Advice needed - study material for 70-640

I've suddenly stumbled into a potentially rewarding career opportunity, but one of the requirements for the job is the MCTS: Active Directory certification (70-640). I believe I would be able to get the certification after getting the job if I can demonstrate basic proficiency in the subject matter. So I need two things:

1) A way to quickly get 'up to speed' on basic AD administration - by quickly, I mean no more than two weeks. For this I was thinking of buying the CBT Nuggets video course.

2) A way to (less) quickly get the actual certification. For this I was thinking of building on what I learn via CBT with the Exam Cram book by Poulton, as well as liberal amounts of TechNet.

Is this a viable route?

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Lunchbocks

CBT Nuggets are great in my opinion. I use them because they take practical theory and display it in actual examples. However, I'm afraid the Exam Cram will let you down. I like Exam Cram, but it has not been updated to include R2, so it is missing a lot of very important information.

For books, I would recommend the following two books:

BARNES & NOBLE | MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory by Dan Holme, Microsoft Press | Paperback

BARNES & NOBLE | Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed by Rand Morimoto, Sams | NOOK Book (eBook), Hardcover

Good Luck!

treehouse

Lunchbocks wrote: »

CBT Nuggets are great in my opinion. I use them because they take practical theory and display it in actual examples. However, I'm afraid the Exam Cram will let you down. I like Exam Cram, but it has not been updated to include R2, so it is missing a lot of very important information. For books, I would recommend the following two books: BARNES & NOBLE | MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory by Dan Holme, Microsoft Press | Paperback BARNES & NOBLE | Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed by Rand Morimoto, Sams | NOOK Book (eBook), Hardcover Good Luck!

Thank you for your suggestions - it has been really hard to pick study material just based off of the online reviews because for the most part they are mixed, with no clear winner. Should I get both of these books?

jamesbrown

Also, check on Microsoft website form detail explanation on some of the terminology.

sizeon

Lunchbocks wrote: »

CBT Nuggets are great in my opinion. I use them because they take practical theory and display it in actual examples. However, I'm afraid the Exam Cram will let you down. I like Exam Cram, but it has not been updated to include R2, so it is missing a lot of very important information.

For books, I would recommend the following two books:

BARNES & NOBLE | MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory by Dan Holme, Microsoft Press | Paperback

BARNES & NOBLE | Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed by Rand Morimoto, Sams | NOOK Book (eBook), Hardcover

Good Luck!

would you say that cbt nuggets is better than train signal?

RichGK

The MCTS Self-Paced training kit is very good. I've given myself 6 to 9 months to work through it (as well as a full-time job). I am also using the CBT nuggets which partners well with the self-paced book.

You'll also need a virtual environment to do the examples in.

Lunchbocks

treehouse wrote: »

Thank you for your suggestions - it has been really hard to pick study material just based off of the online reviews because for the most part they are mixed, with no clear winner. Should I get both of these books?

I personally think so. I am using both of the books and they complement each other.

Lunchbocks

sizeon wrote: »

would you say that cbt nuggets is better than train signal?

I haven't used Train Signal, so I cannot say. I do like CBT Nuggets however.

neocybe

I've used both, Trainsignal is a more scenario based approach with a barebones build out of a fictious company vs cbtnuggets leans more toward the nuts & bolts exam specifics if you already have experience with AD.