70-410 Fail

I took the exam for the first time today and got a 559. I could tell most of what I didn't know involved powershell and other command line stuff, but I could do better overall as well.

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Dojiscalper

For studying so far I've been using the complete study guide, the inside/out book (not really very helpful), exam prep book, youtube videos, technet articles and the MeasureUp practice test which I found to be very similar in style and difficultly of the questions.

I don't work with servers daily, more like monthly at work, but at home I've been able to put together a decent lab and been having a lot of fun with that.

nascar_paul

I think that those results are pretty common. If I were you, I would either build a lab with plentiful processing cores and lots of RAM or just hit the interwebs and get busy with some of the labs and tutorials that microsoft hosts. Powershell commands, services and their dependencies are tested heavily in the 410. Also, study active directory, permissions and group policy and you should do MUCH better in the second go around.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

AndersonSmith

Several System Admins on this forum with years of experience have failed that exam at least once so don't feel bad. Try to study at least a couple hours a day 5 days a week and remember to look up anything you don't fully understand. Even if you come across a check box in a configuration screen or something that none of your other training materials mentioned take the time to look it up yourself because you never know if it will be on the exam or not.

Kyrak

One resource that really helped me with 410 was the quizlets site. I went through a bunch of their deployment flash cards right before the test and I got lucky and had a bunch of deployment questions. Powershell is definitely more tested on 410 than the others. One thing I tried to do was make general notes about when MS uses different types of commands. I.E. typically when they use New-XYZ what does that do vs Set-XYZ. Then if you see a PS command that you aren't familiar with then you can try to make the best guess possible. I also used the Transcender practice exams and would highly recommend them.

Chinook

MS goes very heavy on PowerShell on all their exams including the 410. Personally, given that PowerShell is still a product in development I question why they do that. I'm studying for the Azure exam and there is a lot of PowerShell in the course content. MS had this same level of fixation with IPv6 a few years ago (which no one uses it seems). It's just the unfortunate part of their exams being "marketing" for their tools.

nachodba

@chinook Powershell is still in development so you think they shouldn't test you on it.
I'm sorry but Powershell is the single best way to administer any environment more than 100 users.

Need to set an ad property on all 400 users in an OU. No problem.

Need to get a list of every piece of software installed on every machine in your environment. No problem.

Need to determine the uptime of all your servers to verify they were patched during your window. No problem.

Need to export a list of every user in your AD forest to an xls. No problem.

Powershell is not going away. It is a vital tool you will need to know how to use.

AndersonSmith

I have to agree with Nachdba. Powershell is something that will always be in development imo just due to the nature of Powershell itself. I wasn't too excited to have to learn it at first when I started studying for the 410 but after completing the MCSA I'm really glad I did and have found it beyond helpful in my job.

poolmanjim

Chinook wrote: »

MS goes very heavy on PowerShell on all their exams including the 410. Personally, given that PowerShell is still a product in development I question why they do that. I'm studying for the Azure exam and there is a lot of PowerShell in the course content. MS had this same level of fixation with IPv6 a few years ago (which no one uses it seems). It's just the unfortunate part of their exams being "marketing" for their tools.

Powershell is far from in development. They improve on it with every successive version but in Server 2012 it is a completed product and something that every admin has a need to learn. If you don't learn Powershell, you are going to be left in the dust.

MHTECH

I always hear that MS go heavy on the Powershell. I am just starting to go through this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Windows-PowerShell-Month-Lunches/dp/1617291080

Dojiscalper

I read that book, helped a ton on what to do with powershell. Not sure how much it helped on the test except maybe paying close attention to the syntax in the answers.

Two things that really get me on the test.

First, the multiple choice, multi answer questions. Its not MS at fault here, its totally me. I've taken literally hundreds of exams over my career and those always get me because I either pick too many or too few.

Second, the questions asking which command to use to do a task. When two or even three of the answers do the exact same thing such as
net dom and add-computer for joining a domain or netsh and set-netipaddress. I understand sometimes they word the question to lead to a specific anwser, but so far I've caught those through careful reading. It wouldn't surprise me if I'm getting those wrong.

AndersonSmith

Dojiscalper wrote: »

Second, the questions asking which command to use to do a task. When two or even three of the answers do the exact same thing such as
net dom and add-computer for joining a domain or netsh and set-netipaddress. I understand sometimes they word the question to lead to a specific anwser, but so far I've caught those through careful reading. It wouldn't surprise me if I'm getting those wrong.

Be sure to re-read the question very carefully. Usually there is SOMETHING in the question that will help you eliminate the wrong answer. Also, if they're asking for the BEST way to do something and you're given a choice between a Powershell Cmdlet and a Command Llne Command, the answer will most likely be the Powershell Cmdlet. Pay attention to the switches and parameters of the commands and see if one of them contains an invalid switch or parameter. I know it can be tricky, but just keep at it.

poolmanjim

AndersonSmith wrote: »

Be sure to re-read the question very carefully. Usually there is SOMETHING in the question that will help you eliminate the wrong answer. Also, if they're asking for the BEST way to do something and you're given a choice between a Powershell Cmdlet and a Command Llne Command, the answer will most likely be the Powershell Cmdlet. Pay attention to the switches and parameters of the commands and see if one of them contains an invalid switch or parameter. I know it can be tricky, but just keep at it.

Dead on, Anderson. Was going to say that exact thing. If there are two correct answers and one of them is a Powershell cmdlet (valid one, mind you) then Powershell is the most right answer.

I believe this is covered in some of the exam prep videos from TechEd a couple years back. Here's the link for the 70-410.
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/EXM01#fbid=6jXtGa33Xat

Also, Dojiscalper, when it comes to multiple answer questions, check the question closer. Microsoft should be telling you exactly how many to choose when you select these. They don't make that a secret knowing that's one of those things that trip you up. This only applies to "check the box" multiple answer. The matching ones will sometimes have options that aren't used.

Dojiscalper

Oh god lets not even talk about those matching questions. I wonder if anyone ever passed due to being lucky, I bet my wife could do it, she's always winning things.

poolmanjim wrote: »

Dead on, Anderson. Was going to say that exact thing. If there are two correct answers and one of them is a Powershell cmdlet (valid one, mind you) then Powershell is the most right answer.

I believe this is covered in some of the exam prep videos from TechEd a couple years back. Here's the link for the 70-410.
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/EXM01#fbid=6jXtGa33Xat

Also, Dojiscalper, when it comes to multiple answer questions, check the question closer. Microsoft should be telling you exactly how many to choose when you select these. They don't make that a secret knowing that's one of those things that trip you up. This only applies to "check the box" multiple answer. The matching ones will sometimes have options that aren't used.

poolmanjim

Dojiscalper wrote: »

Oh god lets not even talk about those matching questions. I wonder if anyone ever passed due to being lucky, I bet my wife could do it, she's always winning things.

They are brutal. The only way to be good at them is to know the ins and outs with the technology in question. You can quickly exclude invalid options and focus on ordering the correct ones. However, they do throw some weird ones. A couple I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about them with orders that don't seem to make any sense.

Ugly-051

I think this is the exam that most people fail, I personally found it surprising in terms of topics and depth to consider it’s the first in the series.

nachodba

I remember feeling sick to my stomach during the minute between finishing the exam and my score showing.

culpano

nachodba wrote: »

I remember feeling sick to my stomach during the minute between finishing the exam and my score showing.

I feel like that before any Microsoft exam, during it and at the end !!! Did you pass 70-410 in the end or have you still to take it ?

Louie1277

culpano wrote: »

I feel like that before any Microsoft exam, during it and at the end !!! Did you pass 70-410 in the end or have you still to take it ?

I think everyone feels that way. For me I know i get nervous every time, and sick to my stomach when i start. Towards the end i get the same way because of the score, and seeing if I failed the dumb exam... I know the last time I took the exam I forgot the most simple task in one of the questions. it's almost like i went blank...

I just bought the exam boost package . Plan on taking the exam on the Sept 16th. That will give me a whole month to really study and focus on the exam.

Dojiscalper

Took it again today and scored 676. At least its very close so I think I'll eventually pass.

AndersonSmith

Dojiscalper wrote: »

Took it again today and scored 676. At least its very close so I think I'll eventually pass.

Sorry to hear that Doj. Don't give up, you'll get it next time for sure!

mandy7777

Don't give up, Try it again, Will get it eventually For sure:) . Just remember LAB is the Key

AvgITGeek

Also TechNet. If there is anything you have a question about, go to TechNet. When the books or videos talk about Diskpart: look it up on TechNet. When the books or videos talk about Storage Pools: look it up on TechNet. DNS Zones, etc.

I learned my lesson after the 70-640. Had I used that resource, I probably would have passed even with only knowing the book basics about Cert, Federation, and Right Management Service. It would have been by the skin of my teeth but I would have passed it.