Passed with 918

TheSuperRuski

KANYESHNA!!!!! lol. That will be 3 certs in 3 months for me. I am on point. Microsoft is horrible by the way. That pause when you finish your test for the first time is ridiculously long. AND THEN...it takes you back to the first question asking for comments. I thought the test went down and I had to do it all over again lol. But it is finally over and I can relax this weekend. Before tackling some more WGU certs.

So for a detailed review(As promised) of what I used and how effective it was(I thought that prompted for a new thread) Here we go....

Train Signal (Primary Source)Extremely informative, I really enjoyed how in the first videos it outlines the hardware you will need to do the labs. The way they focus the exam objectives around a fictitious company Globomantics(The way Microsoft uses contoso) was helpful for me because it gave all the objectives a real world application as to when you would use it in the real world and helped cement the idea in my mind.

MCTS Book by Don Poulton (Secondary Primary source) I personally thought the exam in the book was harder than the actual test. Not the chapter exams, the exam on the CD. With that being said, I would say if you can pass the test on the CD, you can pass the actual exam. Not the "golden ticket"(In my eyes but then again i used a lot of resources) like Darril Gibsons book but a close second. I really enjoyed the pre-test format of the book. Each chapter began with a pre-test that would help you determine if you should read the entire chapter, a section of the chapter or just skip to the review topics point in the chapter. Every chapter also included a memory table with keywords that you were asked to fill out from memory. I did that for every chapter and it really helped when I saw questions I didn't recognize but could eliminate due to knowing exactly what a option was or what it did.

CBT Nuggets (Second Source) I used these primarily because the instructor in Train Signal, although very helpful, was a bit dry at times. The instructor of CBT Nuggets was kind of like Professor Messer in the Net+ videos. He opens with a joke and to me it helped keep me focused, and laugh at times. Especially the story about his sisters diary lol. I didn't watch the entire series so I can't really review them for this test, but I did watch them for the deployment section. I used it to follow along for the labs. And I watched a few videos scattered around. Besides some pretty spotty handwriting they are good videos.

Professor Messer Videos (Review Source) As stated I used these videos as review videos but they could be used for main source study if you had a good book and did labs. Not currently though, because he is still adding videos. I was lucky enough that he JUST added Resource Access to the collection.

Miscellaneous material (Review/Passing the time material) I had a Mega Guide from Prep Logic I bought awhile ago when they had a sale on them for 1 dollar a piece. I used the upward mobility app on my ipod, only did about 50 questions or so. Not so bad to pass the time on the subway or wherever you are.

I current operate Win7 64bit Ultimate edition and I have worked with it in the field for about 6 months so I am no stranger to how things operate on the system. One thing I had to figure out again was IE since I use Firefox and Opera web browsers on the norm. There were about 2 or 3 questions that I had no clue about. Maybe I forgot them or they were Beta questions.

My print out:
BG_70-680.jpg

Well I think that covers everything...I hope this review was helpful.

Quagmire

Congrats and thanks for the info! you killed it!

Psoasman

Congrats! That's a solid score.

TheSuperRuski

Thanks. I feel like if I try to learn anything for the next day or so, it will go in one ear and out the other lol

altjx

TheSuperRuski wrote: »

Thanks. I feel like if I try to learn anything for the next day or so, it will go in one ear and out the other lol

Congrats and thanks for the information. I took it twice, got the same exact questions and answers (not even 0.1% different). I failed twice with a 600, even marking different answers both times with the same questions (coincidently).

I'll go ahead and pick back up on CBT Nuggets. I used the MCTS Self Paced Training Kit alone. CBT nugget videos started boring me but I guess I'll force myself to watch them again .

Excellent1

Awesome score, congrats! Thanks for your review of the resources you used, as well. Will be very helpful in the near future.

Povilas

Impressive score! Congrats!

badboyeee

Thank you for the reviews on your resources, very helpful for those who will be taking it this year. Nice to know Poulton's book worked out well for ya.

I will probably use Poulton's book as my primary book resource since I heard the MS Press book has loads of erratas. Then will use DG's 70-685/786 book as the supplement.

Congrats again on a job well done!

Quagmire

This is helping motivate me to study. I get bored so fast reading this stuff. Have an awesome weekend you earned it.

Sounds Good

lol. i see your amazon review. i'm gonna pick this book up just cuz you recommended it and it seems like the only valid book source worth buying.

Lemonade727

Congrats on the pass! I've gone through the MS Press book and am now in the middle of the CBT Nugget series to try and drill more things in. Definitely had to go over the Deployment section several times to try and get that down, as the MS book completely failed me in that regard and probably made things worse rather than helped as I didn't have any prior experience with the material.

I'm going to follow up the CBT series with the Professor Messer videos as well since I used those for A+ and Network+ and enjoyed them heavily and found them easy to follow. I'm glad to hear that Don Poulton's book seems to be well written, as if I'm still having some knowledge gaps I'm definitely going to pick up that book and see how it goes. Hoping for a Feb 5th exam date!

badboyeee

Sounds Good wrote: »

lol. i see your amazon review. i'm gonna pick this book up just cuz you recommended it and it seems like the only valid book source worth buying.

haha i see it too now, TechExam comrades reprezent!

tsabolic

Impressive score!
Congrats and thanks for info. I used the MCTS Self Paced Training Kit but I think the MCTS Book by Don Poulton is better choice.
Enjoy the weekend, you deserve it!

veritas_libertas

Nice score!

themagicone

Great job! That book looks good... just wish the kindle version wasn't $35. I'm going to take the test again myself in February.

NOLAJ

Very nice!! Great score!

TheSuperRuski

Thanks guys. I wish I was relaxing but I just started training for some level 1 ATM support. Another avenue I didn't expect to go down lol.

Good luck to those that plan to take the test in the near future.

Dr IT

Well Done SuperRuski - thanks a lot for your feedback and resources analysis .

Taking mine by the 2nd Week of Feb and hopefully should kill it off before taking the beast

Wat are you on to next after the 680

TheSuperRuski

Dr IT wrote: »

Well Done SuperRuski - thanks a lot for your feedback and resources analysis .

Taking mine by the 2nd Week of Feb and hopefully should kill it off before taking the beast

Wat are you on to next after the 680

Thanks, I will pretend like I know what the Beast is. I am assuming its a server cert, maybe about Active Directory lol, I am not sure.

As far as whats up next, two avenues really...
I want to get two more certs (Project+, CCNA) before I enroll into WGU for BA in IT:security. They took out CCNA security and unfortunately, I was actually looking forward to studying for it and obtaining that knowledge. I might just take it anyway lol

The other....Maybe going to get the 685 and/or 686. I am still doing research as to where those certs can lead me. I am trying my hardest not to get certs just to get them.

erpadmin

Congrats Comrade!

Question, out of CBT Nuggets and TS, which of the two helped you the most, do you feel?

Also, I will probably still get the Kindle version of the book you used, but will stick to the normal uCertify/Transcenders for Practice Exams. I have always found the tests to come with CDs to be junk (IMO). My feeling is at least if I pay for the practice exams and use them after study, I feel like I have a real shot. (Just my opinion.) It will be months since I take this exam, but you are bookmarked.

Well Done!!

Repo Man

erpadmin wrote: »

Congrats Comrade!

Question, out of CBT Nuggets and TS, which of the two helped you the most, do you feel?

Also, I will probably still get the Kindle version of the book you used, but will stick to the normal uCertify/Transcenders for Practice Exams. I have always found the tests to come with CDs to be junk (IMO). My feeling is at least if I pay for the practice exams and use them after study, I feel like I have a real shot. (Just my opinion.) It will be months since I take this exam, but you are bookmarked.

Well Done!!

100% get TS over CBT for the 70-680.

erpadmin

Repo Man wrote: »

100% get TS over CBT for the 70-680.

After rereading the Comrade's post, that does seem like a good call. Plus, it comes with Transcenders.

N2IT

Ruski awesome job! My apologizes for not getting this congratz out sooner! I have been super busy with parenting duties and in my free time a little NFL or SQL. I have this potential job and it requires moderate SQL skills and some knowledge of programming languages, not programming.

So again gratz on the awesome score and certification!

apena7

Congrats on the pass and thanks for the reviews!

ally_uk

Whats the deployment section in Doultons book like any good?

Dr IT

TheSuperRuski wrote: »

Thanks, I will pretend like I know what the Beast is. I am assuming its a server cert, maybe about Active Directory lol, I am not sure.

Well Pardon me - the Beast is the MS 70 - 291 Server Exam .

TrainSignalEric

Congrats!

Bokeh

Awesome job. I have just started to dig into 680, and bought the Poulton book for the Kindle. Excellent read so far. Wish I could get the test disc separate.

ODNation

TheSuperRuski wrote: »

MCTS Book by Don Poulton (Secondary Primary source)

frik...

wish i would have come across that book before i purchased the garbage MS Press one

congrats on the great score

TheSuperRuski

I have been(and currently) training for two different jobs at the same time...I am beat lol I can't believe i had to train on a holiday...No respect.

@Erpadmin
I really couldn't answer that question because I didn't use that much of the CBT Nuggets videos in my studies. I had train signal first so that was really why I used it. Like I stated earlier, the instructor for TS is a little dry at times. I almost fell asleep on the Firewalls video lol. As far as the test on the cd goes, If you(Not YOU, of course) were a dumper, memorizing the questions on his cd would do you absolutely no good. but understanding the concepts of each question would benefit you greatly. You can definitely do it with out the cd. I only took a few test from it. A few being 2. Its one big question bank broken up into chapters. The exam at the end of the book has the same amount of questions, they might be the same. I will have to get back to you on that one.

@N2IT
Thanks man. I just started two different gigs on the same week with a 5 month at home(He is starting to crawl, it's pretty exciting lol) so I know what you mean. Good luck with the SQL gig.

@Apena7
Not a problem, I am glad to help.

@Ally_uk
I didn't use his deployment section in its entirety. I did from creating the WinPE disc to using imagex to capture the image. Everything else I followed along on TS or CBT. But for those that know, you wouldn't have gotten past the WinPE part in the MS press book lol. I wish i could say it is 100% solid but I didn't go that far.

@Dr_IT
I figured it was a server exam. Well it is probably called the beast for good reason, so good luck to you.

@TranSignalEric
Thanks. I gotta ask...Do you work for them or just an advocate for there products?

@Bokeh
Thanks. I kind of dropped the ball with the deployment section lol Hopefully you or whoever else uses the book can give a better answer to that question.

@ODNation
Well I have heard the MS press book ,BESIDES THE DEPLOYMENT SECTION, isn't that bad of a choice. People have past using it before and I am sure they still do.

Well...I'm off to go fix ATM's lol

Tenor

Bokeh wrote: »

Awesome job. I have just started to dig into 680, and bought the Poulton book for the Kindle. Excellent read so far. Wish I could get the test disc separate.

How do you find studying on the kindle? I have one and am skeptical on using it for studying.

By the way, congrats Ruski!