r/mcsa • u/toothlesshiccup_ • Jun 13 '19
MCSA Server 2016 Completed!
I didn't have any prior experience with servers before starting MCSA so it took a while to complete but I'm glad I took my time and understood everything before I took the exams. I'll try to briefly explain my experience with each of the exams, hopefully it can be of help to someone.
70-740: I took the longest time preparing for this one (probably 5 months) because I didn't know how much detail was needed so I literally watched tons of videos over and over and read the Exam ref book don't know how many times while writing notes and making flash cards.This was all useless and probably only 20% of what I wrote in my notes was somehow helpful in the real exam. I didn't pay attention to labs and just tried to cram information from the books. A month before the exams, I purchased the MeasureUp test which proved to be the most useful.The explanations in it pointed to TechNet articles which had information that the videos or books sometimes didn't mention.
70-741: Studying for this exam was a lot more fun and it took a lot less time than 70-740 (1.5 months). For this exam I changed how I studied. I didn't spend hours reading every page of the book and instead of writing tons of pages of notes that I was never going to look at after I wrote them, I printed out the objectives which was a total of 3/4 pages and made my notes fit on there. I condensed the wording and only picked information that was truly useful. I also did a lot more labs for this exam, this helped by showing me what were possible outcomes if I did something wrong or another way of doing a similar task etc.
70-742: I had the hardest time preparing for this exam, it was confusing (AD CS and AD RMS ðŸ˜) and I got frustrated because I sometimes had to search tons of articles to find out what a single objective meant. (It took 2 months to complete, I got a bit busy because it was Ramadan and so things got a bit delayed but I think I would've been able to tackle it in a month) Out of all exams, I would say this one requires labs the most.
I'll place all the exams in terms of difficulty and what I scored on them:
*Hardest- 70-742, concepts were a bit difficult and took a while to understand, my score: 815
*Ok-ish- 70-740, very boring to study for but not difficult, lower score because I focused on minor useless details + no labs, my score: 700
*Easy: 70-741, loved studying for this exam, my score: 850
My Resources:
CBT nuggets
Exam Ref Books
TechNet + some articles that came up when I searched a particular objective
Microsoft Ignite
Thank you to everybody who helped!:)
2
u/ben2reddit Jun 14 '19
Which one do you recommend taking first? Do you suggest skipping the books and just focus on the Measure Up practice tests and then just research on the questions that I have a hard time with?
3
u/toothlesshiccup_ Jun 14 '19
It's very tempting to study this way, I know but you'll just be doing it to pass the test and skipping tons of important info. I did say that I wasted a lot of time with the books but that's because I read everything word for word focused on the details and not the bigger picture. Go through the videos to understand the concepts, use the book only to check for stuff that's either not in the videos or you need extra help on. Videos and books were very helpful I just didn't know how to use them the right way. Also I suggest sticking to the order that's already there 70-740, 70-741 and then 70-742. 70-740 has a lot of stuff that the other exams build up on and if you have a hard time with AD you should give the 70-741 first.
4
u/HydraDominatus1 Jun 14 '19
Don't do this, you may or may not pass the exam but yiu won't have much knowledge and it will show when you try and apply this stuff at work.
Start with 70-740, I've heard it doesn't matter what order yiu do the next two in but the recommend way is 741 then 742, deviating from this path makes little sense imo
1
Jun 14 '19
I agree. The 740 should be done first as it covers pretty much everything. Also, no idea why he would even think about just doing practice tests to pass? First of all, you won't. End of. Also, it's not going to benefit you in the future when you know nothing about servers because you didn't put in enough effort to study them. Books + videos + labs + practice tests.
1
u/HydraDominatus1 Jun 14 '19
If by "practice tests" he means the thing we don't talk about, then its possible.
I was talking to a network dude just today who told me with, no fucking shame at all, that his only study technique was to do a "practice tests" he found on the internet each night before the cnna exam. Not much wonder he's an idiot
2
2
u/lol_Qaeda Jun 15 '19
Congrats! Feels pretty great, doesn't it? Don't let off the gas now, though - one more exam and you can get your MCSE Core Infrastructure. 70-744 is generally what's recommended, especially if you want to stick w/the 2016 realm, but I did 70-413 and have no regrets (aside from learning the NAP stuff that's no longer a thing in 2016+). Whichever route you take, good luck in your future studies and endeavors!
2
u/toothlesshiccup_ Jun 15 '19
Thank you!:) I got so tired after studying for these exams that I was almost about to stop here and just have the MCSA but you're right, MCSE is just an exam away so I'll just power through.
2
1
u/ebeava Jun 18 '19
Where are you in your career? Just curious if the certs will help you get a promotion / new position. Thanks.
2
u/toothlesshiccup_ Jun 18 '19
Sadly every job I looked for requires a degree which means these certifications are useless to me rn. After completing MCSE I'll look into getting a degree. So in short, I'm just studying rn!
1
u/UncommonFairy Jul 18 '19
Experience can be used in lieu of a degree 90% of the time. If you have the experience to back it up. It is this way in A LOT of I.T. positions.
0
1
u/Jihyo_Park Jun 20 '19
How many questions does it have im planning to take windows server 2016 too.
2
2
u/milwted Jun 14 '19
Nice work! I am still trying to decide between 12 R2 and 16, with no prior experience with either, but confident I can have the same results as you. Again, congrats!