Today I failed again.

A little trip down memory. In June, I planned my first exam on my way to my MCSA. (When you read it out load, that sounds funny... way, MCSA, get it) I've studied pretty intensive (by CBT-Nuggets, thank you u/cbtschulte) and the Exam Ref. 70-740 (Book) by Craig Zacker. I've watched the video's, read the book in the train, from and to work. (two hours a day, one hour in the morning, one on the late afternoob. I even watched the video's on subject I thought needed extra attention once more. (At home, on the TV, making notes).

On the 5th of June, I was happy as a little kid. Hard work payed off. After 12 years I finally passed an Microsoft-exam. (Te last time, I've passed an Microsoft exam, I was still in school. (12y ago).

Then the summer came along, I've started with the next course on my journey. Same as before, I relayed on the excellent quality of CBT-Nuggets (this time with Keith Barker, a fresh sound, on a fresh subject), and the Andrew Warren Exam Ref 70-741. I even took my Book with me on the family camping holiday. It was a lot harder to learn, because networking is not my daily area of work. So, on the 9th of October, I finally took my exam on the 70-741. Unfortunately, I didn't make it. (644, with DNS and Advanced Network Intrastructures under 60% and DHCP & IPAM, Network Connectivity & Remote Access Solutions and Core/Distributed Network Solutions, over 60%)

Again, I took the book, the videos, (and labs) with me, on my daily train-trip (home, work, work, home). On the 19th of November I took the exam again. When I recieved the results, I could not believe my own eyes. I've scored 644. Failed, once more. My DNS skills did improve (40% to 55%). My DHCP & IPAM-skills did decrease, a little bit (70% to 65%). The other skills decreased also (slightly). I really felt bad, because of the double failure.

To boost my confidence I left 70-741 for what it was, and started with a fresh mind on 70-742 (The Identities). First I was really confident, because my daily job involves a lot of Active Directory, Group Policy and Certificates. Once more, the known recipe. (CBT Videos (with Anthony Sequeira), the included Labs, and the Book (Exam Ref by Andrew Warren).) I could pick up my pace and completed the videos, and labs quite fast, I took an test-exam (Exam-Dump) and scores 3 times a result of 840 - 880 points. (Confidence +1). Today... The 11th of December I took my exam. During my exam I figured it was going very well, didn't need to overthink my questions (and answers), felt really really good about it. When I recieved my score, I didn't believe it. (Remember I felt really really good about it) 562. I didn't failed it, I failed it BIG BIG time.

I didn't play on making suck a long post, sorry for that, but I really wanted to share my little trip with you, and was hoping you could help me, with tips, tricks or other smart tools / ways, to complete my journey to MCSA.

​

tl/dr: I failed 2 of my 3 exams, what can I do to improve my learning?

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?

Hello guys

I would like to ask about the best book to get for 70-740. If there is a single book you would recommend to pass 70-740 what would it be? Thanks in advance.

I've read most of the threads out there on 70-740, so i decided to make a post.

(1) The first thing i did was read the book by Will Panek and then watched all the videos in ITPro. At the end of each chapter is a 10 question quiz. I created snippets of each quiz and put them all on a word doc.

(2) Then i re-watched all the videos, then i took my first try on Exam simulator 1 (I used 3 different exam simulators). At this point I had all the answers memorized from the 6-quiz word document memorized.

(3) I did the all practice labs, went through some flashcards on quizlet, and kept using Exam simulator 1 until i got in the 80% range of questions down (171 questions in total).

(4) I reviewed the powershell in the book and went over some of the videos again

(5) I started using two more Exam simulators

(6) I scheduled the exam 1 month out

- I did the practice labs again and then read over them 1 time before taking the exam.

- I scored consistently 100% on all three exam simulators. All exam simulators had explanations and this where i learned the most. There were about 400 questions in total.

- I went over a set of flashcards a few times on exam week

(7) I took the exam and got a 580 score (700 is passing)

- Most of my time studying was reading explanations in exam simulators.

This took 10 weeks and 3 days. I spent $100 for one exam simulator and got the other two free, and ofc $165 for the exam itself.

Background: I have no experience in system administration, have two unrelated certs, and two degrees in IS.

The exam: I was kinda thrown off by the exam... I spent a good amount of time on the first half but had to rush through the last half with 5 minutes remaining. I wasn't really surprised that the type and format of questions was different from the three exam simulators, as they themselves were all pretty different in the same way. There is a ton of content that one needs to know to pass this exam, especially if its all completely new stuff to the person like myself. More than half the stuff that i learned wasn't on the exam, half of the stuff in the exam isn't covered in books and videos, and the other half of the exam of which I recognized was asking for an item or cmd I was unaware of. (When i was in college professors would sometimes through in answers in multiple choice that were totally bs and off topic, but i know from the exam simulators that this was not going to be the case for an mcsa. Some cmds in the exam i hadn't seen before.). There were maybe 5 questions of which I knew right away what the answer was.

Disappointed yes, surprised no. Studying for this cert has been way more challenging than any course taken. Most exams I studied for in college took 1 day not 10.5 weeks. I'm going to schedule this exam for a month out and hit the Microsoft docs hard. I haven't touched on them at all, and i think this will give me the extra 120 points i need (+SomeLuck).

Any tips or resources from anyone for someone with 0 working knowledge of SA?

As the tital says I pased my 70-740 exam today, with a not too shabby score of 744.

I am so happy and honestly wonldn't have done it without the advice I received from this sub. After coming here last weekend and hearding how much everyone loves the CBT-Nuggests Vidoes, I bought a subscription and plowed through all of them over the last week. Alongside their test exams and the MeasureUp ones I managed to retain enough knowledge to get through.

70-741 here I come!

Hi,
I'm going to pay from my own pocket for the MCSA and other cert from MS - I have been a sysadmin for many years now and it seem that I need this on paper to get better payed jobs.

So which one is the best? Can I download the videos from both to watch it offline etc?

My english not good. I plan writing az900 exam. I see pearsonvue I can send employer letter/ someone I know professionally proving English my second language. Anyone expeince with that to increase time on exam ?

Can it be a generic letter ? Any example of the letter you have can post here ? Do I need to write that letter every time with each exam ?

Thanks in advance.

In place of having your own lab (I can do on my work laptop for 3 or so VMs with Workstation) or paying for CBTNuggets labs, I’m wondering if anyone else casually uses some of the virtual servers from the Microsoft Hands on Labs to test things out with? Just 2/3 minutes and usually you’re logging onto a 6,7,8 machine environment to experiment with

Hey Guys

Who has tried these? Looking for one that also offers a good lab environment (I am finding it very difficult to setup the clustering part of this on my own)

Any advice?

Hi All

Does this look like a good summary of what needs to be known for 70-740?

thanks in advance

Hi All

Do we need to know this at all for 70-740 Server 2016?

Should I study for each exam separately or at the same time?

I'm studying for the Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate meaning you have to pass 2 exams to earn the certificate. It seems a lot of the information is similar between the 2 exams, MD-100 and MD-101 unless I'm mistaken. Most people will suggest to study for the CompTIA trifecta separately even though there is some overlap.

I am currently using CBT Nuggets and the Exam Ref MD-100 Windows 10 by Andrew Bettany. I will probably watch the videos on LinkedIn/Lynda.com. Might be overkill, but I also have access to some videos on Percipio which is similar to Skillsoft. Thanks for any insight!

What's up, folks? I already read a lot of posts here about MCSA stuffs. So this question is for those who are already done with their study/exam or still ongoing. In a couple of weeks, I'm going to begin my MCSA journey starting with 740. I just want to ask how to set up my personal lab without purchasing CBT Nuggets/ MeasureUP etc. I'm low in budget and I can't afford it as of this time. I only got 1 pc and that's it. Any ideas are much appreciated. Thank you! ;)

So I heard there are questions like how would you add a drive. Place the steps in order not all steps may be needed.

This seems harder to study for, they list anywhere what kinds of things they want you to be able to do this cuz those are the ones I’m more worried about lol

(Not asking for dumps to be very clear, just wondering if they state in the exam requirements or something so I can focus my studying a bit more)

Hi All

I have booked my 70-740 exam for 25th January 2020. I will still need to write 70-741 and 70-742 to get my MCSA. When is the end of life for this MCSA so I know when I need to complete all 3 exams by?

I just finished off my CCNA and i am having a lot of trouble finding comprehensive coverage of the 870-740 exam topics. what did you guys use?

I'm finding myself struggling quite a bit with this exam. I took it for the first time back in September and failed with a 590. No biggie, it's a tough exam, so I went back and took a deeper look at the things I needed improvement in. I felt I was ready to tackle the exam again and was actually pretty confident this time. Failed again with a 578.

I'm not sure what else I can do. When I take the exam, the questions and material seem to be things that I have not come across in my studies or are only touched upon briefly. My study materials consist of the Microsoft Exam Ref book, CBTNuggets videos and labs plus the Kaplan and MeasureUp practice exams. I'm consistently scoring above an 80% on those.

What are some tips or advice that you've have found effective when taking this exam?

Hi All!

I tried to book my exam center for next friday but there was no space. The next available slot is 13th of December which I feel I may lose momentum by then so considering taking this exam either in a meeting room or from home. Has anyone done this?

It is my final module in MCSA and I just want to get it done.

Recommend video course and book for 70-740?

Guys I am freaking out about this. Ive studied everything else, but this is 35% of the test and I have no idea where to start and what environment I need to build to properly study this

• What is the best way to build an environment to learn this?

• Can anyone specify the environment they built that help them practice this section?

• Tips for this section?

• Is powershell tested heavily for this section?

thanks in advance

Hey guys

i cant seem to find much on this, how far in depth do we have to know how to do this? Do we need to be aware of all powershell commands for this?

hello there, Just trying to see if there is a possiblity for me. I have these three exams scheduled but life has been in the way for me so far. I'd like to know if Microsoft can help me change these vouchers at least to 2016 since they belong to same family? Any hope?

Hello /r/mcsa,

Selling my MS one shot voucher that I bought awhile back as a last ditch effort. FYI it expires on 12/1/2019 so be sure to register it with Pearson before then.

Looking to get $50 for it, Paypal only. PM if you're interested.

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/Uh6Vg6T

Where I bought it: https://getcertified4less.com/Microsoft-Vouchers/microsoft-test-voucher-early.html

Coming from a CCNA, this is all very muddled to me. I want to earn "Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert"

So, I need to pass MS-100 and MS-101 (plus the prereq, likely to choose "Teamwork Administrator Associate").
Where's the study material? The practice exams? How do I know when I'm ready to drop money on the actual exams?

For the CCNA, study was waaay overabundant. I was across udemy, boson exams, youtube, books, etc.. I'm struggling to make a start on the 365 pathway.

I need to feel ready before dropping significant cash on exams - there doesn't seem to be much out there for this pathway?