70-680 Suggestions

fieldmonkey

I was taking the Sec+ tomorrow and afterwards I am considering an MS exam, my first one. So I thought the 70-680 would be a good first MS exam to try. Naturally I had some questions...

1. What book would you suggest?
2. In comparison to CompTIA exams, how do they contrast?

Thanks~

za3bour

1- I suggest using MS Press book it's good enough to pass the test

Amazon.com: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows 7 (9780735627086): Ian McLean, Orin Thomas: Books

But make sure to get the list of corrections for this book

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7 comments and corrections

and I strongly suggest labbing with Windows 2008 R2 since many features in Win 7 only works with it (like Direct Access and BranchCache)

I'm sorry I can't answer #2 since i havn't done any CompTIA exams

Slowhand

I can also recommend the MS Press book for this exam. I wish it had been out when I took the beta. I can also recommend you check out the Windows 7 Snacks series from Microsoft Learning. They were instrumental in helping a former co-worker pass the exam.

Expect this test, like any vendor-specific exam, to be tougher than your average CompTIA test. Since you're coming from Security+ you might not see as big of a jump in the difficulty-curve, but you should probably go into your studies with the mindset that the Microsoft test will be more difficult and you should prepare for it as such to be safe.

kiki1579

I would recommend the MS Press book for 70-680 as well. Go through all of the chapters and labs and have a VM environment for them. I can tell you that there will be more material on any MS exam than a CompTIA exam. I would agree with Slowhand in that this is also vendor specific, so there will always be more information to absorb than say a Sec+ or A+ exam.

Normally for me I've stuck between the Sybex series and the MS Press book for my study material. I would also do some research say on Amazon.com between the books you want to get and check out the reviews.

fieldmonkey

Thanks for the replies, I'm not new to the OS so how difficult could it be I'm wondering???

Installing and configurine an OS seems pretty simple ....but I've never taken an MS test. "I've taken Cisco test ... and the first one... really the only annoy thing was I couldn't review my question... no going back ... then the second one ... the (ICND2) ... was hard as ___________! I mean I knew the the material, but I had to do SIMS that killed me. Are there SIMS in MS for this level exam?

Sounds like the MS Press book is the only choice really, so I will get to ordering it or pick it up a borders. I think I saw one copy on the self the last time I was in there.

Michael.J.Palmer

The MS exams go well beyond just simple installation. With the 680 you'll be looking at pretty much every aspect of the OS that you'd ever really need to configure, and of course regular installations are fairly simple compared to learning how to create and mount images for mass deployment, which will be another aspect of the test you'll have to study for.

There are many ways to install windows OS' on a computer and you'll definitely get a chance to learn them all.

As for compared to CompTIA exams, CompTIA tends to be pretty broad in information and elementary for the most part. Take in part the Windows OS questions on the A+, those questions are a piece of cake compared to the types you'll see on the MS exams and that's mainly due in part to the fact that the A+ is just testing your general knowledge of the OS and not all of the ins and outs.

za3bour

70-680 in particular is not an easy exam because it's not about Win 7 only it does cover many of Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 features so make sure to practice or at least use videos for stuff like Direct Access, Branchcache ..etc.

I've only used the book took me around 1.5 to study but it was my first exam this year so I wasn't really ready for studying at that time.

Just make sure you read the book , do the practice and labs and you should be fine. MS exams are different so make sure to know the format well since they don't ask direct questions most of the time and sometimes you would read 4 lines paragraph that has nothing to do with the real question.

Good luck for you

fieldmonkey

za3bour wrote: »

I've only used the book took me around 1.5 to study but it was my first exam this year so I wasn't really ready for studying at that time.

1.5 days, months or years? lol To study just for the 680, I would assume?

I'm figuring you mean months, from your signature. 1.5 months isn't bad .... sounds like I could be prepped in about same time, maybe 2 months or so --no rush though for me.

za3bour

fieldmonkey wrote: »

1.5 days, months or years? lol To study just for the 680, I would assume?

I'm figuring you mean months, from your signature. 1.5 months isn't bad .... sounds like I could be prepped in about same time, maybe 2 months or so --no rush though for me.

Months no way I would finsih it in one day and I'm not that dumb to take one year lol

Yea I don't advice you to rush, take your time do the labs and you'll do just fine. Good Luck

RobertKaucher

za3bour wrote: »

70-680 in particular is not an easy exam because it's not about Win 7 only it does cover many of Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 features so make sure to practice or at least use videos for stuff like Direct Access, Branchcache ..etc.

I've only used the book took me around 1.5 to study but it was my first exam this year so I wasn't really ready for studying at that time.

Just make sure you read the book , do the practice and labs and you should be fine. MS exams are different so make sure to know the format well since they don't ask direct questions most of the time and sometimes you would read 4 lines paragraph that has nothing to do with the real question.

Good luck for you

I agree with this. This exam is to evaluate if you know how Windows 7 is used in the Enterprise. It is not a "power user" type of exam that has information of the sort a consumer tech (think Geek Squad) might need to know. The Windows Vista exam, when I took it, was very much a consumer support sort of exam. It was far easier in scope and level of questioning.

As far as the question methodology, if you think about it, this is very real world. How many times do you face a situation that has several facets that lead you down the wrong path? And it is not until you break the situation down into its parts that you are able to actually understand it.

za3bour

RobertKaucher wrote: »

As far as the question methodology, if you think about it, this is very real world. How many times do you face a situation that has several facets that lead you down the wrong path? And it is not until you break the situation down into its parts that you are able to actually understand it.

This is true and in real life most of the big problems can be solved with little steps or like in the exam the answer is actually the one that is so simple so that you sometime ignore and focus on other complicated answers so you gotta be careful here.

The nice thing thought is once you're used to MS type of exams it will be much easier for you.

IanDD

Before taking the 680 exam last week I was under the same impression, I thought I would pretty much know all the subject matter as I had been using Win7 since beta.

In reality the exam was a lot harder and their was a lot to learn:

You need to know the upgrade/refresh and replacement scenario's depending on what o/s you are upgrading or deploying from.

You need to know what features are available in each edition of win7.

You need to know how to create, manipulate and deploy images over the network (WDS, ImageX, DISM and USMT)

You need to know how us the above WAIK tools to deploy Win7.

You also need to know how to use Applocker, Bitlocker and other features of the o/s including Branchcache, DirectAccess.

The exam is pretty difficult in my opinion but the MS Press book contains everything you need to know.

I would suggest setting up a win7 VM client and Svr2008 RC2 image and working your way through the book.

There are no SIMs in the exam (well not as last Wednesday (06/10/10)), its multi choice. You can mark the questions for review and go back to them at the end of the exam. My strategy was to discount the answers that you know to be incorrect and then make the best choice from the ones remaining if you are unsure. Not sure if this works for everyone but it worked for me.

Good luck

jaykoolzboy

IanDD wrote: »

Before taking the 680 exam last week I was under the same impression, I thought I would pretty much know all the subject matter as I had been using Win7 since beta.

In reality the exam was a lot harder and their was a lot to learn:

You need to know the upgrade/refresh and replacement scenario's depending on what o/s you are upgrading or deploying from.

You need to know what features are available in each edition of win7.

You need to know how to create, manipulate and deploy images over the network (WDS, ImageX, DISM and USMT)

You need to know how us the above WAIK tools to deploy Win7.

You also need to know how to use Applocker, Bitlocker and other features of the o/s including Branchcache, DirectAccess.

The exam is pretty difficult in my opinion but the MS Press book contains everything you need to know.

I would suggest setting up a win7 VM client and Svr2008 RC2 image and working your way through the book.

There are no SIMs in the exam (well not as last Wednesday (06/10/10)), its multi choice. You can mark the questions for review and go back to them at the end of the exam. My strategy was to discount the answers that you know to be incorrect and then make the best choice from the ones remaining if you are unsure. Not sure if this works for everyone but it worked for me.

Good luck

nice post there. Again, just like any other test you took thru out your life, it's hard if you dun know how to study and what to study, it's going to be easy if you know how to study and study hard.

thehourman

What OSes (for labbing) do you need to pass the 70-680?
I do have Windows 7 on my machine and Windows server 2008 evaluation.

The one that confuses me is the imaging/deployment. They are talking about WDS and imagex. The commands won't stick into brain. So I am not sure if I need a WDS server as well.

earweed

thehourman wrote: »

What OSes (for labbing) do you need to pass the 70-680?
I do have Windows 7 on my machine and Windows server 2008 evaluation.

The one that confuses me is the imaging/deployment. They are talking about WDS and imagex. The commands won't stick into brain. So I am not sure if I need a WDS server as well.

Use Server 2008 R2 if you can (it's 64 bit only) for labbing. It would probably help you to lab out the WDS with a WDS server.

za3bour

thehourman wrote: »

The one that confuses me is the imaging/deployment. They are talking about WDS and imagex. The commands won't stick into brain. So I am not sure if I need a WDS server as well.

I'm using one machine as DC/DNS/DHCP and WDS so it's not a problem.

thehourman

earweed wrote: »

Use Server 2008 R2 if you can (it's 64 bit only) for labbing. It would probably help you to lab out the WDS with a WDS server.

I have Server 2008 Standard R2. Is that fine?

earweed

Should be for anything you'll be doing. The only real differences between the 2 is the # of virtual instances you can have (standard-1 enterprise-4) and enterprise has failover clustering feature (which wont concern you)

thehourman

earweed wrote: »

Should be for anything you'll be doing. The only real differences between the 2 is the # of virtual instances you can have (standard-1 enterprise-4) and enterprise has failover clustering feature (which wont concern you)

That makes sense. I will be using this on a VMplayer.
I wonder if there is a Virtual machine that you can have tabs like multiple VM running at the same time.

What I have, I am going to keep shutting down one machine just to get to the other OS.
I am thinking if it is possible to make a virtual network. For instance, 1st tab for Win Server 08 R2, 2nd tab is for Win7, 3rd tab is for Vista for upgrading.

earweed

Have you tried virtual box yet (it's free) or VMWare workstation (not free) as they both let you do that.

thehourman

I don't think VirtualBox has tabs.
Can you run multiple virtual machine at the same time on VB?

earweed

Virtualbox can run multiple vms at once. They aren't arranged as tabs like on workstation but you can run multiple VMs.

thehourman

OK I will try it tonight. Thanks

kurosaki00

Great thread, answers many questions I have.
I have the book on its way and skillsoft program.

earweed I can get Windows server through ieee
are u sure 2008 r2 will provide everything?

I dont have windows 7.... I use it in college and work but I personally dont have it. I dont want to buy a new OS.
Will server 2008 R2 cover everything?

earweed

Server 2008 R2 is recommended to be used ALONG WITH Windows 7, not instead of.

za3bour

kurosaki00 wrote: »

Great thread, answers many questions I have.
I have the book on its way and skillsoft program.

earweed I can get Windows server through ieee
are u sure 2008 r2 will provide everything?

I dont have windows 7.... I use it in college and work but I personally dont have it. I dont want to buy a new OS.
Will server 2008 R2 cover everything?

Get yourself a trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise edition it will last for 90 days and I think you can extend it to 120

Windows 7 Enterprise | Trial, Evaluation, Test, Download

As for Windows 2008 R2 what do you mean by it cover everything? if you're talking about exams for MCITP-EA or SA then the answer is yes since exams are based on Windows 2008 R2 now (some are beta though)

kurosaki00

I see....
thank you guys.

gandalph

If you are going to do the client exam i.e Windows 7 70-680 then you will need a copy of Windows 7 to lab with as p[reviously suggested get a trial version (ultimate or enterprise to cover the labs)

and if you go to this site

How to extend the Windows Server 2008 evaluation period

you can extend the trial period

IanDD

Hi, sorry I am a bit slow to add my 2 pennys worth but been away for a few days.

Having just done the 680 exam I would recommend you create at least a Windows server 2008 RC2 virtual machine and a win7 64bit virtual machine. Best practice would be to create and update the virtual machines then keep these as master copys and then clone these, and then use the clones for your labs. This saves a lot of time when your playing about with the labs as you can just reclone from the original master vm and your up and running again. You can also take snap shots of your vm with VM workstation which you can always revert back to like a restore point.

You will need to set the server up as a domain controller with DNS so that the clients can talk to it.

As said in a previous post you can have WDS installed on the same server or you could clone another server from your VM master and use that as your WDS. You will need to install the WAIK for this and most other stuff for the 680 exam.

I do understand the problem with remembering ImageX, WDS, DISM and USMT from my exams, but once you start playing with them it soon becomes pretty clear and you will remember it all better.

I do not confess to be an expert and the above is only my input but it did help me.

Any problems please post am happy to try and help if I can.

Kind regards, Ian