Took the 70-687 yesterday, and failed..

detroitwillfall · September 2015

well, i must say that like everyone else i am disappointed.

Scored a 555, and didnt answer a few items and only knew prolly 5 things solidly.

Ill get to the more troubling aspect in a minute but heres what i used:

TestOuts 'Client Pro' Labsims(passed all domains with the 85% and practice exam with the 95% required)
MoacLabs
Wiley ebook 70-687
Instructor skype lectures
8-12hrs a day doing homework

I can honostly say this wasnt for a lack of effort, the instructor we currently have has a course/lectures/homework that are setup at a pace to where nothing has enough time to sink in. we do 4 chapters a week reading out of that blasted wiley book, have Knowledge assesments due for each chapter, the labsims for testout out, the labs for moac, business case scenarios for wiley ebook on each chapter and have 2 skype "lectures" a week, 1-5 ch quizzes everyweek..

for most people this may seem doable on paper but on top of all that im in the middle of my 70-410 class.

So needless to say im not using my second shot retake till either my class and I are allowed to retake the course again or i feel 500% confident.

Im would use the "Top 3 Skill Areas" to focus on that i got with the print out of my exam. but this entire course as a whole, even starting back with my Network+ has been a sham.

Sorry to complain but i would say you get what you pay for but it was $7,000 grant that payed for my training.. and i coulda done it for $100 and passed myself..

culpano · September 2015

Oh dear sorry about that. Before I go off on another rant can I ask you how many hours study you have done in total ?

I think I will be in the same boat when it comes to the exam despite studying full time every day for many hours !

I am currently struggling to learn the 70-687 and I have my exam booked for 18th Sept. I am using Exam Ref book, the James Conrad CBT Nuggets which are very good and MeasureUp test exams. I am also labbing most of the stuff on my own lab (5 PC network and Hyper-Vs etc).

The MeasureUp questions are extremely hard for me. One of the questions for example was a drag and drop boxes solution for file associations. The answer when I researched it was using DISM to export and import file associations !!! There is nowhere this is even briefly mentioned. Now before people say "aah you should read Technet" then you'd have to know most of Technet by memory ! Ridiculous. I thought these exams were supposed to test your knowledge of how to apply skills learned not ask you to know every command or powershell. I am really struggling with this and I do understand most of the stuff but there are lots of obscure questions that are not even slightly touched in the learning. I sincerely hope the real exam is easier than Measure up or it's goodnight folks. I think I'm going mad !

detroitwillfall · September 2015

culpano wrote: »

Oh dear sorry about that. Before I go off on another rant can I ask you how many hours study you have done in total ?

I think I will be in the same boat when it comes to the exam despite studying full time every day for many hours !

I am currently struggling to learn the 70-687 and I have my exam booked for 18th Sept. I am using Exam Ref book, the James Conrad CBT Nuggets which are very good and MeasureUp test exams. I am also labbing most of the stuff on my own lab (5 PC network and Hyper-Vs etc).

The MeasureUp questions are extremely hard for me. One of the questions for example was a drag and drop boxes solution for file associations. The answer when I researched it was using DISM to export and import file associations !!! There is nowhere this is even briefly mentioned. Now before people say "aah you should read Technet" then you'd have to know most of Technet by memory ! Ridiculous. I thought these exams were supposed to test your knowledge of how to apply skills learned not ask you to know every command or powershell. I am really struggling with this and I do understand most of the stuff but there are lots of obscure questions that are not even slightly touched in the learning. I sincerely hope the real exam is easier than Measure up or it's goodnight folks. I think I'm going mad !

yeah it was rediculous i also have cbt nuggets 70-687 that i watched as well. im gonna start using the exam ref by joli ballew i think because this wiley microsoft academic course one is crap and has spelling errors and overall sentence/material errors all in it. not to mention its like reading a dictionary.

culpano · September 2015

I've got both the Exam Ref books and they are ok (they are a bit dry) but they do cover 95% of the areas (not in great detail though). They offer links to technet throughout the book and I think it's best to get the list of Technet links in there to read through. I will gather the list this week and I will send you the links. I aslo having a "GPO day" and a "Powershell day" where I spend the whole day running through all the GPOs and key Powershell stuff (and Command line stuff).

detroitwillfall · September 2015

culpano wrote: »

I've got both the Exam Ref books and they are ok (they are a bit dry) but they do cover 95% of the areas (not in great detail though). They offer links to technet throughout the book and I think it's best to get the list of Technet links in there to read through. I will gather the list this week and I will send you the links. I aslo having a "GPO day" and a "Powershell day" where I spend the whole day running through all the GPOs and key Powershell stuff (and Command line stuff).

thanks man thats a really good idea. i started to try and self study cbt nuggets ultimate powershell course and set up a lab in hyper-v but havnt had time due to the scheduling of my course.

yeah i specifically bookmarked the cmdlet section on technet cuz alot of my moac lab challenges involve some sort of powershell cmd

appreciate the help brother

detroitwillfall · September 2015

UPDATE**

I have since bought this book:
http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-687-Cert-Guide-Configuring/dp/0789748797/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441352223&sr=8-1&keywords=70-687+cert+guide

i was very impressed with the quality of my network+ N10-006 book and it looks like the same company/setup with this one. so i hope this will help bridge the gap!

culpano · September 2015

Yes I've heard that's a great book. I've got both the MOAC lab books too and I am running through them over the next few days. I'll get those Technet links sorted soon. I don't want to scare you but did did you know both the 70-687 and 70-688 exams are retiring end of November ? I have my 70-687 booked 18th Sept and 70-688 booked 30th Oct with a bit of leeway to get the second one.

detroitwillfall · September 2015

culpano wrote: »

Yes I've heard that's a great book. I've got both the MOAC lab books too and I am running through them over the next few days. I'll get those Technet links sorted soon. I don't want to scare you but did did you know both the 70-687 and 70-688 exams are retiring end of November ? I have my 70-687 booked 18th Sept and 70-688 booked 30th Oct with a bit of leeway to get the second one.

yeah i didnt have to pay for any of my exams/courses my non profit school pays for them but my instructor is making it a requirement for us to take it, so that means ill have to use my second shot before then..passing it would be nice but not the end of the world. windows 10/server2016..but alot of employers i bet are still on 7/8.1& 2012 but im tired of learning stuff thats expiring.. which has been the case for a year or 2 now for me.

and good luck on the exams!! i wont be taking 688, but will definitely keep my fingers crossed.

Took the 70-687 yesterday, and failed..

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