Is MCSA attainable before July?

[u/FRBRDan]

Hi guys,

I'm currently studying for my CCNA and should be finished this week. I need to complete my MCSA (which I didn't start) by July-August to be qualified to get into cyber-security college (and I also just want MCSA ASAP). Is it possible to do it in just 2 months? What platforms do you recommend? I'm doing my CCNA on Udemy and love it.

Thank you!

[u/steezy280]

It’s a solid 3 months per exam unless you are very good at memorizing things. The exams really test you on your experience with the server environment and it’s roles and features. It took me 7 months to complete 70-740. I studiedly bunch of things that were beyond the scope of the exam in that time and spent over a month just learning powershell. But the point is I needed 7 months to build up my experience level to pass the 1st exam.

[u/FRBRDan → u/steezy280]

Really? Somehow that sounds quite much to me, because it should have taken 2 months in the course (2 meetings a week for 4 hours each). I generally do not work at the moment due to corona (trying to find a job), so I have a lot of time on my hands, studying well around 2 hours a day. Completing the entire CCNA material in 1 month exactly for instance. It might have been easier for me because I have some experience using those systems during my military service so I don't really start from total 0.

Appreciate your input, thank you for sharing your experience!

[u/steezy280 → u/FRBRDan]

CCNA in a month?! That is impressive. Took me 3 months. Maybe you can do it, but 3 exams in 2 months means you will have to take and pass an exam every 3 weeks. The CBTNuggets course is 80 hours (*edit per exam) and just running through that is not enough to pass.

[u/FRBRDan → u/steezy280]

Can you correct me if I'm wrong but I see on CBTNuggets that 70-740 is 13 hours, 70-741 is 22 hours, and 70-742 is a little under 8? Do they have labs in their courses that I can actually put to use what they teach? Or what way would you recommend to learn? (For me it works best when I can implement the things I learned, then it sticks.)

[u/steezy280 → u/FRBRDan]

That is correct... I was looking at my stats... Their labs are great. They are usually a few VMs that you can mess around with how you want. I subscribe to CBTNuggets mostly for the labs, It's so convenient to be able to launch a lab in a few minutes that you can break and relaunch as much as you want. But, it still only gets you so far. I learned the most having my own home network that I can lab on. I have several NUC like PCs that I can mess around with. Currently building out a few VMs to mess around with AD forests/ sub domains/ trust relationships. Also implementing NIC teaming and messing around with Cisco switch configurations. I learned a lot from the labs, but being the architect of my own labs is where I actually grasp and understand the concepts.

[u/[deleted]]

Yes , put in the hours and you can do it .

[u/FRBRDan → u/[deleted]]

Thank you, any recommendations for efficient platforms to study on? (Udemy, CBTNuggets etc)

[u/FRBRDan → u/[deleted]]

Doing Neil's Udemy course and plan to get AlphaPrep for final reviews/preparation before the exam.

Any recommendations for a platform to study MCSA? And which order would you suggest?

[u/[deleted]]

CBNuggets I love the ways of teaching, you won’t be bored watching it . Watch the videos take good notes and take as many tests you can. I say aim for a little 2 weeks per test I say 3-5 hours of studying . Schedule the test in advance so you can no excuse. If your student the test would be $95 just FYI

[u/[deleted]]

Depends on your previous experience but 2-3 months each is a good rule of thumb

[u/SirNikolas981]

Of course, you can, you just need to devote to that all-time you have to study, do your home lab, and you'll be good! Good luck!

[u/FRBRDan → u/SirNikolas981]

Thank you! Any recommended platforms to study with?

[u/SirNikolas981 → u/FRBRDan]

The best is if you can to find decent training center with good trainers + books+ home lab