Dave Lawlor {Dot} Com » Microsoft Certifications

Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

Dave — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:43:57 +0000

Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the end of 2009, for one of my resolutions going into 2010 would be to finish up my MCITP this year. In that regards, I am giving myself 45 days to prepare and pass the 83-640 exam. I am going from today (Jan 3rd 2010), so I am going to set my exam for Feb 17th which will work well for my schedule as luck would have it.

This exam replaces the 70-640 exam in the US because a part of the exam uses the performance based testing that I did the pilot for.

I am going to use the following resources to study:

Train Signal’s Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Training
Transcender Practice Exam
Microsoft Self Paced Study Guide

I will start by going through Train Signal’s video courses first, then using the self paced study guide and virtual machines to get more of a hands on feel to deal with more of the performance based testing.

I feel this schedule will be tough, but I just got done designing and implementing a Server 2008 Active Directory network for a small business not to mention I have been working on Active Directory since 2000. I am going to document regularly here as I go through the study material.

Passed 70-642 Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring I have been so busy at the office that...

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Passed 70-642 Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring

Dave — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:59:31 +0000

I have been so busy at the office that I have been putting off taking some of the exams I need to get done, when I noticed that one of my vouchers was going to expire I quickly registered to make the expiration date.

With the holidays and family commitments it was tough to get studying in but I managed to squeeze some on. Today even though I was knee deep in drama at the the office (another post on that in the future), I managed to squeak at a 850 to pass. This adds another line to my MCTS.

The next exam on my list is the 70-640, hopefully it wont take 6 months for me to get around to taking that one!

Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the...

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Windows 7, Configuration Certified! Passed Beta Exam 71-680

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:01:48 +0000

So I got the email this morning that proudly states:

Congratulations on earning your Windows 7, Configuration certification!

If you remember from a previous post I took the 71-680 beta exam back in early June. I was glad to get confirmation, and it didn’t even take that long really. Im just happy to have it out of the way, and I was glad to be able to give feedback on the exam and hopefully help refine the process.

Quickbooks 2009 & Windows 7 I will be the first to admit that I am...
Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the...
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Windows 7 Beta Exam 71-680

Dave — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:05:40 +0000

Well it has been quite a while since I started playing with Windows 7 by installing it on my main production machine, and recently I have reinstalled it to put RC on. I have to say that I am very much liking Windows 7 on almost all fronts. When I heard about the beta exam for 71-680 from the MS Learning blog Born To Learn, I called in to secure one of the limited spots available. I was lucky to grab one and quickly scheduled for today May 6th.

While I have been using Windows 7 hands on for awhile, I knew that I would need to spend some time in the days before the test to come up to speed on some of the things that a stand alone installation wouldn’t normally see or use so I would know how to deal with them on the test. Luckily the 71-680 prep guide came online pretty soon after the announcement so I had a rough idea the areas to bone up on.

So this morning bright eyed and bushy tailed I went off to take my exam and see what it was like. Of course we are under NDA when you take MS exams so I will not comment on question specifics, but I will give some thoughts on the exam both positive and negative.

There were no gross errors or totally misleading questions on the set I worked with, I have seen murky questions in several exams I have taken in the past, but I did not hit any of those this time around.
It was still an “old” style test. I was hoping this exam would bring a launch of “performance” based testing like the 70-113 pilot exam. This one had the age old exhibit pictures to work with and standard text questions, though the scenario questions were light to me from past exams.
So over /switch questions… really if I know how to do something from a command line and I know what .exe to use, I am pretty sure I will figure out the switch parameter when needed. I think it is a little much to have to remember all switch configurations for .exe files. I can easily get them in a moment at a cmd prompt, I would think you could use that question to probe into a test takers other areas of knowledge.
Little things can annoy me during a test, like the fact the center I was at still used a ball mouse that probably hadn’t been cleaned in ages, This caused it to be very unresponsive to my movement. The old CRT monitor with rounded screen also was a distraction, if I can show my snobbish elitism for flat screen monitors now. Hopefully I can finally find a test center that has a little more modern equipment.

All in all there really were really no real surprises in 71-680, when compared to 70-620 except for Windows 7 specific technologies. Anything could happen but I am pretty confident that when I get my results in 2 months or so I will have passed. And again while I am under a NDA for specific questions, I am going to be writing up some articles on the specific technologies I saw, that some people might not always be familiar with in day to day use. Look for those in the near future.

Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the...
Passed 70-642 Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring I have been so busy at the office that...

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Exam 70-113 Vouchers Arrived Today!

Dave — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:47:11 +0000

I have been holding up doing my next Microsoft cert because I wanted to use the free vouchers I got for taking the pilot 70-113 and today is the golden day I got the email with my 3 codes so I am going to sift through my schedule and set a hard date for the 70-642 exam. I guess I was one of the first 3000 people, but I don’t believe they hit the full quota yet since they keep extending the pilot phase. You can still sign up till the 17th:

You must register at least 7 days prior to taking the exam. Register before December 17^th to take the exam before December 31^st.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: H640 (promo code is active till December 31st)
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the pilot; we recommend that you register immediately.

· Go to the Prometric Website: http://www.prometric.com/microsoft

· Find Microsoft exam 70-113: TS: Windows® Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

· Use Promo Code H640 (promo code is active till December 31st)

Send your opinion about exam experience to: http://blogs.technet.com/betaexams/ and to: pbexam@microsoft.com

It actually is a great preview of what I hope all the exams become.

Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the...
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Last call for 70-113 the new Virtual lab based exam

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:35:38 +0000

There is a post on Born to Learn today about them extending the registration for the pilot program. I wrote about my testing experience taking 70-113 back in August and how positive I thought the experience was.

As an added incentive if you are one of the first 3000 to take the exam you will now receive 3 exam vouchers for future use on any other Microsoft exam at Prometric.

Here is the registration info from the post:

You must register at least 7 days prior to taking the exam. Register before October 25^th to take the exam before October 31^st. Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: H640 (promo code is active till October 31st)
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the pilot; we recommend that you register immediately.

Go to the Prometric Website: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp
Select Microsoft exam 70-113: TS: Windows® Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring
Enter Promo Code H640 (promo code is active till October 31st)

I highly recommend you go and signup and get experience with this new format before it is rolled out to the regular exams.

Preparing for Microsoft exam 83-640, Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Since I finished up my exam 70-642 right at the...
Passed 70-642 Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring I have been so busy at the office that...

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Are You An MCP?

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:25:53 +0000

There has been a lot of confusion out there when it comes to the new certifications from Microsoft. This is partly because the old certifications are still in play, and the new ones don’t conform to the same framework of named designations as they have in the past.

One of the most confusing ones would be the MCP designation. In the past if you passed any of the certification exams you were awarded a MCP designation, as a “Microsoft Certified Professional”. It would clearly state on your Microsoft transcript under Microsoft Certification Status as a MCP and the date this was achieved by passing your first exam. You can see this below in this transcript:

Transcript with MCP

With the new certifications though this is no longer the case. When you pass your first exam you are said to be part of the “Microsoft Certified Professional Community“, but you are no longer awarded the MCP designator. This is clearly evident on this transcript from a candidate that has just recently passed 70-620 to earn his first MCTS status. You will notice it does not include a MCP designations under the Certification Status, only the MCTS:

Transcript without a MCP

Even though the new certifications have been out for more than a year (See Death to the MCSE by Scott Skinger for more details) there still is confusion by people even in the learning community that should know better. It is also a question that gets asked several times a month on the Technet Learning Forums that has to be answered. So why all the confusion even after all this time?

I chalk it up to a few things:

A ton of out of date information on the web by even highly respected sites
The fact that both old and new versions of the certifications are still available because of product life span. I would have liked to see a more clear cut change for even the older versions of the exams if possible.
Old timers that just don’t keep up with the newest trends. I will admit that I was in this boat for a long time. Having been certified for so long, while I heard about new certifications, it didn’t really hit home how different the new system was until I really took the time to start reading up on it about 6 months ago.

So in summary if you are just starting out taking the new Microsoft certification exams and you pass, congratulations! You are now part of the MCP Community, but sadly you are not a MCP. Now that being said, if you are still dying for a MCP designation after you name you can still take one of the live tests from the 2003 tracks and receive it. You can even still get your MCSE if you are so inclined. The confusion will die down in time as the older certifications start to retire and only the new system is in place. Then you can tell all the upstarts coming through about the good old days when you were a MCP or MCSE and see them stare blankly at you when they have no idea what those are.

Update: Trika was nice enough to email me an earlier link to an article that she wrote about this earlier in the year. You can find it at http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2008/01/09/so-an-mcp-and-an-mcts-walk-in-to-a-bar.aspx

Passed 70-642 Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring I have been so busy at the office that...

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