Best path to MCSA Server 2008?

blinkme323

What would you guys say is the best path to getting the MCSA 2008 cert? From the sounds of it, 640 is the most difficult, so I'm not sure if I should try and get that out of the way first or maybe hit 646 and 642 beforehand?

Thanks

Lexluethar

I think the general path most people take is 640, 642 and 646. That's the path i'm taking. Each exam builds off the next one and there is overlap in most of the exams.

They are all hard IMO, i think you just hear about more people failing the 640 because that's the one people start out with (so you see more failures).

sratakhin

646 builds on both 640 and 642, so you'd better off taking it the last. I passed 70-642 first.

cruwl

I passed 640 first and am working on 642 now, Both are hard exams. 642 is proving to be a little harder then 640 for me.

640 is primarily AD based, and 642 is primarily networking based(Sort of). Which do you have more experience with? you might start there.

Lexluethar

Cruwl is right, you may want to start off with what you have the most experience with. AD would be 640 networking would be 642.

I found the 642 more difficult than the 640 as well.

ahphoto

Agreed. Start with what you have more experience in.

If your experience includes Active Direction, GPOs, FSMOs, Trusts, etc --- consider 70-640.
If your experience includes network topology and infrastructure, DNS, DHCP, etc --- consider 70-642.
After you complete both 640 and 642, study for 646.

Personally, I have more networking experience and decided to study 70-642 THEN I worked on 70-640 (currently studying for 646). But... each person is going to choose their own path.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

MeatCatalogue

Definitely start with 70-640.

Since simulations are no longer part of this exam, its not very difficult. The reason I say this is because 70-642 has a lot of questions that start off with "you have an AD forest" or "You have RODC with Secure DNS...". These topics are covered in 70-640 so my advice is to take 70-640 first.

Most people report failing the 70-640 because it is often their first foray into a MS exam. MS exams are the most difficult in the business IMHO because MS asks lots of trick and esoteric questions. Of the 3 that i've passed, I think the 70-643 was the most difficult but you won't need that for just an MCSA:2008.

sratakhin

I almost failed 70-640 even though it wasn't my first exam. 70-290, 291 and 642 were much easier. However, I don't deal with AD on a daily basis, so my lack of experience had to be compensated with labs, which I didn't do a lot.
Simulations would probably make the exam easier. I don't know how difficult they were for 2008 exams, but in 2003 they were a piece of cake. Something like setting up a static DNS server address on a NIC and so on.