take it slow, read the material if you are unsure of anything post in here, Setup a Blog, or wiki to document stuff you have learnt.

I have 6 years experience working in the I.T field but have no certs, so the whole reading a Microsoft Press book was a bit of a eye opener, I have used windows 7 for a few months just as a basic operating system use, But it's hard to explain and this may sound daft but I find reading the Press Book refreshing I enjoy learning about tech, set yourself clear goals
for me I am starting with 70-680 and will follow it up with the second exam to obtain the (MCDST equivilent 7 credentials) after that I will go for the A+ and Network+ to give me a solid foundation before I tackle the higher exams.

Good Luck and if you have any difficulties feel free to post in this forum and I will do my best to guide you.

Now let's go get this 70-780 done!

Also why pay a company to learn?? self study!! it will save you a hell of alot of cash

ally_uk

Agreed with the above post,

My setup for the 70-680 exam,

Tech Machine - Windows 7 Ultimate - where all the experimentation happens
Laptop With Windows 7 - Used to test deployment results,
PC 1 - Windows 7 enterprise trial - There if I need it lol

Plus I run a variety of VM's on the tech machine