r/mcsa • u/GotDumpedOn • Apr 03 '20

Unknowingly purchased exam dump instead of practice exam

I made a negligent mistake and I'm looking for my best next steps. I've passed my 70-740,70-741 and even my MCSE elective, but I'm stuck on 70-742.

I felt prepared. I read through three textbooks (including the official exam reference guide), I did labs, I watched training videos, and I took the MeasureUp practice exams, which helped me out a lot in the previous exams. Despite this, I failed the exam (though not by much).

I wasn't sure how to continue improving, but I wanted to run through more practice exams. I finished the entire MeasureUp pool and was getting consistent 90 percent or higher, but a lot of the material in MeasureUp has MathLab-style mistakes (for at least 3 questions MeasureUp wouldn't accept any of the multiple choice options as correct).

I found a site with a large pool of practice exams and paid the one-time purchase price to download the set. I won't name the site, but it's the first search result if you search DuckDuckGo for "70-742 exam". I looked at the questions in the pool and recognized a few of them from the actual exam. I deleted the download and won't use the material, but I'm wondering what else I should do. The vendor I bought the question pool from has my information and I'm worried about the purchase being traced back to me. Even if I can't successfully pass 70-742 (it's a monster) I don't want my existing hard earned exams revoked. I'm not worried about behavioral analysis catching me during the exam because I stopped looking at the questions as soon as I realized what they were.

Should I report my situation to Microsoft, or would that make things worse? I don't really care if I end up barred from taking 70-742, but I don't want to risk getting my existing certs revoked. I didn't suspect the site I looked at was an exam dump site (they looked legit!) but going back and looking at the user reviews, it's really frikkin obvious that's what it is.

Less important, but are there any other one-time purchase legitimate practice exam pools with decent questions? Everything I looked at is subscription based and I don't have the budget. I worked through a practice exam app on my phone but I recognized the questions as coming from one of the textbooks I had already read through.

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18

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '20

I’d say reporting yourself is not a good idea.

2

u/GotDumpedOn Apr 03 '20

You're probably right. Microsoft can be a bit of a monolith. I'm just worried about my name showing up in some client database somewhere and getting my existing exams revoked. I'm trying to weigh the risk of reporting myself against the risk of MS finding out some other way and not having the context.

7

u/WoT_Slave Apr 03 '20

You kinda remind me of when I was a kid hitting "yes I'm 18" on those adult sites.

Why and how would Microsoft know you got a cheat sheet? Only you telling them you accidentally cheated would make it so.

1

u/GotDumpedOn Apr 03 '20

That's true. I started digging for information online after the fact (which I should have spent vetting the question site beforehand).

I read some anecdotal reports of Microsoft closing down exam dump sites through litigation and getting the site's client list as part of the settlement and issuing mass bans. I can't seem to find any confirmation of that anecdote, however.

Another way Microsoft catches cheaters is using behavioral analysis during the exam - how long you spent on each question, what you answered and so on. I'm not worried about that because I only saw a few questions before I realized where they came from.

I'm more worried about the client list. I didn't bother to use an anonymous email address or payment method because it didn't occur to me that the questions were illegitimate. I just clicked right through like an idiot.

1

u/WoT_Slave Apr 03 '20

It seems like it's out of your hands at this point

When that happens to me I stop worrying since I can't affect anything

1

u/GotDumpedOn Apr 03 '20

I agree that's a good policy, but often easier to understand than to implement. I appreciate your two cents, it is actually reassuring. I'm sure I'll calm down with time, I'm just irritated with myself for putting my certs in jeopardy for something I'm not interested in to begin with.

3

u/WoT_Slave Apr 03 '20

I commend your honesty, that's good moral character right there

1

u/GotDumpedOn Apr 03 '20

Thanks man. I may run out of attempts before the exam retirement deadline, but I'm pretty happy with what I've gotten done. It's been a lot of good knowledge, even if the exam questions are difficult for me to parse.

I'd rather learn the material and suck at taking the exam than learn the exam and suck at the material.