70-685 passed(finally)

Hi guys, not to show off or anything but I finally managed to pass the 70-685 exam and can confirm the following:

That reviewing a question will in fact mean the majority of the exam will be focused on that subject (even though the printout shows the break up to be fairly even, I don't believe it )

I used MS press book (self paced training kit) mainly, as my first attempt was using CBT nuggets but felt like they didn't cover enough on subjects such as resolving security issues and resolving network connectivity issues.

I labbed with VMware workstation with a server and client no more than that (felt it was enough to lab everything and imbedded the concepts of branchcache and directaccess into my brain also 70-680 does cover those two quite a bit)

I failed with a 624 on first attempt then today passed with 800. I felt annoyed that what I brushed up on didn't even come on the exam but hey, at least I learned to properly identify IP discrepancies in ranges and other network issues.

Time to start the 'real business' and start doing server - side skills acquisition. Anyone care to guide me ? (Looking to move from 1st line to a more infrastructure role/automation deployment etc)

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Comments

jones551

Congrats!!!!

MarcIT

Congratulations vlak, I think this is an exam to be quite proud of passing, its a difficult one. I took it last week, and didn't make it. I am likewise studying with the Self Paced Training Kit book, CBT Nuggets, and a WinServer2012 / Win7 client (Vbox) and hope to land it soon.

Marc

coffeeluvr

Congrats on the pass!!

roninkai

I took and failed 70-686 my first go. I'm scheduled for a retake next week. I choose this one over 70-685 since this will get my the MCSA and MCITP certifications (in conjunction with 70-680). Then it one more exam to upgrade to an MCSA 2012, and two more for an MCSE. Its not an easy track by any means. So many separate tools to image a damn computer, lol!

vlakarmis

Thanks guys for the support!

ksmith0001

Congrats! Do you guys have any more advice for passing the 70-685? I failed it the first time with a 545. I honestly thought I did well.

N2IT

Awesome work!

vlakarmis

ksmith0001 wrote: »

Congrats! Do you guys have any more advice for passing the 70-685? I failed it the first time with a 545. I honestly thought I did well.

That is what I thought on my first try, I honestly thought I passed with flying colours, did not want to waste time and review any questions and needless to say I was shocked when it said FAILED. The thing is, I realised, is that there are way too many 4 choice questions that have 2 good answers but obviously, when Microsoft says (select the best answer) it amounts to what they think is best.

I remember a question popping up where it gave some examples of a IIS server having had it's ip changed and clearly said there was more than one way to resolve the issue for client computers to connect to the internal website, and the keyword there was 'immediately' something along the lines of 'You need to ensure the SALES team can connect to the server in the most immediate way'

There was a choice of running a remote shell script or amending the hosts file on each client computer. Now both would have worked, but obviously a remote shell script would instantly resolve the issue, say, for 'Domain Computers' group where all PCs are located. just an example

You need to really read the scenarios carefully too and mainly focus on the paragraph you are being asked a question about. Many repetitive scenarios with lots of useless information and the useful info stands out. Say for example they are asking you about resolving a WIFI issue and say something like 'the solution must adhere to company wireless policies' you will see a paragraph just about the company WIFI policy. So you want to understand the question and really hone your focus.

my 2 pence

ksmith0001

Thanks for your perspective

MagnumOpus

After failing C# 2x before I passed, I have a new-found respect for those that pass anything labelled Microsoft. Well done mate and well deserved.

ksmith0001

Congrats!!!! I take it this Saturday. How did you prepare the second time for 70-685? What did you do different? What resources did you use?

vlakarmis

ksmith0001 wrote: »

Congrats!!!! I take it this Saturday. How did you prepare the second time for 70-685? What did you do different? What resources did you use?

The Self Paced Training Kit from MS PRESS was mainly what I used, in conjunction with CBT nuggets to refresh my memory (as they just summarize things and the book goes in depth)

I personally looked at the areas i scored weak on and revised those (Resolving network issues, Identifying and resolving security issues)

When I took the exam second time around i noticed I missed some basic things because I just did not look at the right place when reading the exhibit or scenario and reading the question carefully. Don't forget scenarios will repeat themselves for like 5-6 questions, only one part is relevant to each question.

Best of luck my friend

ksmith0001

I passed it with a 900. Thanks guys for all your wisdom. Now, I am trying to figure out whether I want to attack the CCNA or Active Directory.