Anyone MCTS Certified?

MoSiAc

I got this voucher for free courses from Microsoft due to my state lacking in IT people or some such. Anyway I'm taking the courses that will let me take the 70-640 test and I'm wondering if anyone here has taken it and passed it.

How did you study other than books? Did you have a copy of win 2k8 server to play with? Did you use virtual machines?

How much of the test is just questions and how much is like a "lab" experience?

travathian

I took the 2k and 2k3 exams, for 2k I took a class and had access to a lab. For 2k3 I just set up a lab at home practice. The MS series of books walked you through step by step all the various things you should know how to do. I imagine virtualization would make setting up a lab much easier now a days. For each exam there were a number of scenario type questions, troubleshooting questions, and planning type questions. By setting up your own lab and practicing this stuff you're pretty like to break things and have to learn how to fix them. You can also check out the official forums and see the types of problems people experience with AD and see if you can replicate their problem and then whatever fix is provided or suggested.

Of the server exams most people seem to think the AD exam is the most difficult, so you probably want to do it third if you're doing the 3 for the MCITP.

MoSiAc

Well I only get a choice of one with the voucher and I chose this one. I have some experience with AD but not a ton. So far the free courses are nice, and the test is also going to be free with the voucher from what I gather. I may end up trying for MCITP but one thing at a time and all that.

Tofystedeth

What state do you live in/how did you find out about the program? I've been considering tackling some of those tests for slapping on my resume, and a voucher for the fee would be pretty nice.

MoSiAc

I'm in Kentucky it's part of the elevate america program. Other states might have something similar.

bigwah

If you want to get a feel for how the tests are, take the Vista and/or 7 test. They should be easy enough for anyone that browses these forums to ace without studying. Seriously, the hardest part was RSS feeds.

If you want some free virtualization stuff, try out Microsoft's Hyper-V Server 2008 (completely free)(this is not Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V).

MoSiAc

I'm trying out VM ware for virtualization but my work computer isn't really strong enough to handle fake workstations and a fake server. I'm trying to get a feel for what kind of questions the test are gonna ask. Finished two of the Microsoft courses only 7 left and I can schedule the test.

Anyone know if there will be any questions or lab experiments about connecting linux machines to the domain cause pretty much the only thing that doesn't seem pretty much common sense is figuring out how policies apply to users by level. Once I figure that out everything else seems pretty simple.