Study for 70-417

Im looking to upgrade my skills to MCSA 2012, but I find myself in the position of not having the MCSA 2008:SA, but rather because I have the Enterprise Desktop Administrator:W7 I have an upgrade path to MCSA 2012 via the 70-417 exam.

A few years ago now I did pass the 70-640 exam (AD Configuration) in the R2 variety, but just failed the 70-642 and fell off the study bandwagon at that time.

At the moment im just consuming as much content as I possibly can on both the MicrosoftVirtualAcademy, Channel9.msdn.com and TechNet Labs sites that are relevant to Server 2012/R2. I have the MS Exam Ref book, the 410/411/412 MOAC Labs guides and the Panek All in One book for the 410/411/412/417. And of course ill be going over the stickies here

By having the MOAC and TechNet guides ill be able to have some direction when I lab them.

I am interested in hearing any thoughts on how I should look to study the 70-417 exam. I would also rather just sit the 1 exam rather than doing all 3 exams (Exam cost in Aus is $209 a pop, so it would be more expensive to do all 3). Are there any other specific things anyone can recomend and what do you think is a good timeframe for this goal? (I hear blogs of MCSA in 90 days)

PS: I would be able to commit about 1-2 hrs a weekday and 6-10 hrs a weekend.

Thanks

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Comments

Asif Dasl

You have prior knowledge of 70-640 and 70-642 so it should make going over the material that little bit easier, you have enough books by the looks of things. Personally if I had MCITP:EDA I would go the 3 test route but if you're confident you can cover the material then give 70-417 a shot (or a second shot!).

The Panek book is geared more towards 70-417 as for the other tests it is all jumbled about. You'll need to read the free Microsoft book for R2 afterwards though as the Panek book doesn't cover R2.

I figure 2 minutes a page then add any CBTs that you have got to work out roughly how long it's going to take. MCSA in 90 days is a good target but to be honest if takes more time to really learn the material do that instead. No point burning out trying to pass the test and forgeting loads of it.

I wish you luck!

D113

I also have a Win 7 MCSA:EDA that I wanted to upgrade to Server 2012 MCSA. The MS Press 70-417 book covered most of the topics that I needed. Some familiarization with group policy, server roles, and utilities was needed.
Passed today, so unfortunately I don't have any ideas about studying the R2 changes.

pzero

Thanks for the replies and the link to the R2 booklet, ill add that into the mix. Im under no super urgent time constraints for it (im utilising time until my name comes up for the Stanley CC VMWare course in ~6 months time), so if it takes 4 or 6 months, its no big deal as long as I can keep the moumentum going. 90 days does seem a little aggressive.

Whilst I am only looking to do the upgrade exam, I still plan on doing the work studying the bits around 410/411/412 so that I at least have more knowledge on the Server 2012 base. Ive also added in some content from TechEd and my workplace has a CBT Nuggets subscription, so I dont think ill run out of things to go over for a while.

Congrats on your pass D113!