Failed the MCTS 70-640 :(

chopsticks

Is this exam really focusing very much on PowerShell commands?

Saundie

I would not say it was focused on PowerShell commands - in my previous attempt at the exam there was only 1 question that involved PS, and I am pretty sure it was the same in my first attempt.

moodytx

Took the 70-640 today and failed miserably... 529...
I started with the 2nd Edition MS book and also attended the class from GlobalKnowledge.
I have to say "disappointed" doesnt even begin to describe it.

I am a little put off with the MS book. It covers mecahnics but falls way short of preparing for the exam. As was mentioned in other posts this exam does cover a broad range. Almost to much for a single exam. With that said, I know others have passed it so I can only say I was not as prepared as I should have been.

I am a SysAdmin for a living, but we have a very simple shop. One forest, one domain, no CA, no trusts, Rights Management, or Federation services all of which seemed to stick out on the exam.

I'm trying to decide now if I really want the cert at all. I was all set to move on the 642 and 646, but this really knocked the wind out of my sails.

Advice to others. Do NOT rely on MS prep. I have been told that the people that write the prep material and people that create the tests never meet. I find it odd that you can write a test without ever knowing what is being taught to your audience. But .. Take what I say with grain of salt .. after all .. I did just bomb the exam ..


Bob

Saundie

Thank you for sharing your experience, moodytx. I made a similar mistake in using Trainsignal and CBT Nuggets as my only means of preparing for the exam, and failed it with roughly the same sort of score you achieved. I have recently purchased the MS Press book hoping that it would help me fill in the gaps, but it sounds as though that was overly optimistic.

I have a similar sort of IT background to you, in providing remote support to small business with single domains etc, and so face the same issues that you do. I was very shocked on my first attempt at how many questions were devoted to RMS and FS - technologies that I will never encounter in my work. I actually did worse the second time I took the exam than the first, because it asked even more RMS and FS related questions. I guess the only way guys like us can hope to get the relevant knowledge is to try to find labs and just go over them repeatedly.

Hopefully you'll decide to resit the exam once you've had time to digest what happened, and get over the shock of not passing. It sounds as though you spent a fair amount of time preparing - it'd be a shame to let that time to go waste.

N2IT

I'm shocked to see this as one of the harder exams. I was always under the impression it was one of the easier ones.

Shows you want I know.

Either way keep at it you'll get it.

Keener

While I'm sorry that you all failed the test, I greatly appreciate the info that you all are sharing. This cert is on my radar for next year and it greatly helps to know what to expect and how much time to devote.

I hope that you all keep going and don't give up. This reminds me of something I have heard Jim Rohn say before. Here is a link about the "Set of the Sail." "The Set of the Sail" Jim Rohn

Devilry

while everyone is asking for these labs.. could I get a copy also? Thanks!

chopsticks

Saundie wrote: »

I would not say it was focused on PowerShell commands - in my previous attempt at the exam there was only 1 question that involved PS, and I am pretty sure it was the same in my first attempt.

Thank you Saundie for sharing.

chopsticks

moodytx wrote: »

Took the 70-640 today and failed miserably... ...snip..
Bob

Sorry to hear you failed your exam, moodytx. Hope you'll pass in the next attempt on this exam.
May I ask about the topics which MS Press Book 2nd Ed has covered for trusts, Rights Management, or Federation services, are these chapters not sufficient for this exam? I'm a little worried now.

joehalford01

The coverage on FS and RMS in the MS-Press book is terrible; frankly, the technologies themselves did not feel as polished as everything else you are required to know, making it that much more difficult. I personally memorzied key words on these technologies and put my study time into AD CS, sites and services, and everything else involved with AD DS.
As far as memorizing commands, learn syntax and get a feel for what the appropriate command/switch would be, you can't memorize them all. Another tip my WGU mentor gave me was to hit next through all of the questions before answering any, than go back to the beginning and start. It keeps the adaptive part of the test from messing you up. Apparently it's designed to give you more questions on things you miss as the test goes on, making it that much more difficult.
I studied 20-25 hrs per week for 3 months straight. Labbed my tail off, read ms-press, some o'reilly test prep book, technet, cmd line book, and watched all the labsim videos. Barely passed with a 729. That test is one of the hardest I've ever taken. I would not have beat myself up if I hadn't passed. My girlfriend actually cried when I passed, I'd had been in studying black hole for 3 months, lol.

kj0

Psoasman wrote: »

I am kind of in the same boat. I have limited AD access at work, so I play around with my lab at work. I took some classes during college, as well. That's my one issue with WGU and certs. You are forced to move quicker through the program, while trying to absorb difficult material. For someone starting from scratch, it wouldn't be unreasonable to take a year to do the EA track. Glad those labs helped out, too.

Any chance I could possibly get a copy of those labs please?

Psoasman

kj0 wrote: »

Any chance I could possibly get a copy of those labs please?

I don't have those labs anymore.

Saundie

joehalford01 wrote: »

The coverage on FS and RMS in the MS-Press book is terrible; frankly, the technologies themselves did not feel as polished as everything else you are required to know, making it that much more difficult. I personally memorzied key words on these technologies and put my study time into AD CS, sites and services, and everything else involved with AD DS.

I had similar thoughts about the Trainsignal and CBT Nuggets videos. They covered FS and RMS in only the most fleeting manner, barely giving you an overview of the technology, let alone helping you to actually understand them. I followed along the labs in both cases and couldn't get either RMS or FS to work, which made it an even more frustrating experience. I really had hoped that the Microsoft Press book would be my saviour on this front, but it seems as though I am going to be disappointed.

joehalford01 wrote: »

Another tip my WGU mentor gave me was to hit next through all of the questions before answering any, than go back to the beginning and start. It keeps the adaptive part of the test from messing you up. Apparently it's designed to give you more questions on things you miss as the test goes on, making it that much more difficult.

That's excellent advice, and something that I had not even considered doing myself. My second attempt at the exam was horrible; it gave me 10-15 consecutive questions on FS and RMS, and I knew that this was because I had gotten the previous question wrong. It made me feel as though I was being punished for my mistakes. I will go through the resources you mention, hopefully they'll fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I am still surprised when people say how 70-640 is an easy exam; I can't believe so many people use RMS and FS in their daily work!

buzzkill

joehalford01 wrote: »

Another tip my WGU mentor gave me was to hit next through all of the questions before answering any, than go back to the beginning and start. It keeps the adaptive part of the test from messing you up. Apparently it's designed to give you more questions on things you miss as the test goes on, making it that much more difficult.

That is extremely interesting! The cynic in me says it's a myth but I will try it on the next exam anyway - nothing to lose I guess.

Psoasman

joehalford01 wrote: »

Another tip my WGU mentor gave me was to hit next through all of the questions before answering any, than go back to the beginning and start. It keeps the adaptive part of the test from messing you up. Apparently it's designed to give you more questions on things you miss as the test goes on, making it that much more difficult.

I think that's a myth. When I was working on the 642, that was the main advice the course mentors gave me. Microsoft exams used to be adaptive, but aren't anymore. There is a huge pool of questions and they give you random questions. I think some of the exams may lean more heavily on certain topics, like the 640 covers a lot of CS and GPOs.

joehalford01

Psoasman wrote: »

I think that's a myth. When I was working on the 642, that was the main advice the course mentors gave me. Microsoft exams used to be adaptive, but aren't anymore. There is a huge pool of questions and they give you random questions. I think some of the exams may lean more heavily on certain topics, like the 640 covers a lot of CS and GPOs.

Good to know. I can say though, it did make me feel better seeing all of the questions and than starting. It kept me from wondering how hard it would be as I took the test. Definitely helped my mindset.

imp667

Same here anything that will help would be great!

moodytx

First let me extend my appologies to everyone that quoted or asked me a question about my exerience. I let myself get to wrapped up in not passing that I walked away from to the whole thing.

I will say I found several things unnerving about the exam after the fact. First is the questionaire that is presented before the exam that asks about your skill level in basically each of the major topics. Oddly enough, the topics that I said I was weak in are the ones that I got hit the hardest with. I know it wasn't, but it felt like my answers seeded the exam ... (LOL)

As far as the MS book goes, I dont have it in front of me at the moment, but as I recall its the last 3 or 4 chapters which cover the Cert Service, Fed Service and Rights Management. With that said the MS book and I think after reading more of these posts, the MS book added the coverage of these topics as an "Oh [EMAIL="cr@p"]cr@p[/EMAIL], we forgot to put this in and the book is on the way to press... "

The coverage is broad and the labs are less than stellar. While you technically follow the bouncing ball and set the basic system up, you never see it appiled or working so the concept is lost. Thier explination is that most people dont have enough resources to build all the machines to fully execute the labs so its more of a "trust us it works" However, you dont have the knowledege to answer the exam questions on the topic. This really left me aghast since I have a quad-core machine with 16GB of ram that I actually upgraded to in prep for being able to fully run everything I needed.

I will also mention, that I took the in-class training from Global Knowledge. However, since it follows the MS course outline it is broken up into two classes. The one I took, of course, stopped at chapters that would have covered CS, FS and RM. Thats another 3 day course. The GK class was a bit of let down as well. Everything I had prepared for from the MS book was exactly what we covered only in a classroom, with an instructor that was well armed with the bane of education known as PowerPoint.

My bosses are now hinting that they want us to have a cert so I may have to break my own promise to myself to shelve this entire ordeal and move on. I am 51 years old and have been at this for about 30 years. It was something to have (my like my degree in Computer Science) but not a deal breaker.

So I guess its back to square one with hopes of a 700 for an MCTS ... The sad part is there are 2 other exams to get what I really wanted which was the MCITP....

Thanks for listening and the sympathy and encouragement. I'll let ya'll know how it goes in round 2.

Bob

Lucas21

Thanks everyone for sharing.

Bob, it's refreshing to read your posts and how detailed you get. Have you tried the 70-640 Self Paced book? Even though I haven't yet got started on AD CS (will do in a day or two), it seems to have a lot of exercises on it that I will hopefully be labbing on. I'm convinced you'll do much better next time. Keep trying.