Failed 70-642 with 678

That's the first exam in my life I've ever failed. What a blow to my confidence! I took about a month of on and off study using the MS Press 2nd edition book, some Technet articles and CBT Nuggets. Previously, my strategy was to read at least two books and Technet for each MS exam I took. I was convinced that 70-642 is much easier than 70-291 and 680, so I didn't take the test seriously. I read the book, did some labs, took a lot of notes, but only used Technet for a few topics. I scored about 60 to 80 percent in every area of the exam. The most difficult topics were DNSSEC and DFS - stuff that I didn't even lab. There were also quite a few questions on using command line utilities.

I would say that the MS Press book covers about 60 percent of the exam material. CBT Nuggets, on the other hand, were mostly useless. They are good for a general overview of topics, but it would be impossible to pass the exam relying on them.

I'm planning to retake the exam next week. So glad I have a second shot voucher! Now it's time to hit Technet.

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Comments

alan2308

I found the books to be as lacking as you say on the 640 and the 642. I could understand if it just didn't get deep enough in places, but there's a ton of things that never appear in the book. As a couple examples, DirectAccess does not get mentioned a single time, and IPv6 addressing is given a total of 4 pages.

Good luck on your second attempt.

sratakhin

Thank you.
Actually, the MS Press book I used has a lesson on DirectAccess. I also found information about IPv6 and DirectAccess in the 70-680 book.

cruwl

The MSpress book I used, the 2nd edition has direct access and ipv6.

alan2308

Interesting. I didn't remember reading anything about DirectAccess in that book. I did a search of the PDF, and "DirectAcess" was not found. "Direct Access" did turn up one hit, but it was in reference to direct access to a printer.

And I didn't say that there was no IPv6 in it, I said that there is nowhere near enough IPv6 in it. 6 or so pages on IPv6 addressing is not even going to scratch the surface.

cruwl

I just checked my book and it even has a practice lab for setting up direct access server and client, Make sure you have the 2nd edition of it and it should have it.

alan2308

Oops, I have them both and opened the wrong one.

But I still stand by my assessment that the cert guides aren't enough, especially the 640 one.

sratakhin

Alan, do you have any recommendations for 70-640? I already ordered another book (Dan Poulton's - lessons learned!) in addition to the MS Press book.
P.S. Retaking the exam tomorrow. I wish I had found Darril's book on command-line stuff before...

beem

sratakhin wrote: »

Alan, do you have any recommendations for 70-640? I already ordered another book (Dan Poulton's - lessons learned!) in addition to the MS Press book.
P.S. Retaking the exam tomorrow. I wish I had found Darril's book on command-line stuff before...

MS Press for 70-640 had a lot of gaps and a lot of mistakes. You can find a list of corrections for the R2 edition here.

sratakhin

Passed the exam this morning with 838. This time, the questions were much harder (many tested some really obscure and minutiae things), but I was better prepared. I spent all Saturday and Sunday reading free ebooks that I found on the Internet and a few Technet articles.
I hope to be able to pass 70-640 and 646 before the MCITP title is retired in July.

Lexluethar

Congrats! Good luck to you man! Taking my second shot on the 30th.

cruwl

Congrats on the solid pass! I also have my 2nd shot on the 30th. Hopefully my extra studying pays off as nicely as yours has.

Psoasman

Congrats on the pass.

ahphoto

Congrats!!!

Way to get back on the horse!

The 70-640 has overlap, but not to the point where you can slack off (trust me, personal experience haha). My main advice for 70-640 is to read, lab, read (second time), lab lab lab.... pass.

Here's what I used:

Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCTS 70-640 Cert Guide: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

I have a few other books that I have used, but those two seemed to help the most.

Good luck!

alan2308

sratakhin wrote: »

Alan, do you have any recommendations for 70-640? I already ordered another book (Dan Poulton's - lessons learned!) in addition to the MS Press book.
P.S. Retaking the exam tomorrow. I wish I had found Darril's book on command-line stuff before...

I got though it with Dan Poulton's book and a lot of time with the relevant step-by-step guides on Technet.

And congrats on the pass!

sratakhin

Thank you all.
I'm planning to take 70-640 by the end of June and then quickly jump onto 646. Already have all the books and it looks like 646 has a lot in common with 640 and 642.

netsysllc

Lab and Technet are your best chance. I have many years of experience and both tests are hard. They cover so much stuff and most of it does not ever get used in the SMB market only large enterprise. The overlap does not help much as they test different areas of the same topic much of the time. Look through the forum, myself and others have posted many good links to resources.