Who passed 70-680 today? --->This guy.<---

After two previously failed attempts, I made this cert my %#$@& with a perfect score. 1000/1000
Materials used:
Poulton 70-680 Book (Obviously)
MCTS Rapid Review from Microsoft (very good quick review book for $10)
Messer Videos
itfreetraining.com Videos
Quizlet.com (great for making flashcards that can be imported to your iPhone or Android phone)
1 Virtual Box (free!) Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine.
Beer....lots of beer.

I used the Watch-Lab-Read method and it really seems to work for me. I started with a Messer Video, then a itfreetraining.com video. I would lab as the videos were playing, pausing when I needed too. After I was comfortable, I would then read and notate the entire subject from the Poulton 70-680 book. By notation I mean creating flash cards on Quizlet and using their Multiple-Choice testing feature which converts your flash cards into a Multiple-Choice test. Then I would take a swig of beer. During the week, I would flip through the Rapid Review book to keep it all fresh.

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Comments

Slowhand

Congratulations, that's quite an accomplishment. This is a really tough exam, you deserve more than just a little bit of beer to celebrate.

kriscamaro68

Congrats on the pass!!!

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

aaronchristenson

I am planning another go at this exam. I got the MCTS Rapid Review from Microsoft ebook the other day, I have found it a good resource so far. I too have failed this exam 2 times.

jjasso21

Great job on the perfect score! It's great to see that you aced it after so much hard work. The exam is a bit of a brast...

asimahmed

i got 988/1000 in windows 7 and got 888,800,945,985 this score i got in other subjects of MCITP....

Kopite_21

Congrats on the pass.

gdeusthewhizkid

congrats did you get it after your MTA?

neathneathneath

Congrats

Regarding your two previous attempts, did you change your study strategy / resources or were you just more prepared?

Look forward to your reply.

kanecain

congrats did you get it after your MTA?

Yes. I got my MTA in March. The prior knowledge helped a little bit.

gdeusthewhizkid

kanecain wrote: »

congrats did you get it after your MTA?

Yes. I got my MTA in March. The prior knowledge helped a little bit.

how many questions did it have ?

Dr IT

Congrats on the Pass

Looks like you had a solid fail proof plan thanks for the tips will try them out

kanecain

neathneathneath wrote: »

Congrats

Regarding your two previous attempts, did you change your study strategy / resources or were you just more prepared?

Look forward to your reply.

I was far more prepared in the 2nd and final attempts. For three straight weeks, I crammed and labbed pretty hard. Notes were very important, whether on paper or electronically. Constantly reviewing said notes was also very important. I would convert statements into questions to gain a better understanding, and to promote short and long term memory. For example, "Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is a protocol used to transmit private data across a network", would be re-written "Jeopardy" style. "A protocol used to transmit private data across a network?" I have hundreds of these hand written notes on post-its, notebook paper, and flash-cards. I lot of people say labbing is the most important thing with this cert. I agree, and it did work for me, but not as much as my notes. I would lab something 3 - 5 times, and then extensively research the subject, and notate. All in all, you can try this pattern:

1. Start with a chapter subject in the book of your choice (Poulton book for me).
2. Don't read the chapter just yet.
3. Watch the corresponding Messer video AND itfreetraining.com video.
4. In another Window, lab along with the video.
5. After watching and labbing, then read the chapter and lab anything the videos didn't cover. (memorization is not as important at this step)
6. Grab a notebook, note taking application (Evernote is really good along with Quizlet.com), or paper Flash-Cards.
7. Create your questions. I made around 50 - 200 questions to ask myself per subject. Since you're creating the questions, it will stick with you much longer. Get your material from multiple sources (Technet, books, web forums, etc...)
8. Review your notes throughout the week. Also try to integrate the subject with your daily work if you can. If I was imaging a computer at work, I would do it the "Microsoft" way instead of what I was used too.
9. Review your notes with a friend or spouse (my wife was a excellent resource).
10. Try not to stay with one subject too long! You will quickly burn yourself out. I would spend 1 to 2 days on any given subject before moving on. As you notate, write down what you know will not stick. I would take a red pen and write down these topics. As I reviewed, I would then put emphasis on these.

After the second failure, I noticed that trying to remember what I labbed was not helping me. Most of the questions are informational instead of step-by-step procedural. This is a test about facts. And thats why great notes created by you is very important.

kanecain

gdeusthewhizkid wrote: »

how many questions did it have ?

All three times, I got the 50 question version.

neathneathneath

many thanks

robaato

Impressive score. I got 850/1000 today on my 4th attempt (yes 4th).

I thought the Windows 7 Configuring book was poo on a stick.
Rapid Review, not sure how you got it for $10 as the down load is half price at $15. Better then Poulton.
ITfreeTrain covered some points Prof Mess didn't. I used them both as well.
Quizlet was excellent although I did find one or two wrong answers.
Technet labs helped but were only a supplement.
Virtual machines could have helped me more if I used them to create and install images and test GPO's.

kanecain

robaato wrote: »

Impressive score. I got 850/1000 today on my 4th attempt (yes 4th).

I thought the Windows 7 Configuring book was poo on a stick.
Rapid Review, not sure how you got it for $10 as the down load is half price at $15. Better then Poulton.
ITfreeTrain covered some points Prof Mess didn't. I used them both as well.
Quizlet was excellent although I did find one or two wrong answers.
Technet labs helped but were only a supplement.
Virtual machines could have helped me more if I used them to create and install images and test GPO's.

I thought the Poulton book was the best option on the market (and i looked). The Rapid Review book is just as it says. A review book. It doesn't go into full depth into the required topics. I mainly flipped through it while sitting in traffic or taking a crap. As far as Quizlet, I created my own flash cards and notes instead using other user's notes.

tprice5

Congratulations. Not many people get perfect scores on the 680.

I have a running theory that there are a few 'easy' versions of this test out there. Idk, maybe I'm crazy.

Definitely deserve more beer though!

robaato

kanecain wrote: »

I thought the Poulton book was the best option on the market (and i looked). The Rapid Review book is just as it says. A review book. It doesn't go into full depth into the required topics. I mainly flipped through it while sitting in traffic or taking a crap. As far as Quizlet, I created my own flash cards and notes instead using other user's notes.

Hmm, weird is there another Poulton book? The one I read didn't cover enough detail as MS Press. The review book was perfect for me, short and strait to the point. I was going to do my own quizlet based on the ooboo or whatever the old resource was but only looked up half the questions. The MS Press book had the answers. The only problem is they are not noticeable as important. No foot notes, highlights and in the middle of paragraphs.

Anyhow, did you do DNS forwarding and DHCP for your virtual lab?

robaato

My previous test results, looking at the bar graph I should have passed. On this last test looking at the bar graph, i'm surprised I didn't fail from mobile computing. My questions were pretty similar on all 4 tests. I did not get the questions I studied so hard for that others got. Only one DISM, offline files and Branchcache. My tests were nothing like I thought they would be, was prepared for or was told would be on it. On the 4th test I decided to change testing sites and it was the only one that was worded in understandable English. I wonder if different locations have different test pools. It's more likely Microsoft changes them monthly though.

kanecain

robaato wrote: »

Hmm, weird is there another Poulton book? The one I read didn't cover enough detail as MS Press. The review book was perfect for me, short and strait to the point. I was going to do my own quizlet based on the ooboo or whatever the old resource was but only looked up half the questions. The MS Press book had the answers. The only problem is they are not noticeable as important. No foot notes, highlights and in the middle of paragraphs.

Anyhow, did you do DNS forwarding and DHCP for your virtual lab?

Nah. I didn't need to lab any of the server related subjects (Branchcache, Deployment, VPN...). We have all of that set up at work, so I labbed as I worked. I did all of my main OS labbing from a Macbook Pro using Virtual Box.

robaato

kanecain wrote: »

Nah. I didn't need to lab any of the server related subjects (Branchcache, Deployment, VPN...). We have all of that set up at work, so I labbed as I worked. I did all of my main OS labbing from a Macbook Pro using Virtual Box.

That's what I was asking. How did you setup your virtual box lab (on your mac). Did you not have it setup as a domain? I had a client and a server in separate VM's, and got them to use internet. I had to use DHCP for the server, so I had issues doing it static and setting up DNS forwarding.

4_lom

Great Job!

whatthehell

Congratz on the pass and thanks for the info!