Transcender: 70-662 or 70-70-663?

Meat · June 2012

Has any used 70-662 or 70-70-663 transcenders? Are they worth it in your opinion? Is it going to help me pass the test?

Claymoore · June 2012

I don't include practice exams as part of my usual exam prep routine for several reasons:

I'm cheap and don't want to pay for them.
I am taking beta exams, exams just out of beta, or obscure exams for which there is no mainstream prep material.
They quickly lose their effectiveness as an assessment tool, sometimes after only a couple of uses. They have a limited question pool and I tend to remember the answers to questions, so I may answer the questions correctly even though I really need more work in that subject area.

I was a no-show for the 662 beta due to a last minute client commitment, but I took it a few weeks after it went live. There were no Transcenders for the exam yet, so I can't comment on their usefulness. I got sidetracked by other exams and did not get around to taking the 663 until more than a year later. By that time there were Transcenders and my company had a subscription so I did not have to pay for the test. I had been reading parts of Exchange 2010 Best Practices and Exchange 2010 Inside Out, focusing more on what I thought were my weak areas. I downloaded the Transcender on a Monday, passed the first test somewhere in the 800s, and scheduled my live exam for that Wednesday, which I also passed. Was the Transcender useful? I passed both tests so I can at least say it was an accurate simulation for the live exam.Studying is what will help you pass the exam. Practice tests should be used as an assessment to identify areas that require more study through books or labs. Practice tests are not, themselves, study materials.

Total_Wimp · June 2012

I used a Transcender test for the first time recently while studying for 70-659. I was surprised by how useful it was. The thing I liked was how much the explanations to the test questions expanded on what the question really meant. It gave me a jumping off point for more study.

Note that the flash cards do not do this, only the practice test. This is not ideal, because I initially used the flash cards to study before taking the practice exam. It would have been very handy to have the expanded answer material on the FCs. Instead, I simply did more personal study on any FC material I didn't know.

The Transcenders weren't perfect. I caught a surprising number of typos and poorly put together sentences. There was more than one incorrect answer as well. You cannot use this as your only study material. That said, it did more to help me understand the structure of the questions and answers than anything else I studied, and that alone made it an invaluable resource.

I haven't used the 662 or 663 Transcenders yet, but those are next on my list. I'm planning on purchasing the 662 with voucher tonight. Three things I'm curious about, if anyone knows them:

1: Can you also do the download if you buy a CD? I did the download with the 659 test, but the voucher only comes with the CD. I'd prefer to not have to wait for it to arrive.
2: The site mentions an expiration on the voucher, but doesn't mention when the expiration is. Anybody know how they do the expiration?
3: Are there better sources for a voucher? I'll save about $50 bucks if I buy the two together from Transcender, but if I'll save the same buying the voucher from someplace else, I might rethink buying the both together (I'll probably just get the download instead).

Thanks!

paulgswanson · June 2012

When I nabbed my A+, N+, and S+ vouchers with transcender they were fresh vouchers so I had a full year. That was almost a year ago though so I cant say about the current way they do it

Transcender: 70-662 or 70-70-663?

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