Failed twice. Win7 70-680

PCSPreston

Hello everyone,


I failed this exam twice with the scores of 647 and 682. I' am appealing my second one because i had smaller amount of questions ,but i did bad in the same area. Network connectivity. I did above average on all other parts. Any advice? Studying resources or anythign would be helpful. Thanks


Ryan

Daniel333

I almost didn’t reply to your post. Given I have never taken 70-680 for good reason. But I decided I wanted to say a couple things.
First off, thank you! Thank you for being honest on your cert. You and I know you are one google away from getting every answer and cheating. But you have stayed honest and I can tell you from personal experience it pays off. Keep it up!

With any cert experience is the key, and hope that the vendor created honest training (some vendors/exams are not honest, designed to force you into buying their special bootcamp). Building out Windows 7 images etc. is just not something people do every day. I did the cbt training for that exam, and opted against completed it just for the reason you are experiencing. Highly esoteric and very time consuming for low gain.

I am not telling you to give up but I have found the material from older versions of exams is invaluable in my experience! Start with 70-271, 70-272, 70-270, 70-620 and 70-622. Books for these older exams are basically free. In the mean time, translate everything you learn as you go through those books using technet.microsoft.com into their Windows 7 versions.

The second problem is that they assume a certainly level of server knowledge already. Specifically 2008R2. You should probably go through the Server+, Network+ and MTA: Server administrator training the old 70-291 books are VERY good.

THEN come back to your 70-680. Crazy? Yes. But that is why this exam is often skipped.
It’s a very challenging exam (this is coming from a MCITP:SA, CCNP, MCSE:Sec) and I personally have found that at least 75% of people I’ve talked to cheated one way or another.
Stick to your guns, it’s the journey and the cert that will get you paid!

PCSPreston

Thanks. I do have plenty of experiance working with and configuring windows 7 and server 2008R2 at college . I had a problem with one section. I think i just need to study a bit more and i will pass. Just need some input from others. Thanks!!

Psoasman

PCSPreston wrote: »

Thanks. I do have plenty of experiance working with and configuring windows 7 and server 2008R2 at college . I had a problem with one section. I think i just need to study a bit more and i will pass. Just need some input from others. Thanks!!

You are very close to passing here! I would go through the exam objectives, focusing specifically on what gave you trouble - in this case, network connectivity.
I wouldn't bother with going over the XP / Vista material, focus on windows 7. You could try going through some of the 640/642 R2 material that correlates with the 680 info, sometimes seeing / reading from a different perspective helps. I found that the 686 book by Darril Gibson and the M$ 686 filled in some blanks for Windows 7.
Yes, it's a difficult exam, but totally passable and as mentioned above, you are very close.

PCSPreston

Thanks for the help and good info. Anyone have a good resource for that section? I could really use why these questions are taking me out. Thanks in advance.

Psoasman

I would go through each of these. Configure them by using the GUI, then the command line. Practice them, until you can mentally walk yourself through the steps. I would also look through the networking material for server 2008 R2.

Configuring Network Connectivity (14 percent)

Configure IPv4 network settings.
This objective may include but is not limited to: connecting to a network; configuring name resolution; setting up a connection for a network; network locations; resolving connectivity issues; APIPA
Configure IPv6 network settings.
This objective may include but is not limited to: configuring name resolution; connecting to a network; setting up a connection for a network; network locations; resolving connectivity issues; link local multicast name resolution
Configure networking settings.
This objective may include but is not limited to: adding a physically connected (wired) or wireless device; connecting to a wireless network; configuring security settings on the client; set preferred wireless networks; configuring network adapters; configuring location-aware printing
Configure Windows Firewall.
This objective may include but is not limited to: configuring rules for multiple profiles; allowing or denying an application; network-profile-specific rules; configuring notifications; configuring authenticated exceptions
Configure remote management.
This objective may include but is not limited to: remote management methods; configuring remote management tools; executing PowerShell commands

PCSPreston

yea i think i'm going to study more on that and use other videos on that section. Thanks for all the help.

N2IT

Daniel333 wrote: »

I personally have found that at least 75% of people I’ve talked to cheated one way or another.
Stick to your guns, it’s the journey and the cert that will get you paid!

Wow that's a lot of people cheating! When I was the manager of a desktop support team I had 3 techs who wanted to get that certification but none had completed the book. If I had to estimate they have been reading the Windows 7 book for 8+ months. Still none of the techs felt comfortable enough to take the exam. That includes one of the techs who was a system admin for 4 years.

The last part I agree with Daniel. It's a journey and it will pay off. I studied for a MS SQL exam for 3-4 months and before that took a college course which lasted 6 months. I ended up failing the exam. Even though I don't have the certification I know a lot more about MS SQL development because of the "journey".

PCSPreston

I agree. I plan to take it mid to early November. Third time is the charm.