70-680 for WGU

Greetings,

I am enrolled at WGU in the Network Security program. I recently passed ICND1 & ICND2 for my CCNA and next up is 70-680. After researching these forums, it seems as if these exam has an extremely high failure rate for 1st attempts. I haven't seen any one specific thing mentioned as being the reason for failing other than potentially not spending enough time with labs. It seems like there is a fairly strong opinion that the Microsoft curriculum is poor, and that's what WGU provides, so I purchased the Poulton book, as well as the Rapid Review by Orin Thomas. I am trying to establish what is so different/difficult about this particular exam? This will be my first Microsoft test, but I would think that it can't be much more difficult than CCNA? I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but can anybody compare its likeness to the CCNA difficulty? I don't want to be over confident, so am I missing something?

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MiikeB

RIP_Leroi wrote: »

Greetings,

I am enrolled at WGU in the Network Security program. I recently passed ICND1 & ICND2 for my CCNA and next up is 70-680. After researching these forums, it seems as if these exam has an extremely high failure rate for 1st attempts. I haven't seen any one specific thing mentioned as being the reason for failing other than potentially not spending enough time with labs. It seems like there is a fairly strong opinion that the Microsoft curriculum is poor, and that's what WGU provides, so I purchased the Poulton book, as well as the Rapid Review by Orin Thomas. I am trying to establish what is so different/difficult about this particular exam? This will be my first Microsoft test, but I would think that it can't be much more difficult than CCNA? I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but can anybody compare its likeness to the CCNA difficulty? I don't want to be over confident, so am I missing something?

IIRC you get a lot of bitlocker questions, I think I had at least 5, and you have to know which versions include which features.

The test is not that hard IMO, I scored in the very high 800s after 2 weeks of studying. You just have to read VERY closely. One answer might be right if you are using W7 Ultimate, another might be right if you are using Home Basic.

sratakhin

Agree, the test turned out to be much easier than I thought. Just lab deployment and topics that you don't have experience with.

lsud00d

The study resources I used were Professor Messer, Technet articles, and random blogs. There's a lot of study material on the 70-680 out there...it wasn't too difficult but it did cover a lot of ground.

About7Narwhal

MiikeB wrote: »

You just have to read VERY closely. One answer might be right if you are using W7 Ultimate, another might be right if you are using Home Basic.

This is what tripped me up I believe. Mine also had a fair amount of Branch Cache and Bitlocker, but I noticed a few of the questions has more than one correct answer. Turns out, they were both correct only because I didn't pay enough attention to the OS version in the question. Rookie mistake, but hopefully it will keep others from making it.

olaHalo

Isnt this exam being dropped by WGU for that program?
I think I read it you can do the Linux+ or something else in its place...

RIP_Leroi

olaHalo wrote: »

Isnt this exam being dropped by WGU for that program? I think I read it you can do the Linux+ or something else in its place...

I believe they are dropping it for certain degree programs, but my mentor didn't mention that I had any alternatives in my program. I'm not sure if it's because I am already enrolled, but I wasn't given an option. I am 5 chapters in and it seems pretty straight forward thus far. However, it seems like there will be a lot of memorizing command line and batch switches.

swild

WGU has these programs (and others):

B.S. Information Technology—Network Administration
B.S. Information Technology—Network Design and Management
B.S. Information Technology—Security

There isn't any "Network Security" program. If you are enrolled in the Security emphasis, then you can elect to take the Linux+ instead of the Win 7 course. you will have to specifically ask your mentor about it, and you may have to wait until your next term. The Network Admin emphasis is the only one that still has the Win7 course required.

(edited to remove broken links.)

MSP-IT

I had roughly 5 questions on BranchCache too. Passed it the beginning of last month with WGU. I also had the Windows 7: Portable Command Guide by our very own Darril Gibson. It was rough, though not as tough as I expected.

RIP_Leroi

RIP_Leroi wrote: »

I believe they are dropping it for certain degree programs, but my mentor didn't mention that I had any alternatives in my program. I'm not sure if it's because I am already enrolled, but I wasn't given an option. I am 5 chapters in and it seems pretty straight forward thus far. However, it seems like there will be a lot of memorizing command line and batch switches.

Good to know. I wish I would have known about that earlier. Linux+ interests me a lot more than Win7 deployment, plus I'm sure it's a lot easier

RIP_Leroi

Passed today with an 825. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but certainly covered a lot of material (that I probably will never use). Thanks for the tips/advice.

olaHalo

Congrats on the pass. Im taking it next week