70-640 on wednesday - first exam & freaked out a bit

Clockworks

I know, another thread about this exam.

Alright, I'm freaking out a bit about it, first time taking a cert exam. *Hyperventilating*

I finally finished reading the MS Press book on it (despite all the errors....) and feel somewhat prepared, but not as well as I would like. I will be looking through the sticky tomorrow for more notes. Any other recommendations, past experiences that you would like to share? What is considered a passing score and what is considered good? Do employers check your score or just make sure you have a cert?

Also, I scheduled my exam through Prometric and they said that the Second Shot deadline got extended to July 9th. It seems to be showing up on their systems only, can anyone confirm this?

za3bour

I hope you will pass, I'm sorry I can't answer your questions but the news about extending second shot is really nice maybe I can benefit from it. I'm now studying for 640 too however I'm using two books Sybex and MS just like I did in 680 and 642.

From what I read the exam is straightforward with no surprises about questions it's a little tougher than 642.

I don't think score matters, I had 950 in 642 but I don't think this means I'm a genius it just means that I answered correctly the questions I've been asked and it doesn't mean I will have the same score if I did it again. I think what matters is the knowledge you know and the experience you have not how much you scored.

My advice to you is to have a good night before the exam and have a good breakfast it's really essential that you go there with a full stomach it will give you more concentration and focus. How much are you getting in the test exams you are doing ?

Clockworks

Is there any actual configuration or is it all multiple choice, 40~something questions? I heard they took that down for the moment due to a number of errors and issues they had.

za3bour

Clockworks wrote: »

Is there any actual configuration or is it all multiple choice, 40~something questions? I heard they took that down for the moment due to a number of errors and issues they had.

That was 83-640 which is suspended for now because there were a lot of errors with the simulation section. There is no simulation for 70-640 and the number of questions vary but you can at least expect 40 questions and up to 65 I think.

earweed

Passing score is 700 since that's the passing score on most MS exams.
If you know the material pretty well you should do ok.
Where did you hear about the second shot being extended?

Clockworks

earweed wrote: »

Passing score is 700 since that's the passing score on most MS exams.
If you know the material pretty well you should do ok.
Where did you hear about the second shot being extended?

I booked it through the phone systems. I made sure (triple checked) with operator as to what she said was true. SHE was the one that informed me....I hope I don't need to test that statement.

drew2000

Good luck, let us know how you do!

Drew

Clockworks

Question:

Regarding all those questions that you must choose all that apply, what if you missed one, is the entire thing wrong?

I pick A, B, and C. The correct answer is A, B, C, and D. Do I get some points at least?

Essendon

The questions will something like:

1. Choose two choices. Each answer is a complete solution.
2. Choose two choices. Each answer forms part of the complete solution.

So they'll tell you how many to choose, they wouldnt say - choose all that apply. Havent see that in all 10 MS exams I have taken so far.

HTH to calm you down a little. Good luck, this is not a difficult exam.

Clockworks

Essendon wrote: »

The questions will something like:

1. Choose two choices. Each answer is a complete solution.
2. Choose two choices. Each answer forms part of the complete solution.

So they'll tell you how many to choose, they wouldnt say - choose all that apply. Havent see that in all 10 MS exams I have taken so far.

HTH to calm you down a little. Good luck, this is not a difficult exam.

Kind of does, at least I know how many to choose from. However, if I am missing one of the answers, will that make the entire answer completely wrong or just partially wrong (get some partial points)? In regards for either scenario.

Essendon

If I can remember correctly it throws a prompt saying you need to choose 2 choices if you have chosen only one before it will let you move on to the next question. It will also throw a prompt if you choose 3 options and you were supposed to choose only 2. So this rules out partial credits, it's full points or none.

Mojo_666

Clockworks wrote: »

I know, another thread about this exam.

Alright, I'm freaking out a bit about it, first time taking a cert exam. *Hyperventilating*

I finally finished reading the MS Press book on it (despite all the errors....) and feel somewhat prepared, but not as well as I would like. I will be looking through the sticky tomorrow for more notes. Any other recommendations, past experiences that you would like to share? What is considered a passing score and what is considered good? Do employers check your score or just make sure you have a cert?

Also, I scheduled my exam through Prometric and they said that the Second Shot deadline got extended to July 9th. It seems to be showing up on their systems only, can anyone confirm this?

No one checks or cares about the scores, just if you have the cert or not, I was brickig myself before taking my first exam, 14 exams later and I still brick myself.....I sometimes wonder why I put myself through it.

I booked the CCENT for august and I have that horrible feeling building inside me again even though it is still 8 weeks off.

Bob_the_Goon

If you have a pretty sound knowledge of DNS and Certificate Services then you will be half way there.

But my best advice would be to just chill out the night before, try to relax as much as possible before the exam, and try to get as much out of the experience as possible. If you don't pass, it's not the end of the world, and on the bright side you'll know what to expect for the next time!

Best of luck.

Clockworks

Essendon wrote: »

If I can remember correctly it throws a prompt saying you need to choose 2 choices if you have chosen only one before it will let you move on to the next question. It will also throw a prompt if you choose 3 options and you were supposed to choose only 2. So this rules out partial credits, it's full points or none.

I pick A and B, the answer is A and C. No partial credit?

texasit

I don't believe there is partial credit.If the correct answer is A, D ,E then you wouldn't get credit for an answer of A,B,E.
There is no need to panic though you just need to prepare well, make sure you do a few practice tests, practice what you have learned in a lab if you can, and make sure you get plenty of rest the night before.Eat a good healthy breakfast in the morning I would suggest oatmeal with some fruit and some eggs.Try to avoid too much sugar it will make you crash mid test.Good luck if you have questions about any topics covered in the exam don't be afraid to ask.I'm sure someone will have the answer.

Devilsbane

Above all just stay calm. If you can't think straight, you will certainly fail.

Good luck

Clockworks

earweed wrote: »

Passing score is 700 since that's the passing score on most MS exams.
If you know the material pretty well you should do ok.
Where did you hear about the second shot being extended?

Passing score being 700, what's the highest, 1,000? I took the practice tests that came with the book and they tell me that the passing score is 85 percent.

beany101

The pass mark is definetly 700 for all, unless I am mistaken? Without wishing to cause complatency, I found the exam easier than I was imagining. Hang in there...and good luck!

texasit

Clockworks wrote: »

Passing score being 700, what's the highest, 1,000? I took the practice tests that came with the book and they tell me that the passing score is 85 percent.

the measureup practice test considers 80% or higher passing for their tests that has nothing to do with the microsoft test.The microsoft test considers anything above a 700 to be passing.

Clockworks

beany101 wrote: »

The pass mark is definetly 700 for all, unless I am mistaken? Without wishing to cause complatency, I found the exam easier than I was imagining. Hang in there...and good luck!

I know I know, but what is it out of? What is the highest possible score?

Mojo_666

85% or a score of 850 should be your target, 700 is the actual pass mark.
Many of the practice exams will test you to 800-850 or 80%-85%, if you are passing the tests to this level then they assume you are ready to sit the exam.

Devilsbane

Clockworks wrote: »

I know I know, but what is it out of? What is the highest possible score?

1,000 is the top score. 700 is passing. While you might consider this to be 70%, it likely isn't. Microsoft won't tell you how they grade it. They do tell you that they often put experimental questions on the test that aren't graded. I'm sure some questions are weighted more than other questions.

Transcender by default considers 100% to be passing, anything else is failing. I change this and drop it down to 90%. But I don't get bent out of shape when I am scoring in the 85% area either. Really all it changes is whether you get a green pass or a red fail when you finish the test.

Clockworks

Got my result back, 525. Not very good, gotta do better.

What do to next? In terms of practices and memorizing this?

earweed

What were your weak areas?
If DNS was one of them then it would probably help you to look at DNS in the 70-642 text as that helped me on the DNS for the 640.
All I can say is don't stop now, take a little day or two breather. Then get back to upgrading your knowledge on the areas you did poorly in. Check out some of Claymoores resource thread for the areas you did poorly.
You probably only missed it by 4 or 5 questions so don't beat yourself up about it. I failed my first MS test as well and came back 2 weeks later and scored over 800 on it.

za3bour

It's ok your score isn't that bad and as earweed said you are 5-6 questions away from passing but I recommend that you try to study in order to get 800+ don't just study to pass try to study in order to get high marks. Study your weak points carefully and since this is your first exam now you are more familiar with microsoft style since they have a weird way of writting questions.

Good that you have your second shot extended so you have plenty of time to study. Please don't hesitate ask about any question you have, this forum has been a great help for me and I'm sure it will be for you too.

One last thing, DNS is written better in the 642 book (more details) so it's not a bad idea to read about it there.

rphann

Sorry to hear that. Hope you do better next time. View the exam results and focus on your weak points. Good luck!

Clockworks

za3bour wrote: »

It's ok your score isn't that bad and as earweed said you are 5-6 questions away from passing but I recommend that you try to study in order to get 800+ don't just study to pass try to study in order to get high marks. Study your weak points carefully and since this is your first exam now you are more familiar with microsoft style since they have a weird way of writing questions.

Good that you have your second shot extended so you have plenty of time to study. Please don't hesitate ask about any question you have, this forum has been a great help for me and I'm sure it will be for you too.

One last thing, DNS is written better in the 642 book (more details) so it's not a bad idea to read about it there.

Yeah, that helps out a bit (or at least the mood). I'll take a look at the 642 book, it looks to be a far better and more extensive read than the 640 counterpart.

williadatech

Hey Clockworks, how goes the study?
I'm 22 hours away from my first MS 70-640 test, and as the dude above somewhere said " I bricking myself....ahhh" I've found the comments in your thread to be helpful so thanks!
Just tried practise test, Epic Fail 47%. I plan to re-book my test if I don't get it tomorrow for another six weeks after.