EXAM: 70-680 DATE: 09-03-13 - Study method(s)?

Jeetus Maximus

Hi everyone!

New member here Stumbled on the forum when googling "resources for MCTS 70-680". Good job I found this forum, many like minded individuals here.

As per the title, my exam is set for the 9th March at 11:00am. So far I have Professor Messers videos downloaded to my iPad and I will supplement this with cbtnuggets also. I'll also be adhering to Claymores 70-680 thread which looks like it will be an intense yet educational read.

My question is, what study methods do some of you use i.e. planning out your revision, what materials you will be using and when?

I was considering going through the relevant chapter in a book and then going through the respective videos by Professor Messer and CBT. With this in mind, what book would go well with the resources that I already have? I've been completely put off by the MS self paced training kit as I've read nothing but bad reviews for it. I was looking at the MCTS 70-680 Cert Guide with MyITcertificationLabs Bundle but it appears to be more suited to a tutor led course.

Any advice and guidance would be very much appreciated

Psoasman

You are going to need to set up a lab for this exam. You can use the examples in the books and videos for labbing. I used Virtual Box for my labbing, along with evaluation copies of Server 2008 R2, which worked well.

lsud00d

You can also get 90 day trials of Windows 7 Enterprise which is great to throw in a VM for labbing:

Windows 7 Enterprise | Trial, Evaluation, Test, Download

It's my native desktop OS and I've been working with it since it came out in an enterprise setting. That said, the exam was still on the difficult side so make sure you study, study, and study some more!

Luis103

I recommend picking up the Poulton 70-680 book, and Darril Gibson command line guide. Lab the deployment section and literally notate most of the Poulton book. You should also know what each command does in the Gibson guide, but you don't need to memorize every switch.

Combined with Professor Messer you should be fine...

Jeetus Maximus

Thanks for the replies guys, they are very much appreciated.

Looks like ill be getting the Poulton book as many people have spoken quite strongly for it. Regarding the labs - can I do these as virtual labs on technet or will I need my own hardware? Im probably coming across as very tight and miserly but my finances are currently tied up with buying a house at the moment so cant really afford to buy any hardware unless I stick it on the Cred card. Suppose if it needs to be done then it needs to be done.....

lsud00d

If you have a machine with 2gb-4gb RAM you can get by running a Win7 and Win2k8r2 VM separately.

Jeetus Maximus

Ok thats do-able. Ive got a laptop with 8GB ram and a 500GB Momentus XT hard drive. Suppose it could suffice for the sake of labs even though it might be a bit slow.

lsud00d

Yeah, it will depend on your proc as well but with 8gb you should be able to run a few VM's...I normally doll out the following:

Win7 - 1gb
WinXP - 512mb
Win2k8r2 - 2gb

kriscamaro68

Check out IT Free Training | Where free means free it is free videos like messer. I used them along with messer vids and alittle poulton and doing the actual cmd line stuff at work in my daily job.

ITMonkey

Microsoft has many free virtual labs where you can do some "hands-on" practice.

Here's where you will find desktop labs Windows Virtual Labs

And here's where you will find some server-related labs, such as branchcache TechNet Virtual Labs: Windows Server

And did i say it was free.

Enjoy!

Jeetus Maximus

You are a star! Cheers bud!

Ive also downloaded and installed Oracle VirtualBox onto my laptop. Have setup Virtual PC's for WinXP, Win7 64 and Win Server 2008R2.

Time to get cracking!

PS. Also ordered the Don Poulton book and lab bundle

Jeetus Maximus

Hey guys, just going through my studies and have noticed a bit of a conflict between some resources. The professore messer videos and the MS Press book advise that Win 7 requires 15GB of free space to install to. However the Don Poulton book advises 16GB of free space to install to. Im quite embarrassed but I think I must be missing something here . Can anyone help with this?

In addition to the above, I have decided on the following study plan -

1. Work through MS Press book to completion (1 week approx)
2. Work through Don Poulton book to completion (1 week approx)
3. Two weeks before the exam work through Professor Messer videos + Technet labs

Good plan? Anyone advise on something better or add to the above?

pixa241

As far as I know it requires 15GB for 32 bit and 20 GB for 64 bit.

ITMonkey

When seeing discrepancies, always go to the ultimate source -- which is, in this case, a web page on a Microsoft site. The answer is 16/20 GB, x86 and x64 respectively. Personally, I let my search engine do all the work for me. In this case, I did a google search on the keywords "technet windows 7 installation minimum requirements". I always preface windows technical searches using the keyword "technet". Helps reduce the paid-for link clutter that drive monkeys ape.

The required minimum resources per Windows 7 edition is the type of question likely to be on the 70-680 exam. There are several editions to be aware of; and you will need to know what editions will be used in a scenario. In other words, know the edition that you might find at home, or on a road warrier's desktop, or only marketed in a developing country.

Jeetus Maximus

Cheers pal. I googled and found the following in case anyone else comes across any discrepancies -

Windows 7 system requirements - Microsoft Windows

NOLAJ

Jeetus Maximus wrote: »

Hey guys, just going through my studies and have noticed a bit of a conflict between some resources. The professore messer videos and the MS Press book advise that Win 7 requires 15GB of free space to install to. However the Don Poulton book advises 16GB of free space to install to. Im quite embarrassed but I think I must be missing something here . Can anyone help with this?

16 & 20 respectively.

EV42TMAN

fun fact after you get done with all the updates the install size is between 20-25