70-643 on Tuesday Sep 21, 2010

Well I was thinking about rescheduling the exam (again) but decided that since I get a free second shot through WGU the worst that can happen is I get a really tough practice test and waste a 3 hour round trip on Tuesday.
My main reason for being really nervous now is finding out just a few days ago that the exam will cover Server 2008 R2. I spent part of the last few days reading from the three chapters (hopefully I hit all the bases) of the ebook for R2 that I got from MS last month as part of their MCP flash.
Doing some more practice tests and reviewing the flashcards from Transcender (which are not that great IMHO) and hoping my study strategy will pay off.
Wish me luck!

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rogue2shadow

You will crush this man!!! I look forward to your success in the coming days.

za3bour

Good luck man , I'm sure you will do just great.

It's good that you knew about R2 before doing the exam and in my opinion it's better not to reschedule and just finish it.

The question is why didn't microsoft notified us that they will cover R2 in their exams wouldn't it be easy for them to send all candidates who booked their exams an email saying that R2 will be added ?

I looked a lot for info about 70-646 and whether R2 will be added but till now it seems not I hope this will be the case at least till next Friday

Essendon

Kill it dude!!

LCA

Good luck, give it heaps!

Jander1023

Good luck! May the force be with you.

earweed

Jander1023 wrote: »

Good luck! May the force be with you.

I'm gonna need something..lol
Sunday was spent reviewing notes (60'ish handwritten pages) and flashcards from Transcender. Today I'm gonna take it easy and maybe redo some measure up practice exam that came with the book. Not gonna try to do any heavy studying.
Too late to back out now. My last few Transcender exams still have me failing but just barely. My weak points are no longer IIS and network services but Terminal services (now with Server 2008 R2 referred to as Remote Desktop Services)
Just got my ICND1 and ICND box set..woo hoo new books The wife lugged the package in here and I had to open it to check them out.

za3bour

Good luck and make sure to have a big breakfast before going

earweed

Well I gotta leave to take that long drive in a couple hours. Was sick in bed yesterday so very little good review done. Feeling a little better today so hopefully I'll do OK. Have been reviewing notes (60+ pages handwritten) and Transcender flashcards.
Not much I can do now as it's too late to learn what I haven't already. There's not really a lot to be "memorized" for this test. either I know it or not. My last go at the Transcenders yesterday showed that I had picked up on my former weak subject (IIS) and now my weak subject is Terminal Services. Hopefully the reading I did on Server 2008 R2 will help me if any R2 specific stuff is on the test. The only things that really need to be remembered for this test that can be actually memorized are a few port numbers and I've got those down.

shon541

Bring back good news!!

earweed

BIG FAIL

The test does indeed cover Server 2008 R2 and covers the stuff that changed heavily. For anyone with the MS Press Training Kit and/or Sybex for this test use those as a supplemental and not a Primary Resource and get books covering Server 2008 R2as your primary sources.
My weak areas before anybody asks I was consistent with no high or low areas, weak in everything.

za3bour

That's bad news but I think it's good news for those who are planning to take this exam or anyone that R2 will cover. It's as if you're the candle that will lighten their way no one I guess thought they will cover it heavily but with Microsoft nothing is for granted.

I'm sure you will pass next time, hope that you have a second shot ? once again I think MS should've done better with informing test takers that R2 is included.

I think we should complain about this and let them explain what exactly is included and to what extend.

Good luck for you next shot, I'm still studying for 646 only doing practice tests now and reading notes.

earweed

Oh yes, I complained on the survey (before even knowing the results for sure though I knew I'd be lucky to pass by then) and MS is supposed to send out a post test survey for me and I will complain again. Some of the stuff that didn't even change that the test had on it (can't be specific NDA) had zero mention in the MS Press book or Sybex.

rogue2shadow

That sucks bro. I agree with zab; they really should have informed candidates well in advance. I'm sure you'll crush it on the second shot. You got this!

Psoasman

Sorry to hear you didn't pass. It's frustrating to take an exam and not have enough material that is updated to work with.

[Deleted User]

Oof! This kind of worries me, I was thinking about going after this one after my 680. How long ago did they start including R2? In addition to that, is there a book coming out in the future to include the updates? I'd really like to put this one off if that is the case. Can you provide any insight without breaking the NDA? You could be a hero if you find some TechNet documentation that is relevant. Nonetheless, Sorry man, you should knock it out next time now that you know what to study. I think failing an exam can serve as motivation to study harder and get that pass!

earweed

I'm adding a few technet article links to Claymoore 70-643 thread. I wish I had printed a copy of the old "skills measured" as that would make it easier to know what has actually changed. There are at least some changes in every domain though and I experienced them today, sad to say. I thought that that little e-book I have (about 160 pages) would be enough so I read that. Wasn't near enough.
As far as what I have to study, I wasn't strong in any area and all areas were equal so I have to study everything from square one.

[Deleted User]

earweed wrote: »

I'm adding a few technet article links to Claymoore 70-643 thread. I wish I had printed a copy of the old "skills measured" as that would make it easier to know what has actually changed. There are at least some changes in every domain though and I experienced them today, sad to say. I thought that that little e-book I have (about 160 pages) would be enough so I read that. Wasn't near enough.
As far as what I have to study, I wasn't strong in any area and all areas were equal so I have to study everything from square one.

Awesome, +1 for looking out for the TE members! Like you said previously, you got a really tough practice test. Keep your head up and you will get it next time for sure!

alokin123

bad luck with this. It does seem as if they updated the exam objectives pretty quietly. Just did a quick google search and i dont know who put this guide together but its relates to the old objectives and it has copied and pasted the objectives into the document:

Preparation Guide for 71-643

Hope it helps

erpadmin

EW,

As I said earlier, I don't doubt for a second you will knock the next attempt out of the ballpark!

I think collectively, we should all do some hunting for this exam and other MS exams as it relates to R2. The best place to start will be TechNet. From what it sounds like, I'm probably nowhere near ready for the exams and it looks like I'm going to have to get either the Mastering W2K8 R2 and/or Windows 2008 R2 Unleashed. I have used both and there are some significant differences from what I can tell. The only thing I know for sure is that R2 is 100% 64-bit (no 32-bit version available) and an inplace upgrade from W2K8 to W2K8 R2 is doable only if W2K8 is 64-bit itself.

Don't be discouraged EW; we'll all get through this together.

earweed

With this one collection of technet articles I could have passed that exam..guaranteed
Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2

Jander1023

earweed wrote: »

With this one collection of technet articles I could have passed that exam..guaranteed
Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2

I didn't even realize the R2 updates were out when I took the 640 exam last Friday! Glad I passed but I clearly missed some questions for which I wasn't prepared. Good luck with your next try!

earweed

Just ordered Mastering Windows Server 2008 R2 Amazon.com: Mastering Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (9780470532867): Mark Minasi, Darril Gibson, Aidan Finn, Wendy Henry, Byron Hynes: Books which is coauthored by Darril Gibson so I know it'll be good.

Biznatch

WOW, I just spend a bunch of money like 2 months ago getting the MS press MCITP:EA pack and the sybex books for 640/642... So basically they are almost useless now as they are missing a bunch of info and I cant even resell them like I planned...

bencairney

earweed wrote: »

Just ordered Mastering Windows Server 2008 R2 Amazon.com: Mastering Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (9780470532867): Mark Minasi, Darril Gibson, Aidan Finn, Wendy Henry, Byron Hynes: Books which is coauthored by Darril Gibson so I know it'll be good.

Just got this book today, looks really good. Think I'm going to continue through my current 643 material(CBT Nuggets & MS Press) and then go through this book and cover off the differences with R2.

earweed

You can still use them but just supplement them with a book covering Server 2008 R2. I'm just hoping they don't go and change the 647 before I take it.

earweed

bencairney wrote: »

Just got this book today, looks really good. Think I'm going to continue through my current 643 material(CBT Nuggets & MS Press) and then go through this book and cover off the differences with R2.

It'd be a good idea to lab with R2 if you can.

bencairney

earweed wrote: »

It'd be a good idea to lab with R2 if you can.

Thanks, I'll get a R2 eval downloaded. Finding that I'm needing to lab a lot more with this one as I have never used WDS for example before. Hopefully R2 will run on VM Wks 6 and with 512MB RAM for a VM.

earweed

bencairney wrote: »

Thanks, I'll get a R2 eval downloaded. Finding that I'm needing to lab a lot more with this one as I have never used WDS for example before. Hopefully R2 will run on VM Wks 6 and with 512MB RAM for a VM.

It'll be kind of slow though.

Component Requirement

Processor
Minimum: 1.4 GHz x64 processor
Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for
Itanium-Based Systems
Memory
Minimum: 512 MB RAM (384 MB for Server Core installation)
Maximum: 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise,
Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)
Disk Space
Requirements
Minimum: 32 GB or greater (3.5 GB for Server Core installation)
Foundation: 10 GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk
space for paging and **** files
Display Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution monitor

Other Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

za3bour

bencairney wrote: »

Hopefully R2 will run on VM Wks 6 and with 512MB RAM for a VM.

I'm running it on VM wks with 1GB of memory and it's very fast so I think it will run with only 512MB.

bencairney

earweed wrote: »

It'll be kind of slow though.

Component Requirement

Processor
Minimum: 1.4 GHz x64 processor
Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for
Itanium-Based Systems
Memory
Minimum: 512 MB RAM (384 MB for Server Core installation)
Maximum: 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise,
Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)
Disk Space
Requirements
Minimum: 32 GB or greater (3.5 GB for Server Core installation)
Foundation: 10 GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk
space for paging and **** files
Display Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution monitor
Other Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Sorry guys

I've just realised it only runs on 64bit, and I have a 32bit processor. Should have known that as it was one of the first things I read in the book!! Maybe time for a laptop upgrade.

This is what happens when I leave massive gaps between exams, my brain switches off.