How much studying/what materials will I need for the 70-410 with little experience?

All,

Looking into taking my first Microsoft certification exam.

I posted yesterday as I was thinking about taking the MCP: Windows Server Administration Fundamentals. I've since decided that's a bit silly because it's retiring in July.

Anyway, I'd like to ask a more focused question: I would like to start off with the 70-410, but honestly I am really intimidated by it and I am completely lost on where to start. I've been hands-on repairing desktops for the past 5 years. My newest venture is maintaining a Win Server 2012 machine but it's mostly coasting along: things like adding new users on the GUI and putting them in groups, setting permissions, installing updates, maintaining a license server, maintaining Remote Desktop licenses. Never set up Win Server 2012 from scratch, never configured DNS/DHCP/web services/no powershell experience. I hear lots of stories from folks with more experience than I do failing that thing on the first or second try so I'm not quite sure how to gauge it.

Just hoping to get some honest advice from those of you who have taken the 70-410. How hard is it for someone with virtually no practical experience with Windows Server to pass and how many months of studying did you do? I've heard not-so-good things about the certification books, citing that they're only very basic and the practice questions are WAY easier than what you'd find on a test, but I don't know what else to start with. Has anyone out there passed this test with my level of experience and do you have any specific recommendations for study material, apart from setting up Win Server 2012 from scratch on a VM? Any projections, in your opinion, on how much of a learning curve this will be?

Thank you very much!

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shaun5263

It's a pretty tough test mainly because the study materials seem to be so spread out. Here's my post on everything I used to pass.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcsa-mcse-windows-2012-general/106479-passed-70-410-a.html

sheiky

I finished 70-410 yesterday. I used Pluralsight and CBT nuggets videos, Exam Ref Ebook and pretty much thats it.! I advise you to get a Microsoft Certification Booster Pack voucher which comes with Practise test and 4 retakes (you dont need 4 anyway). This will also give you a confident to take the exam after completing your studies. Good Luck on your studies & exam..!

Louie1277

sheiky wrote: »

I finished 70-410 yesterday. I used Pluralsight and CBT nuggets videos, Exam Ref Ebook and pretty much thats it.! I advise you to get a Microsoft Certification Booster Pack voucher which comes with Practise test and 4 retakes (you dont need 4 anyway). This will also give you a confident to take the exam after completing your studies. Good Luck on your studies & exam..!

I need to find that booster pack voucher just in case... I have a feeling i won't need it but you never know.

sheiky

Here is the link to get the Microsoft Certification Booster Pack for MCP exams

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/offers.aspx

AndersonSmith

First of all, let me ease your mind by telling you that it IS completely possible to pass the 410 with hardly any work experience. The fact that you have been doing desktop repair will help a little since you're already familiar with some basic concepts at least. I will say that if this is your first certification you may want to look into taking the COMPTIA A+ and/or Network+ certifications first as they lay the groundwork and provide a lot of the fundamentals that the Microsoft exams pretty much expect you to already know. I'm not saying it's impossible to pass the test without having studied these first, but I found it to be beneficial to me while studying for the 410 to already have a lot of that knowledge. As for study materials, check out my post on this site here . In that post I describe in detail my study materials and the process I used while studying. The amount of time is hard to say when measured in months because it will depend on how much time you can dedicate every day/week to studying. I wish you the best of luck on your MCSA journey!

bettsy584

When I did my first MCITP on Server 2008 R2, I did it in 3 month blocks.

1st exam - 3 months, 2nd exam - 3 months etc with 3 months off at Christmas.

If you read, lab and watch the training videos you could "pass" the test quicker than 3 months, in fact now I have loads of experience with multiple technologies I can pass an exam with a few weeks study.

But if it's your foundation (like first MCSA) make sure you know it well & deep.