70-697 exam in 5 days....anything else I missed?

Hi,
I have my first ever MS exam in 5 days time(Friday 27 Jan) which is the 70-697 exam. I have been studying since November but been doing over 6 hours a day over the past 3 weeks. Its been quiet at work so I have had time and at home too. Just to make sure I'm fully prepared,

Watched CBT Nuggets videos multiple times.
Done some transcender practice exams, I have been doing ok. But I think its below the average. They are difficult.
Read the official study guide
Read the study guide be William Panek, done all the practice test and scored high. Seems easier than the transcender practice exams.
Studied stuff not covered much in these books and CBT nuggets such as Powershell basics and cmd switches on Technet. As I read there are plenty of Powershell questions in this exam.

For the people who have taken this exam, is there anything else I have missed I should study before my exam or advice?

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malachi1612

Well after months of studying and spending the last 3 weeks of doing nothing but studying I crashed out at 550

Not letting it get me down as its my first ever MS exam. Will be booking another exam for the end of February as I know what to expect this time.

The exam is hard but its down to the way MS ask the questions. If you have taken MS exams in the past then this should be easy for you. They do throw in gibberish in some of the questions no matter how many times you read the questions. Spend to much time re-reading and time is against you! But 2 hours is a fair amount of time to answer the 48 questions I had.

I still had 20mins left to run over the questions. Even then I was saying to myself "I haven't got a clue what the answer is" Even when I had to use the process of elimination it was still difficult. The BranchCache question I really struggled with. I give up and picked anything, probably not the right attitude to have for this exam but I didn't have a choice.

From my study experience, the official study guide is no good. The William Panek Study guide is better BUT the practices questions wont do much come exam time as they are easy and are not structured how the exam questions are.

CBT Nuggets is great source but sometimes it got too detailed for which is required for the exam. So you remember the details and over see the basics, the basics is all they ask for in the exam. James Conrad still did a good job and I will be going back to his videos.

Transcender practice exams are harder and the layout is the same as the exams but Transcender have questions where you have to physically type the command. This is NOT applicable to the 70-697 exam, this was an old method used in previous exam certs but not the case for newer exams. This is been confirmed by Microsoft themselves. So Transcender need to remove those types of questions or update them.

So now back to the books for the next 4 weeks and go over what scored low on.

analogkid1968

Read TechNet articles on every exam topic listed on MS website. You don't need to know every option for every command but know the basic stuff, and know how to do everything in Powershell.

malachi1612

Yeah, that's what I did before but I guess I need to go over them again.

malachi1612

A month off the original schedule but finally pass today with 811 on my 2nd attempt

I glad to see the back of Intune, Azure and o365. Something I wont miss to use.

Time to get on with 70-698 for exam next month.

The new 70-697 videos at CBT Nuggets by Anthony Sequeira was a God send! They helped so much! So much better than James Conrads old videos and the new videos are straight to the point with exam objectives.

culpano

Well done. That's a great comeback. I've done nine MS certs and 70-697 was the most difficult. It's a stinker. Yes its great to get rid of having to sign up for the cloud stuff. You won't need any of that for the 70-698 exam.

malachi1612

And.........I am done!

Passed 70-698 today first time round. Easier than the beast that is 70-697. Now I have an MCSA in Windows 10

Now time to relax for the summer and start Server 2016 in September.

CertifiedMonkey

Congrats! Mind sharing what resources you used?

malachi1612

Thanks.

I mainly used CBT Nuggets videos by Anthony Sequeira again, I also read the Exam 70-698 by William Panek. But I never finished reading it because CBT Nuggets gave me enough information. Probably because I had done 697 before there is alot of cross referencing.

I had the Exam Ref 70-698 Installing and Configuring Windows 10 too, got it last year because it was very cheap but I never used it. Looking through William Panek book had more information. CBT Nuggets have links to Technet articles so anything you need deeper look into they have that covered too.

tjb122982

I'm getting ready to take 697 in about a month. I have been getting kicked around on Transcender but I have been rocking Panek's test questions. Am I good? If not, should I get another book or try to master the Transcender?

Phalanx

I have to say, I'm not impressed with Transcender. I got hammered by their practice tests (below 50%), but when I took the actual exam, I smashed out over 90% score. It was my first impression of Transcender and I have to say, I don't rate them.

malachi1612

tjb122982 wrote: »

I'm getting ready to take 697 in about a month. I have been getting kicked around on Transcender but I have been rocking Panek's test questions. Am I good? If not, should I get another book or try to master the Transcender?

Panek's test questions are way too easy I wouldn't recommend them on thinking you can ace the test. Transcender is harder than the actual exam but its the closet you are going to get to how the exam will be. Problem with Transcender they have alof of questions which are not related to the cert which puts you off.

tjb122982

malachi1612 wrote: »

Panek's test questions are way too easy I wouldn't recommend them on thinking you can ace the test. Transcender is harder than the actual exam but its the closet you are going to get to how the exam will be. Problem with Transcender they have alof of questions which are not related to the cert which puts you off.

So, if I understand you correctly, I might be better off getting another study guide and using that with the Panek study guide and forgetting Transcender all together?

malachi1612

tjb122982 wrote: »

So, if I understand you correctly, I might be better off getting another study guide and using that with the Panek study guide and forgetting Transcender all together?

The Panek study guide is the best so don't bother purchasing another study guide. It only the questions which I found disappointing, Transcender is what you should go for, even better do Transcender via CBT Nuggets. You be more than prepared then.

tjb122982

Phalanx wrote: »

I have to say, I'm not impressed with Transcender. I got hammered by their practice tests (below 50%), but when I took the actual exam, I smashed out over 90% score. It was my first impression of Transcender and I have to say, I don't rate them.

But where you still able to pass the 697?

I'm in the same boat: rocking the Panek study question but getting knocked around by Transcender.

I honestly thinking about just going for it. Using the study guide questions from cram books worked for passing the A+, Network+, and Security+.

Phalanx

tjb122982 wrote: »

But where you still able to pass the 697?

I'm in the same boat: rocking the Panek study question but getting knocked around by Transcender.

I honestly thinking about just going for it. Using the study guide questions from cram books worked for passing the A+, Network+, and Security+.

I passed the 70-698, but no thanks to Transcender. I'm currently studying the 70-697 using CBT Nuggets and the Exam Ref book from Microsoft with a mind to take it in the last week of this month. We shall see.

tjb122982

Phalanx wrote: »

I passed the 70-698, but no thanks to Transcender. I'm currently studying the 70-697 using CBT Nuggets and the Exam Ref book from Microsoft with a mind to take it in the last week of this month. We shall see.

Cool. I decided just go to with a extra book. I got the feeling I shouldn't rely on Panek.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0789758806/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

tjb122982

Okay, I took 4 practice exams today. Averaging a 93, 3 94's and 1 90. Am I ready for the 697?

malachi1612

Yep, go for it!

Phalanx

You're ready... as long as you realise 1 plus 3 plus 1 isn't 4.

Dodedodedo22

i just took the 70-697 last week. I had 72 questions and barely completed it with just over 2 min to spare. Is that normal? i haven't heard of anyone getting close to 60 questions let alone 72

malachi1612

That is werid, I wonder if they have changed the exam numbers. When I took the exam it was 58 questions first time, 2nd time it was 49 i think.

IAmATeaf

I just took 70-697 today and I had 68 questions and I only barely finished in time, had 3 minutes left. Good news I passed, failed it first time round when I took it back in Jan 2017.

malachi1612

Well done!

It looks like since November MS has increased the questions to 60 plus but kept the exam time the same which is abit unfair.

I did my Server 2016 exam last week and I had 63 questions, I didn't finish the exam and failed. Other 3 MS exams I've done over the last 18 months didn't have as many questions including the 70-697. At least I know now.

Kryten2340

I just passed the 70-398 Planning for and Managing Devices in the Enterprise exam last week to see which is one of the electives for MCSE: Mobility. This only had 32 questions which I thought was odd.

malachi1612

Some exams got changed late last year, Server 2016 and Windows 10 exams were part of them. 70-398 wasn't part of this by the looks of the change documents