exams updated for R2

alokin123

not sure if this has been posted anywhere yet but it looks like MS is updating their 2008 exams to cover R2 as well:

Windows Server 2008 exams updated with R2 content - IT Pro Training and Certification - Training and Certification - Born to Learn

earweed

News to me. Hopefully the 70-643 hasn't been updated yet. I'll find out soon enough.
I'm gonna shoot that link over to the 70-640 resources thread as that's what it applies to right now.

alokin123

judging by the exam topics for 70-643 on the MS website, it looks like it already has been

earweed

It looks like it has been updated recently. The changes, hopefully, wont screw me up too much.
I noticed first off that they have renamed Terminal services to remote desktop services. I haven't noticed any other significant changes in the skills measured yet except for that. I'm gonna look through it a little more thoroughly though.

za3bour

That's bad news for me , my exam for 646 is scheduled next week I hope there is not a lot more to study now

earweed

I didn't check the 646 skills measured yet but the 647 hasn't been changed (yet).
I'm in the same shape you are as my 70-643 is nest week also.

earweed

I wish the guy on that forum had also highlighted the changes to the 70-643 as I can't figure what exactly has been changed besides renaming Terminal services. I did notice part of the sharepoint section now refers to sharepoint foundation and that wasn't mentioned in the book at all.

za3bour

It really sucks, there is no mention for R2 in the books I'm reading of what so ever and I haven't even looked at R2 till now.

If they wanna include it they should wait for sometime. I hope there is no R2 in my exam I can't reschedule it because I'm really bored of reading it over and over.

646 is by far the hardest exam I studied for. hope that 643 is gonna be easier

earweed

I looked at the skills measured for the 646 and the 647 and they don't have R2 specifically mentionned.
I'm taking the 643 on Tuesday and I just broke out a book covering R2 yesterday. Hopefully I wont get many questions covering things that are to do with R2.

za3bour

earweed wrote: »

I looked at the skills measured for the 646 and the 647 and they don't have R2 specifically mentioned.
I'm taking the 643 on Tuesday and I just broke out a book covering R2 yesterday. Hopefully I wont get many questions covering things that are to do with R2.

Thanks a lot. I will try to get the R2 book when I'm in Beirut next Thursday. I found a good book in amazon.

Dracula28

Whats the name of the book?

earweed

Dracula28 wrote: »

Whats the name of the book?

I'm just using a free e-book I got from MS last month called Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2. I've been reading the three chapters that deal with stuff on the 70-643.

earweed

That free ebgook wasn't enough. That exam was brutal and is heavy on the changes which I was not ready for. Time to craete some Server 2008 R2 VMs and start over.

za3bour

earweed wrote: »

That free ebgook wasn't enough. That exam was brutal and is heavy on the changes which I was not ready for. Time to craete some Server 2008 R2 VMs and start over.

Sorry to hear that, you do have a free second shot right ?

earweed

Yeah WGU supplies that.

Jander1023

I wonder if/when the 646 will be updated. I plan on taking the 646 next after I finish the 642. You'd think they would update the MS Press books before updating the exams. Haha! I know, wishful thinking.

earweed

The guy from MS learning on that forum imformed me that any questions covering things which have been changed are "probably" beta questions. When you get questions which the book didn't cover very well and you're trying to get the answer by eliminating wrong answers then how can you eliminate answers which "may" be correct for an OS which you're not familiar with.
I know from going through the skills measured last night that around 30 of my questions were related to the new stuff. If they were beta questions then how am I to know if they are going to be counted when I take the exam again in 2 weeks? Man, it just has me steamed.
To top it off the only decent books out so far for Server 2008 R2 are the Sybex Mastering Server 2008 R2 and the Server 2008 R2 unleashed. I've already gone through 4 books studying for this test and I get stuck with this crap.
Another bad thing is that all I have is Server 2008 R2 Standard which means I can only have 1 physical and 1 virtual instance and a lot of the R2 stuff needs more than 2 instances to even try to lab them.

za3bour

Why don't you get this

Download details: Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images for Hyper-V (180 Days)

earweed

Thanks I didn't know about that. Now I have 4 extra R2 VMs to play with.

LCA

I feel your pain Earweed though in my case I've been very fortunate in that I did the 680 exam first as that required me to learn many of the new technologies that are in R2. Now with the 642 only days away I haven't had to go back to square one with R2.

There is a lot of stuff on Technet about new the technologies in R2 but they seem to be scattered all over the place. There are a number of good video's there as well. I take your point though, there is a shortage of quality R2 texts currently available.

Jander1023

LCA wrote: »

I feel your pain Earweed though in my case I've been very fortunate in that I did the 680 exam first as that required me to learn many of the new technologies that are in R2. Now with the 642 only days away I haven't had to go back to square one with R2.

There is a lot of stuff on Technet about new the technologies in R2 but they seem to be scattered all over the place. There are a number of good video's there as well. I take your point though, there is a shortage of quality R2 texts currently available.

Ditto. I have the 680 and the 685. The 685 was heavy on much of the R2 stuff, surprisingly. I am also working on the 642. I plan on using the Intro Windows Server 2008 R2 book by Russel and Zacker. It is a free supplement available online.

LCA

I've added a number of R2 urls to the 70-642 Resources thread.

Jander1023

LCA wrote: »

I've added a number of R2 urls to the 70-642 Resources thread.

Appreciate it! Once I am done working thru the book and the labs, I'll spend some time reviewing the links. I took a look-see and your post on the Resource thread looks pretty solid.

stevets

I've got the 640 tomorrow and I'm starting to wonder what R2-surprises might be in store for me. Has anyone taken the 640 since Sept. 1?

I'm trying not to be too worried about it, as I have had the luxury of installing two R2 DC's at work over the last month, so I'm pretty familiar with ADDS. It's the possibility of new (R2-related) ADFS, ADRMS, and ADCS, questions that have me somewhat concerned.

I did setup a production Enterprise CA last week on R2, after checking out some CBT videos on the subject, and it all seemed to be pretty well matched up. There were a few additional options in the cert templates if I recall, but nothing major.

earweed

The 640 doesn't have a lot of updates. I put the skills measured for the 640 with the changes highlighted and bolded red in the resources thread.. You'll be ok! Don't let it shock you tat EVERY question refers to Server 2k8 R2 as a lot of the questions are the same as for Server 2k8. According to a guy at MS learning the questions specific to R2 should still be ungraded beta questions but it wouldn't hurt to look at some of the stuff that has been updated.

EDIT: Here's the link to get the free R2 book that MS has in pdf. http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/windowsserver.aspx#offers

za3bour

I just wanna say that i'm impressed with how much members help each other it's really nice and this is the case in most fields.

Jander1023

stevets wrote: »

I've got the 640 tomorrow and I'm starting to wonder what R2-surprises might be in store for me. Has anyone taken the 640 since Sept. 1?

I'm trying not to be too worried about it, as I have had the luxury of installing two R2 DC's at work over the last month, so I'm pretty familiar with ADDS. It's the possibility of new (R2-related) ADFS, ADRMS, and ADCS, questions that have me somewhat concerned.

I did setup a production Enterprise CA last week on R2, after checking out some CBT videos on the subject, and it all seemed to be pretty well matched up. There were a few additional options in the cert templates if I recall, but nothing major.

Yes! I passed this cert on 9/17. I found the updated CA questions to be brutal. Find the updated CA material and review it. Twice! There were a few updated FS questions also. Otherwise, I felt pretty confident on the most of the questions. Good luck!