Taking the 70-685

4_lom

I'm taking the 70-685 on Tuesday. I'm looking for any last minute advice. I used the Gibson book and the first 9 chapters of the MS Press book. I passed the 680 2 months ago. I've been using the practice exams that come with the books. I got 100% on the Gibson exam the first time I took it, and anywhere in between 70-90% on the MeasureUp exam that comes with the MS Press book. I plan on looking over Psoasman's notes on Monday night, then taking the exam Tuesday morning at 9 am Eastern time.

N2IT

No advice but good wishes! Bring back a winner!

BTW If someone just does this certification without 680 do you see that as valuable?

GhengisT

Took 70-685 yesterday. I scored 548. It was a very challenging exam & consisted of much more Windows Server 2008 R2 material than I had anticipated. Granted, I've been a network administrator, well versed in Microsoft Server & Cisco products, this was my first Microsoft exam.

I had attended a 1-week bootcamp (company sponsored) for the 70-680/685 through QS Live (aka Quickstart), and it did not prepare me in the least, aside from a exam voucher & Transcender test program.

So- back to studying. Good luck & really brush up on the 70-685 sticky, as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 & you'll be fine.

Good luck!

embraceIT

Thanks for the update.

I'm still studying for it. Doing my labs using the MS 70-685 Training Kit. The 70-680 scared the bejesus out of me. Hopefully better prepared this time. Taking my time to review 680 material and do the 685 labs. Thinking I may take the exam in September.

4_lom

Anyone else taken this exam??

4_lom

N2IT wrote: »

No advice but good wishes! Bring back a winner!

BTW If someone just does this certification without 680 do you see that as valuable?

I'll try I'll always doubt myself right before taking the exams, but I've never failed one.... I feel like my time is coming

IMO, to do this cert without the 680 would show value. However, I don't think it would be a wise idea, because the 685 builds on the 680. So much of the material covered on the 680 is redundant in the 685. The 685 revolves around troubleshooting from what I hear, where the 680 is mainly practical knowledge of Windows 7. But I guess if someone were to pass the 685 without taking the 680, they would show great competency in Windows 7 technologies.

Also, if it were me and I didn't already have the 680, but I passed the 685, I would probably go easily pass the 680 just to have the MCITP title.

Anywayz... back to work. Gotta go setup some mailboxes

Christobevii3

I thought the 685 was harder than the 680. I got a 648 on the 685 first time where the 680 I passed with a 788 or something. I'm going to study so more and try and retake it in a week or two.

Psoasman

Good luck on this exam. I actually had a harder time with this one over the 680. Probably because there is the "Microsoft way" and others ways that are better.

Mstavridis

Good luck on taking the 685 I was going to take the it but changed my mind since I am going to be doing the upgrade to MCSA 2013 track, which requires the 686. I am taking the 686 on monday.

gdeusthewhizkid

silly question but does test actually net you a certification? I saw this listed as a pro test rather than a MCTS. I was thinking of taking this because this is part of my job function at work.

HLRS

I took the 682 which includes 685 and 680, its kinda hard

4_lom

Well, didn't pass. Got a 662. Upset about the whole deal but at least I remember what my weak areas are.

Mstavridis

Don't give up, just study your weak areas and try it again.

pizzaboy

Sorry to hear that, better luck next time.

embraceIT

The exam is indeed sobering, to say the least. Figure out what you ought to study more about, using both the hardcopy analysis of your relative strengths and weaknesses, and what you recall struggling (i.e. guessing) over during the exam.

I often read about a better route to pass this exam: the 70-640 > 70-642 > 70-643 > 70-680 > 70-685. Check out older posts on this forum and you'll see that approach mentioned from time to time.

4_lom

Thanks guys. It just sucks, this is the first exam I've failed. It seemed like there was a lot of questions on the exam that weren't covered by any of the study materials I used. Just wondering how I'm going to pass this if I can't really prepare fully for it....

Christobevii3

4_lom wrote: »

Thanks guys. It just sucks, this is the first exam I've failed. It seemed like there was a lot of questions on the exam that weren't covered by any of the study materials I used. Just wondering how I'm going to pass this if I can't really prepare fully for it....

That is how I feel about this test. I can remember a few of the questions I didn't know and cant find them in the book.

embraceIT

Now you guys are scaring me. I was hoping to take it in a month or two. Wondering now if it is worth the agony. The thought of owning a bar and brothel in Thailand looks a lot more attractive now.

4_lom

embraceIT wrote: »

Now you guys are scaring me. I was hoping to take it in a month or two. Wondering now if it is worth the agony. The thought of owning a bar and brothel in Thailand looks a lot more attractive now.

Know everything there is to know about Direct Access, Bitlocker, Certificates, DRA's, plus know everything on the Objectives list. But definitely be able to troubleshoot remote access and remote user issues. I'm reading the MS Press book and taking notes since I didn't really read it the first time, just kinda skimmed through it. I just read the Sybex book and expected that to be enough. Then I'm also going to dig into Technet for troubleshooting VPN's, Direct Access, etc.

I believe the reason I failed this exam is because I was expecting it to be much easier that it actually was. Or I was just over confident and felt that I could skip by with minimal studying. That is why I failed. Any exam can be easy if you put enough effort into preparing for it. I made it hard on myself. Unfortunately, not obtaining this cert isn't an option for me. It's required for work, and I am required to have it by October of this year. So it's back to hitting the books for me.

4_lom

Note: I will also be setting up Direct Access in a lab environment this weekend. I plan on combining my Cisco and HyperV labs in order to simulate a WAN link and have Direct Access running across it. I will then have my DA servers running on the HyperV box with a few physical clients (laptops) running on the other LAN. Should take most of Saturday to setup.

EV42TMAN

I took the 685 and failed because i ran out of time once. in my opinion the tough part wasn't the material it was the wording of the questions. That microsoft test was the most double negatives and extra crap i've ever seen. i hate how microsoft as resorted to word games to make there tests harder i'd prefer they ask more detailed exact questions rather then going through double negatives

neathneathneath

If you have only been studying for the 685 for two months (after the 680) and got a 662, you are doing very well.

Stick at it, I'm in a similar position having come unstuck on the 682

GhengisT

4_lom wrote: »

Well, didn't pass. Got a 662. Upset about the whole deal but at least I remember what my weak areas are.

You did great. It's a tough exam, and you probably only need 2 more questions to pass. Schedule it a month out, and continue studying.

4_lom

Well, getting ready to go retake this next week. Feeling more confident this time compared to the last. Wish me luck!

Piers

Good luck!! It took me 4 tries to get the 685.. two fails on the 682 and one on the 685 before I could get my 860.. probably had the questions memorized by then! lol.

4_lom

Piers wrote: »

Good luck!! It took me 4 tries to get the 685.. two fails on the 682 and one on the 685 before I could get my 860.. probably had the questions memorized by then! lol.

What materials did you use to study?

Piers

4_lom wrote: »

What materials did you use to study?

The Microsoft book and the bits and pieces in here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/windows-7-exams/55818-70-685-resources.html