Count down to 70-647

In just over a week I'm sitting the 70-647 exam.

By the time I sit the exam I will have put 6 weeks study in to it, not to mention the 10 months I've spent studying and sitting the 70-620, 70-640, 70-642 and 70-643 exams.

I'm feeling confident on this exam, more than any of the others. I also used a 2nd Shot exam pack, that way if I choke I don't have to stress on the re-sit costs.

For me this has been the most interesting exam to study for, I've learnt a lot that is practical for my job and it's enabled me to see areas in my network where I can make improves.

I'm spending the next week going over the prep exams (MS Press) and TechNet to fill any gaps.

I'll post my results when I have them.

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Comments

za3bour

Congratulations, it seems you did everything you can to pass, I'm sure you will pass. it was interesting to study for this exam and I certainly learned from it a lot too.

Good Luck

earweed

Good luck on this. I'll be sitting this exam soon also. I have to reschedule it for next Saturday due to my new job.

LCA

Marcels,

Good luck!!

Wonder if MS still have the scenario's in there

marcels

Just sat and failed this exam this morning, I only just missed the pass mark with a score of 679.

I didn't manage my time well and was left rushing answers on the first section of the exam to finish it in time.

I tried to rebook the exam for Friday this week but I guess I can't book a re-sit until the failed result is registered by Prometric.

marcels

Microsoft retake policy says you have to wait 24 hours before you can re-sit an exam.

However, Prometric says it takes 72 hours for your exam status to update to failed, which will allow you to book the retake.

You'd think that the Prometric test results would sync faster than 72 hours?

Any way, it looks like I'll have to wait a few weeks to re-schedule this exam as I'm not able to fit it in around my work schedule for awhile.

I guess I can spend some more time studying, I'm sure my wife will be happy about me hidng in the study and ignoring her for a little longer

Essendon

That sucks man, good thing you have the second shot in the bag! I failed this sucker too yesterday. Tons of scenarios, mind have a look at my thread and commenting? Thanks mate.

za3bour

Too bad you might have missed it by one question, if you think you failed because you couldn't manage your time then I suggest you don't wait for weeks before you try again.

If you're confident of your study just book it after a week or so since all the info is still fresh and you do have time to concentrate on your weak points.

Whatever you decide, good luck for you, it's not an easy exam at all.

marcels

I'm booked to sit this again next Tuesday. I feel confident I'll pass but another weeks study will not hurt.

I did find it amusing that Prometric told me I'd have to wait 72 hours for my result to show when it only took around 4 hours in the end.

The only thing that I wish I could remember about the exam is how long I had for the multiple choice section. I got 23 and 25 minutes for the 6 and 7 question testlets respectively, can anyone share how much time they had for the first section please?

za3bour

marcels wrote: »

I'm booked to sit this again next Tuesday. I feel confident I'll pass but another weeks study will not hurt.

I did find it amusing that Prometric told me I'd have to wait 72 hours for my result to show when it only took around 4 hours in the end.

The only thing that I wish I could remember about the exam is how long I had for the multiple choice section. I got 23 and 25 minutes for the 6 and 7 question testlets respectively, can anyone share how much time they had for the first section please?

Try to book the exam again and it will tell you the duration of it, ommit 50 minutes out of it in addition to 15 minutes and that should give you the time for the first section.

marcels

Just failed this sucker again, got 658, which was a small slip back. I did better in the areas that I had problems last time but slipped back in the other two.

I managed my time a lot better second go. I even had time to revise. The number of questions was the same but a different order, I had 3 testlets, then the multi-choice section, followed by two more testlets.

I had 41 minutes to answer the 19 multi-choice questions.

I'm scratching my head now to figure out where I went wrong, I guess I just need to spend more time studying, I'll have to find new material as I feel I've exhausted the MS Press, CBT Nuggets, and TechNet links on this forum. I think I'll look at TestOut now and revise, revise.

I'm really disappointed that I missed the pass again by such a little margin.

Essendon

That's a bummer, Self-Test have updated their exams to R2, you may want to invest your money in their practice tests. Out of curiosity, did you get hammered by virtualisation questions too/again?

marcels

There was a bit, but I didn't feel hammered by them. Lots of new R2 tech featured this time round, DirectAccess, BranchCache and I noticed more questions with System Center products as possible answers.

I think that the R2 practice test will be worth a look. I'm just a bit lost as to where I went wrong. oh well, more studying for me.

earweed

Better luck next time. I sit this sucker Saturday and am getting nervous as hell with the recent updated format.

Essendon

earweed, just ensure mate you have virtualisation, SCCM and GPO's covered. We have been having a fair chunk of the exam from these areas.

LCA

Essendon wrote: »

earweed, just ensure mate you have virtualisation, SCCM and GPO's covered. We have been having a fair chunk of the exam from these areas.

Also knowing something about SCVMM, SCOM, Exchange 2010, and ForeFront UAG won't hurt either.........

It sure is an exam that when you come to sit it gets your full attention and is guaranteed to fry the old gray matter.

Good luck to all who are taking on this beast in the near future.

earweed

Been studying a lot on those areas and others. BTW self test doesn't have R2 content yet. I checked after I read your post. Nobody has R2 content for this stupid test.

LCA

earweed wrote: »

Been studying a lot on those areas and others. BTW self test doesn't have R2 content yet. I checked after I read your post. Nobody has R2 content for this stupid test.

In a few words the exam is mostly about finding out if the candidate(victim!) has an in depth grasp of different technologies and has decent knowledge on how to plan and join them all together.

Essendon

One of our members, Todd Burrell, made a post couple of days ago about updated R2 content on Self-Test's tests. The website does say otherwise though.

MickQ

Marcels, so sorry to hear about that today. I'll be sitting this one tomorrow evening. I'll let you all know how it goes.

What I've heard here backs up what others have been telling me, in that this exam is where they throw the theory at you where it's the latest and greatest, and lots of it.
As LCA said, the wide range that MS has and incorporating the SCVVM, SCOM, Forefront, IPv6 etc. and all the new R2 tech. That's what I came across on the 646 too.
I'll try and remember the topics but no promises. I think my brain will have oozed out by the end of it all.

MickQ

Wow. My head feels like a toasted cheese sandwich. I passed, but I wasn't expecting it to be as wide a range of questions as that. A couple of unix and what everyone else has said here too!

Those testlet questions are quite messy. A couple left me looking for more info as I guess I hadn't covered the subject matter well enough. It would be really nice if you were told where you went wrong on questions. If I make a mistake I like to learn from it.

LCA

MickQ wrote: »

Wow. My head feels like a toasted cheese sandwich. I passed, but I wasn't expecting it to be as wide a range of questions as that. A couple of unix and what everyone else has said here too!

Those testlet questions are quite messy. A couple left me looking for more info as I guess I hadn't covered the subject matter well enough. It would be really nice if you were told where you went wrong on questions. If I make a mistake I like to learn from it.

Salutations and congratulations!!

Are you now an MCITP:EA? Hard as 647 is it's a great stepping stone to the level of detail required for the more specialized exams such as SQL Server 70-432 and 70-450 that I'm currently studying.

spd3432

MickQ wrote: »

Wow. My head feels like a toasted cheese sandwich. I passed, but I wasn't expecting it to be as wide a range of questions as that. A couple of unix and what everyone else has said here too!

Those testlet questions are quite messy. A couple left me looking for more info as I guess I hadn't covered the subject matter well enough. It would be really nice if you were told where you went wrong on questions. If I make a mistake I like to learn from it.

Congrats!!! I was afraid to look at the screen after hitting the "I'm done" button on the 647. And even more afraid that I wouldn't remember half the stuff I hadn't seen until it showed up in a test question that I would need to look up references on so I'd have a chance to pass on a re-take.

Essendon

MickQ wrote: »

Wow. My head feels like a toasted cheese sandwich. I passed, but I wasn't expecting it to be as wide a range of questions as that. A couple of unix and what everyone else has said here too!

Those testlet questions are quite messy. A couple left me looking for more info as I guess I hadn't covered the subject matter well enough. It would be really nice if you were told where you went wrong on questions. If I make a mistake I like to learn from it.

Nicely done mate. This test sure is nothing to be scoffed at. What's next for ya, a break or more exams?

Todd Burrell

Great job with the pass. I have been preparing for this exam for about 8-10 weeks (with the usual life interruptions) - and I have had a hard time grasping what to study. From your comments it appears that this test covers just about anything (like preparing for Jeopardy). If I don't put it off I will take this next Friday and I'll post my experiences. Since I have the second shot it might be a good idea to take it once to see what the test is like.

The main problem is that the practice tests I have seen seem to cover a large amount of material. I feel like I am aiming at a fast moving target - and 2008 R2 has not helped any.

Again - congrats... I'll be glad to finish this and move on to 70-680.

marcels

Congrats MickQ, this is a beast of an exam.

What study material did you use? I'm thinking on going back to the begining and review all my material, but some new sorces would be good.

I'm only just missing the pass mark and am a bit lost trying to figure out where I'm going wrong.

earweed

Congrats MickQ

I checked and selftest does have updated content

marcels

Can any comment on the quality of the Selftest mock exams? I've not heard of them before.

earweed

I just got it and the quality is very low.

MickQ

Thanks a lot guys for all the support

Sorry for not replying sooner but I've had to catch up on work. The boss is a bastard - and I'm self-employed.
I wasn't expecting the Spanish inquisition for this exam but, my God, what a beast of an exam, as marcels said. I've had a headache since then from it.

@LCA: I'm now a happy EA. SQL will be waiting for a while. I've miles to go before I sleep.

@Sean: I felt the same way. Not only that, but you know the submit comments section? I said no thanks to it, but it came up... kinda. It basically did a review of ALL the questions I'd done, but answers greyed out so I couldn't change them. All the way through from the first testlet, to MCQs, to the last testlet. "Oh s***" went through my mind, remembering a problem I'd had with an earlier exam which quit on me halfway through it. We all know what could possibly happen with these bugs. The worst case scenario dancing around in our heads, mostly. Ended review on all of it and... got the final screen with the score. 793. Happy days. Got the printout and then hurried off home to check the prometric site to make sure it registered. Sure enough, it did. Today (2 days later) the MS site registered the 647 too and gave the EA also. Happy happy happy.

@Essendon: Thanks. I'll be getting through a backlog of work and then looking more at the certs after a short break (of work). So far, I'm looking at SBS, MCSA, Sec+, MCSE, Exchange, CCNP, PGDip Adv. Networking, MSc Adv. Net. Probably going to throw in some Citrix in there too, somewhere. Why bother with the MCSE? Well, I've had the books for the past 7/8 years so it's more a personal goal thing. SBS is just for completeness.

@Todd and Marcels: Thanks. It caught me by surprise just quite how wide a range it covers. It really is a very broad scope. Most of the info I knew from working in the field. Todd, it's probably too late for me to tell you this now, but I used Minasi's Server R2 book, here, other forums (forae?), the MS course list Pro: Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator and technet. Technet was a pain looking for details on some things, like the subtle differences between App V, MED V, RemoteApp, etc. The overviews for IT managers are put together better than the small pages of info (whatever they're actually called). Just note down all the possible subjects and their branches (eg. virtualisation and its derivatives, NAP, etc.) and find out as much as you can about them, topic by topic. I came across more than a few of my answers by stumbling around the topics like that. I'd probably have used CBT or Trainsignal, but couldn't afford them. Lousy debtors...
Keep with it marcel. There's nothing worse than just missing it. Halfway through I was thinking that I'd have to resit it. I definitely would have if I wasn't told here that the testlets had their own little slots of time. Those things are nasty.

@earweed: Best of luck with your test. I haven't tried selftests - other than the ones I got free with my CCNA book. I found them much easier than the exam, though.
Edit: Just checked the selftests I have. Turns out they're "Boson Exam Environment".

memoman88

It's almost the same exact stuff as Transcender, except less expensive (except for the 83-640, where Transcender has the lab environnents). I've always found the exams to be very similar in difficulty and style to the exam. Much better than MeasureUp (especially the MeasureUp stuff that comes with the MS Press books, which is awful).