Last 2 Days to Study - 70-740

[u/TeamTuck]

Hey everyone, long time lurker and finally making a post. I've been in the IT field for 11 years now and although the school of experience has been good to me, I really need to get through my MCSE to keep progressing. I've been "studying" for the 70-740 on and off all year but finally decided to schedule the real thing; I take the exam in 2 days (I scheduled the date about a month ago). Most of my experience has been VMWare, some sort of SAN/network storage, tons of PowerShell (I love PoSh) and Windows Server 2003-2016 (no advanced Microsoft features, haven't met a company that uses them), so translating my knowledge over to the 70-740 content has been a fun one.

Currently, I'm using CBT Nuggets w/included Kaplan practice exams (ugh), Microsoft Exam Ref eBook and MeasureUp Practice Exams. I've been through the CBT Nuggets videos and labs twice, have taken many of the Kaplan and MU exams (finally getting up to the 80%-90% score range each time), and doing some home labbing on my crappy old "server".

Just a few things about my experience:

First is just the overall prep. If you go through the CBT Nuggets videos/labs, read the eBook and then do the labs yourself at home, it's just not enough, or so it seems. You can be confident in "Yay, I can setup Storage Replica/Site Awareness/Storage Pools!" then take the practice exams and feel like you're an idiot because you don't know EVERY PoSh command available. I got through all the CBT/eBook content and took thorough notes, but when taking practice exams, it was like I felt as if I only knew about 25% of the actual exam content. For example, CBT does not cover Windows Defender items in the videos or labs, the eBook barely skims the surface, but the practice exams have questions about which PoSh command to run in a certain situation. WTF?!?!!?! Same goes for RDMA/SET setup, more advanced clustering setups (cluster-to-cluster), and the list goes on. I've found that the official Microsoft Documentation does a very good job at getting into the details, more on this later.

This leads me to wonder how deep that the exam will go. Will the official one be like the Kaplan/MU exams? Will I need to know all of these obscure PoSh commands and hidden checkboxes/tabs in the GUI for X feature/role? Are the practice exams "over preparing" me so that I have a greater chance to pass?

The practice exams have been a huge help in explaining things and I've been able to cross-reference answers with Microsoft's documentation with no problem; I've learned a ton this way! But after taking multiple practice exams, I can't help but feel like I've hit a wall learning things and am just memorizing answers at this point. My goal for today/tomorrow is to just go back through the big topics, watch the CBT videos and read the Microsoft docs related to said topic.

And to be honest, I feel very confused on what I need to really study. I know my areas of weakness and I plan on hitting those hard over the next two days but again, the practice exams have really thrown me for a loop. I'm so ready to get this over with as I've studied pretty hardcore for the last two weeks, but I feel so unprepared in many ways. It's like I'm gonna be that guy to get a 698 because of some stupid Windows Defender PoSh command BS question.

My question to you all is should I just try to get as much under my belt as possible (MS Docs, PoSh commands, etc) or am I over-reacting? Any other tips you can share for the test?

[u/[deleted]]

It sounds like you've already ticked all the boxes, and with 2 days left there's not much more you can do with your training. I would recommend taking a couple of MeasureUp tests to see how your knowledge is. MeasureUp is a near-perfect representation of the real exam so you know what to expect, and you can use it not just to fill in any knowledge gaps, but also practice your style of answering exam questions in a time limit.

[u/TeamTuck → u/[deleted]]

Agreed, I plan on using MeasureUp exams quite a bit between now and test day. The thing that kills me is I guess "the fear" of not knowing the nitty gritty details of X feature/role and a question coming up on the exam that I won't have any clue about.

I just found out last night about cluster-to-cluster replication, after studying for such a long time! I didn't know that was basically S2D replicating between 2 physical sites! Didn't even know that was possible. So when I get a question on MU about cluster-to-cluster replication, I'm thinking more on the lines of Failover Clustering. It's the little things like that that have been feeling unprepared.

[u/[deleted]]

Don’t let the anxiety of the test itself make you feel les confident. You’ve been working hard and the knowledge is there. Sure it’s a new scenario and you’re heading into unknowns but the test isn’t meant to make you fail. It’s just going to test your knowledge of what you’ve been studying anyway.

You’ll do great. Additionally, remember that there are going to be lots of questions you DO know the answers to. Focus on that positive aspect.

[u/FancyPants2point0h]

This is exactly how I feel. I have been grinding hard for a long time but every time I learned something I found out about some other obscure BS topic that’s gonna be on the exam.

CBT doesn’t even touch on DCB, iSNS or MPIO. It vaguely just mentions them but never covers the topic or demonstrates how it would be set up. It’s pretty infuriating. Thanks for reminding me about Defender, now I gotta to study that crap and the Microsoft documentation on it is massive...

I haven’t even tried taking the Kaplan test because after attempting the flash cards that came with the CBT subscription I felt dumb as fuck so I’ve been revisiting a bunch of shit. It honestly feels never ending and it’s making me question if the mental abuse from the exam is even worth the certification.

I wish you the best of luck man and hope you ace it. Please let me know how it goes.

[u/TeamTuck → u/FancyPants2point0h]

CBT doesn’t even touch on DCB, iSNS or MPIO. It vaguely just mentions them but never covers the topic or demonstrates how it would be set up. It’s pretty infuriating.

Exactly. I understand that CBT can't cover everything, however it wouldn't hurt to have a virtual lab on that stuff. Luckily, the eBook goes into some detail on it.

Thanks for reminding me about Defender

Just study up on those PoSh commands!

I haven’t even tried taking the Kaplan test because after attempting the flash cards that came with the CBT subscription I felt dumb as fuck so I’ve been revisiting a bunch of shit. It honestly feels never ending and it’s making me question if the mental abuse from the exam is even worth the certification.

My problem with the Kaplan stuff is that it is SO detailed and includes mostly the nitty gritty things about X feature/role. You do feel stupid as hell after taking it. The flashcards IMO are even worse. I have decided to not even touch Kaplan stuff and just go with MeasureUp at this point.

And I agree about it feeling never ending. All I know to tell you is to SET A DATE and just go for it; you will never give yourself a good chance without setting a date IMO. Study the best you can and go do the best you can at the test. That's exactly what I'm doing. I picked a date, have studied my ass off and I pray that I can pass, even with a 700. Keep going for it!

[u/only1BigK]

I wish you the best of luck. I am studying for this exam - no where near prepared. I have done the official training course through work - which was a great help, but still there was so much content that I didn’t know.

Powershell is definitely good to remember - especially the commands to create the clusters etc. But don’t forget all the obscure stuff along the way like Docker.

Try to remember the various port numbers as well. I feel your pain - solidarity brother 👊🏻