Failed 70-401 Configuring SCCM

With a 602. That breaks a string on 16 consecutive MS tests over the last 2.5 years without a fail. 5 questions into the exam I knew I was in trouble and I am surprised I scored as well as I did. I planned on taking this test in December and only started studying for it two weeks ago. I was burning through the Mastering book so quickly that I thought I could sqeeze it in earlier and be done for the year.

Lots of excuses as to why I failed, but the bottom line is I was underprepared because of my approach to this test. I have old SMS 2.0 and 2003 experience, but I only have OSD experience on 2007. I didn't realize how much I relied upon experience when taking tests until I attempted a subject without any experience.

I also relied on Mastering SCCM 2007 R2 as my primary text and that was a fatal mistake. That book is worthless - 450 pages of screen captures and 100 pages of text describing the screen captures. I believe that I am dumber for having read that book, and it will now join the Microsoft Training Kit for 70-297 and the Server 2008 Group Policy Resource Kit on the list of worst IT books I ever read.

I have the SCCM Unleashed book on my Kindle DX and I should have used that instead. I downloaded it earlier this year solely for the chapter on OSD, which was reviewed as the best coverage of OSD when compared to the Admin Guide and the Mastering book. Not coincidentally, my best section was the one on OSD. I like the Unleashed series for general learning purposes, but I don't like using them for exam prep because there is so much information in the books that I lose track of the exam objectives. Now I'm going back to the Unleashed book.

My motivations for taking this exam aren't that strong either. I do not work with SCCM, so I am not trying to certify my SCCM abilities. I also have no desire to work with SCCM, so I don't want to learn it. A few of us were challenged by our global director to pass 5 exams by the end of the year as part of an advanced desktop competency, and this was the only exam I had not passed already. I have been pushing for more pre-sales engineering responsibilities and I know our director is putting together a global team responsible for our desktop pursuits. I thought achieving that competency would lock in a spot for me on the team, so I scheduled the exam.