Advice: 70-640 Study Time Schedule/Habits

Maverick918

Hello,

I'm looking for people who have passed the 70-640 to comment with the study habits they used to pass the exam. Mainly just looking for Hours per day and total time studied in order to meet the goal.

I have 2 months to take the test as I want to complete the exam in December before years end. I'd like to form better study habits so any advice you can give in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

chinino

Depending on your experience with AD, I will give it about 2 hours on weekdays, and maybe add an extra one on weekends, since you are kind of close to your testing date.

Commguy23

I do 2 hours minimum a day during the week, 8 hours a day on weekends, been going at it for almost 2 months now, and I work with AD every day. I test this weekend so I'll let you know how it works out.

joehalford01

2-3 hours per day, it's better for me to wake up early and study for about an hour to 2 hours in the morning and then study for about an hour at night. I like to study mid morning on the weekends for about 3 hours. Pretty much, several hours every day is needed to get it done in two months.

Psoasman

I was able to study at work, so if I was on a roll, I would spend 3-4 hours a day labbing and reading. I spent about 5 months total on this exam, mostly due to not being in a big hurry.

Budzy

Hi there,

I've also booked this exam for the end of November and my learning strategy is to do around 2 hours of study a day until the exam. I completed the 2003 MCSA/E in the within last 1-2 years so a lot of the content is still fresh in my mind. Even with this previous knowledge, I'm very aware WS 2008 and 2008 R2 boast a whole load of new features, which in some cases has meant having to 'unlearn' things from WS 2003 (for example, understand password settings objects rather than just opting for a new child domain etc).

So anyway, here is my current lab setup:



I’m also reading: MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration Study Guide (doesn’t cover R2 stuff but still pretty useful)

Nearer the time I’ll look at doing some mock exams with Transcender.

I did look at the Trainsignal videos but couldn’t get on with it.

Hope this helps & good luck!

Maverick918

Thank you all for the replies!

I worked on my study schedule after I posted this and I've already gone through the 1st 8 chapters of the Training Kit book, I'm on the 19th video of the CBT series and I've gone through some LabSim stuff.

The thing with me is I'm very schedule based and I need to see written progress of what I'm doing. I did a google calender for my study schedule and scheduled each part so that I can track my progress so that I know that I already studied all the materials of a certain objective. I'd hate to miss anything with so many objectives.

I really like the LabSim way of doing things, they pretty much do that for you in a sense of ensuring that you dont miss anything.

I have have a lot of AD experience but as far as all the supplementary roles such as CA, LDS, RMS and FS; those are a little foreign.

Thanks again for the replies and good luck everyone!

Ismaeljrp

Really good thread, after my CCNA I want to take this exam, and it's good to here it doesn't take nearly as many hours. I also took a Windows Server 2008r2 class at college about a year ago so everything is familiar. So far I've made a plan to study anywhere from 120 - 160 hrs total before testing. I prefer being overprepared.

Lunchbocks

I used Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Unleashed, Technet, CBT Nuggets, and Measure Up & Transcender for my practice tests. I studied 2 - 3 hours a day during the week, and 8+ hours a day on the weekends for about 2 months. I would also review what I was studying every night right before bed, and do complete reviews of everything once on the weekends. I have a VMware esxi 4 that I used for my labs, and I labbed a lot.

The 640 is not an easy exam. It covers a tremendous amount of information. I am a server admin and have experience with 2008 R2. However, I have no experience in the additional roles like AD-CD, AD-FS, AD-RMS, etc. Those areas took a lot more studying for me.

Good luck on your exam!

chinino

Lunchbocks wrote: »

I used Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Unleashed, Technet, CBT Nuggets, and Measure Up & Transcender for my practice tests. I studied 2 - 3 hours a day during the week, and 8+ hours a day on the weekends for about 2 months. I would also review what I was studying every night right before bed, and do complete reviews of everything once on the weekends. I have a VMware esxi 4 that I used for my labs, and I labbed a lot.

The 640 is not an easy exam. It covers a tremendous amount of information. I am a server admin and have experience with 2008 R2. However, I have no experience in the additional roles like AD-CD, AD-FS, AD-RMS, etc. Those areas took a lot more studying for me.

Good luck on your exam!

Hey Lunchbocks,

Of the 2 practice test choices--since I cannot afford both--which one would you recommend as best?

Also, any lab ideas, or lab workbooks you can share for practicing? Thanks.