70-642 exam 9/23

rwmidl

If you have access to Books 24x7 I know the Microsoft Press book is updated to R2 (that is what I'm using).

One thing I've always done when taking a Microsoft test is I always mark the profile "novice" and "no experience/very little experience". They only time I didn't do that was on the 70-680 (Win 7) and I failed it the first time. The next time I took at (along with 70-640 and the prior Win2K MCSE tests) I marked with novice and 0 experience. Coincidence?

jmasterj206

Veritas,
I will be another one that suggests the Kaplan selftests. I failed this one the first time by a few questions and have it rescheduled for next Wednesday. many questions on the Kaplan are very similar to what I saw on the actual exam. I though Ucertify was good for the 70-680, but it was terrible for the 70-642.

erpadmin

rwmidl wrote: »

One thing I've always done when taking a Microsoft test is I always mark the profile "novice" and "no experience/very little experience". They only time I didn't do that was on the 70-680 (Win 7) and I failed it the first time. The next time I took at (along with 70-640 and the prior Win2K MCSE tests) I marked with novice and 0 experience. Coincidence?

This is the one time where I will be neutral on this issue...there are those who say it's a bunch of crap and that the survey has nothing to do with the exam. All I know is when I started following the recommended guidelines for the MS exams, I have not failed as of today. So I'll just chalk it up to superstition.

veritas_libertas

erpadmin wrote: »

This is the one time where I will be neutral on this issue...there are those who say it's a bunch of crap and that the survey has nothing to do with the exam. All I know is when I started following the recommended guidelines for the MS exams, I have not failed as of today. So I'll just chalk it up to superstition.

I'm not sure that it's superstition. I put down a higher experience on the 680 and failed the first time. The second time I put down novice and it didn't feel as bad. Who knows...

bot

I passed this morning...veritas, the majority of my exam was based on R2goodluck!

Nobylspoon

You'll get it next time! Keep us posted on your studies.

Are you doing 70-642 before 70-640? I keep hearing different opinions about this order and I have been trying to decide which one to start with. All of my Server time is from past labs (took a Server '03 class in community college), I only manage Solaris servers where I work.

veritas_libertas

Nobylspoon wrote: »

You'll get it next time! Keep us posted on your studies.

Are you doing 70-642 before 70-640? I keep hearing different opinions about this order and I have been trying to decide which one to start with. All of my Server time is from past labs (took a Server '03 class in community college), I only manage Solaris servers where I work.

Yes. My AAS was in Networking so the foundation is easy for me. It's the Microsoft specific stuff that I'm finding more difficult.

demonfurbie

Nobylspoon wrote: »

You'll get it next time! Keep us posted on your studies.

Are you doing 70-642 before 70-640? I keep hearing different opinions about this order and I have been trying to decide which one to start with. All of my Server time is from past labs (took a Server '03 class in community college), I only manage Solaris servers where I work.

im tring the 642 before the 640 i read all the objectives for both and it looks like the 640 has alot of dns in it so i thought the dns stuff from the 642 would help on the 640 and the net+ stuff would help me on the 642 ... but thats just me

Nobylspoon

demonfurbie wrote: »

im tring the 642 before the 640 i read all the objectives for both and it looks like the 640 has alot of dns in it so i thought the dns stuff from the 642 would help on the 640 and the net+ stuff would help me on the 642 ... but thats just me

That sounds like a pretty good plan. I may consider this as well, perhaps include the DNS material from 70-640 into the study plan? The 70-642 MS Press book looks far less intimidation than it's 70-640 counterpart, lol.

dave330i

I hated this exam. While I was studying for it, I kept thinking, "No one's ever gonna turn a win2kr2 server into a router, so why am I studying for it?"

Hypntick

I'm pretty confused. I purchased the self-test from Kaplan yesterday as this was a suggested resource by the course mentor. Did a quick 20 question practice, 90%. The course mentor states if you can hit 95% then you're good for the real test. I'm now wondering where I went wrong. Going to try and shoot for the retest next weekend, really want to get this one out of the way so I can get on to the 70-640.

demonfurbie

Hypntick wrote: »

I'm pretty confused. I purchased the self-test from Kaplan yesterday as this was a suggested resource by the course mentor. Did a quick 20 question practice, 90%. The course mentor states if you can hit 95% then you're good for the real test. I'm now wondering where I went wrong. Going to try and shoot for the retest next weekend, really want to get this one out of the way so I can get on to the 70-640.

i feel ya

i ran across alot ... well almost all questions i had were not covered by anything including technet

jmasterj206

Same here. Going for my 3rd attempt in a week or two. People were getting very high scores on this one in the past. I am starting wonder if M$ looked at the results and decided to make it tougher. I have talked to Jason Jia a few times recently and we are not alone.

veritas_libertas

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Same here. Going for my 3rd attempt in a week or two. People were getting very high scores on this one in the past. I am starting wonder if M$ looked at the results and decided to make it tougher. I have talked to Jason Jia a few times recently and we are not alone.

I'm going to be taking it again in a couple of weeks. I can't same that I'm looking forward to it.

demonfurbie

my only hope is that 70-640 isnt this bad

im looking to switch to the mcitp:sa track over the mcitp:ea track because of this class, one less ms test the better at this point

veritas_libertas

I have scheduled my retake for Friday, 11/4.

Psoasman

Good luck! Looking forward to the " I passed" update.

atorven

Good luck. Do you guys really think the surveys make a difference in the questions you get/don't get?

veritas_libertas

atorven wrote: »

Good luck. Do you guys really think the surveys make a difference in the questions you get/don't get?

In my experience, yes.

Psoasman

atorven wrote: »

Good luck. Do you guys really think the surveys make a difference in the questions you get/don't get?

I don't think they do. If you could manipulate your exam by simply choosing what experience questions to answer, M$ would shut that down quickly.

That being said, some people swear by it, so each to his/her own.

veritas_libertas

Tomorrow is my second attempt. I'm getting tired of skimming this book, with that in mind I plan to survive this beating

demonfurbie

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Tomorrow is my second attempt. I'm getting tired of skimming this book, with that in mind I plan to survive this beating

good luck i failed this test 4 times all with in 1 or 2 questions of passing

im debating on taking it the 5th and final time or just switching to the wgu sec track

Hypntick

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Tomorrow is my second attempt. I'm getting tired of skimming this book, with that in mind I plan to survive this beating

Good luck sir, i've got mine set for Monday. Been a lot of random stuff that keeps preventing me from taking this test, or even studying. Trained 7 people in the last couple of months... But now I feel in a better spot. Hitting over 95% on the Kaplan's, have read technet til my eyes bled etc. So we'll see how it goes. Look forward to the pass on this from you!

jmasterj206

Good luck Veritas.

veritas_libertas

Okay, now I'm irritated. I didn't pass the exam even though I was certain I would. I rescheduled the exam for later this month this you have to push it back by at least fourteen days when you fail twice. I'm taking the weekend off to relax and it's back to the books Monday. The WGU semester ends on the 30th, and I need to get this class out of the way.

jmasterj206

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Okay, now I'm irritated. I didn't pass the exam even though I was certain I would. I rescheduled the exam for later this month this you have to push it back by at least fourteen days when you fail twice. I'm taking the weekend off to relax and it's back to the books Monday. The WGU semester ends on the 30th, and I need to get this class out of the way.

Don't feel bad veritas. You can join Demonfurbie and I. I have failed it 3 times so far. The material just doesn't cover what M$ is looking for. I guess after all those high scores over the last few years M$ decided to make it nearly impossible.

Psoasman

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Okay, now I'm irritated. I didn't pass the exam even though I was certain I would. I rescheduled the exam for later this month this you have to push it back by at least fourteen days when you fail twice. I'm taking the weekend off to relax and it's back to the books Monday. The WGU semester ends on the 30th, and I need to get this class out of the way.

Sorry to hear about that. Seems like this is a really tough exam.

demonfurbie

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Don't feel bad veritas. You can join Demonfurbie and I. I have failed it 3 times so far. The material just doesn't cover what M$ is looking for. I guess after all those high scores over the last few years M$ decided to make it nearly impossible.

yep

ive read the ms press book and the sybex book

did labsim countless times

read technet as best as i could before my head exploded

erpadmin

Are you guys using some sort of lab? Doing stuff hands on makes a lot of this stick. Between the 2K8 R2 servers at work and the one at home with Hyper-V (before that was Oracle's Virtual Box), the configuration made these exams bearable.

Hands on is key, guys! I really feel bad to hear you guys are failing and wish I could do something.

jmasterj206

erpadmin wrote: »

Are you guys using some sort of lab? Doing stuff hands on makes a lot of this stick. Between the 2K8 R2 servers at work and the one at home with Hyper-V (before that was Oracle's Virtual Box), the configuration made these exams bearable.

Hands on is key, guys! I really feel bad to hear you guys are failing and wish I could do something.

I have labbed like crazy. I work with R2 daily at work. It seems to go much, much deeper than any of the material covers.