70-686 panic !

finkle636

I've just completed the newly released Microsoft press training book for this 70-686 exam and i have enjoyed it, i've been able to successfully answer nearly all of the questions at the end of each lesson and each chapter without too much of a problem.

The practice tests that come on a CD with the book, i am getting high 80% to mid 90% on the final scores.

I have the exam booked for first thing Monday

I have just bought the Measure Up practice test on line and by question 7 i knew its going terribly wrong, its asking questions about MS products not even covered in the book (which was only published 3 weeks ago here in the UK) and of detailed command line options for WSUS and WDS, again not covered in the book, its even asking questions about what commands to run to upgrade from RIS in server 2003 !

Am I in trouble here or is this practice test just plain wrong, i had to go and check at one point to see if i'd purchased the wrong test by mistake.

Has anyone else experienced this?

QHalo

Did you vet any of this experience through the sticky in this forum?

finkle636

QHalo wrote: »

Did you vet any of this experience through the sticky in this forum?

Do you mean compare what i've learned from the book with the links on the sticky?

Also i've just spent the last few hours this morning doing all 199 practice questions from the CD that comes with the new 70-686 book, i again got 90%.

I intend to do all of the 150 MeasureUP questions online after lunch to see how it compares.

From what i can see the online MeasureUP test goes into alot more detail on each answer where as the books practice test (Also provided by MeasureUP by the way) is more general, i.e "What tool would you use to do this task in this situation" etc, whereas the online test wants to know if you know all the switches for a certain command inside out and upside down.

Either the book has severely under prepared me for this exam or the online test is overkill and has been derived from pulling questions from the Server 2008 MCITP track practice tests.

For example why do i need to know the exact wsusutil command, options, and switches to use to migrate a wsus content store over to a wsus new server with more disk space when i'm planning to sit an exam about how to deploy Windows 7?

I get that WSUS is involved but come on, its not exactly relevant to configuring client update baselines is it, i.e "point it at a WSUS server, enable client side targeting if you want, create a test group to test new updates for a week before deploying it to the other groups etc"

The other questions follow the same pattern, i.e it's a topic related to the exam but it is far to detailed

Will post my measureup online score later.....

earweed

I had the same opinion of the 70-643 Transcender practice exam. It went into detail on some of the command line syntax and switches whereas the MS Press book had just barely touched on it. MS did throw in a few questions where I needed to know it like that so the practice exam probably isn't really overkill. You may want to review the stuff youy do poorly on with the measure up.

finkle636

69%

Suppose the real test will be the exam on Monday, i'm still baffled as to how i can ace the book and practice test that comes with it, but perform so badly on the online MeasureUp test, both tests are written by the same company!

Also there are a couple of questions that say Directaccess is NOT supported on 7 Ultimate, only on Enterprise. I'm sure i remember that on the 70-680 it tells you the only difference between the two is the way its licenced, i.e private vs business (i.e retail vs volume).

brucewhunter

http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcts-mcitp-windows-2008-general/51687-70-686-passed-today.html

finkle636

Thanks, i've prepared as much as i can, i've done the book, all practice tests from Measureup and read all the links on the sticky, have to see what happens tomorrow in the Exam itself.

earweed

Good luck on the test!
Bring us back a WIN!

gateway

Good luck!!

finkle636

Failed with a 686, Damn, i was 1 question away at best

My score sheet showed all the bars at least 3/4 of the way across, none were particularly weak

I had 60 questions in total,

I'm going to resit on Friday but i'm a bit concerned as i dont really know what else i can do to prepare, i've read (and Aced) the book, aced the practice tests, done the MeasureUP on line tests and learnt all i could from the wrong answers and read every link and watched every video on the sticky on this forum.

I am slightly annoyed that i can ace the book and perform so badly in the real test.

I dont really know what else i can do to prepare, nearly all of my other Microsoft exams have been in the 900's

Jander1023

finkle636 wrote: »

Failed with a 686, Damn, i was 1 question away at best

My score sheet showed all the bars at least 3/4 of the way across, none were particularly weak

I had 60 questions in total,

I'm going to resit on Friday but i'm a bit concerned as i dont really know what else i can do to prepare, i've read (and Aced) the book, aced the practice tests, done the MeasureUP on line tests and learnt all i could from the wrong answers and read every link and watched every video on the sticky on this forum.

I am slightly annoyed that i can ace the book and perform so badly in the real test.

I dont really know what else i can do to prepare, nearly all of my other Microsoft exams have been in the 900's

If you have the online access for the Measure Up questions, you should run thru more practice exams. They usually have a pool of around 150 questions. Take the practice exam over and over until you are consistently scoring 90%+. Review all your incorrect answers after each test.

Personally, I'll go thru at least 10-15 practice exams before sitting a Cert exam.

finkle636

Got this exam rebooked for tomorrow morning, since last week i've been at the transcender practice tests and revisited the measureup practice tests, i feel better prepared this time

QHalo

Good luck.

earweed

You were close. You should nail it this time.

finkle636

Passed with a 833, phew

Much better than the previous score of 686

I still stand behind the opinion that there is nowhere near enough resource material available for this particular exam

earweed

Congrats on the new cert!

NOLAJ

Congrats on the pass!!