Good Afternoon,
So it’s been a few weeks since we last talked. In that time,
many of us have passed exams and moving towards our goal. For those that
haven’t taken their first exam, it’s a good time to get it scheduled and on the
books. Having the schedule exam creates a finite goal that will help motivate
your progress.
So how about that 70-410 exam?
To be honest, I thought the 70-410 exam was well done. I
believe Microsoft created a foundational exam that covered the objectives and
focused on important skills IT Pros should know about Server 2012. Unlike
previous exams I’ve taken from VMware, CompTIA, and Microsoft, this exam did
not have anything I found to be the proverbial “needle in a haystack”. In fact, there were a number of questions that
covered the exact principles I teach my students every semester. That being the
case, I told my classes this week that they should consider taking the 410 exam
since I believe the knowledge they’ve learned provides a great base for success on this exam WITH the proper study of
Windows Server 2012.
The following are my tips for preparing for the 410 exam. As
an MVP & MCT, I take the NDA very seriously so nothing listed here will be
earth shattering or provide you deep insight into the specifics of specific
questions. However, it should help you to prepare.
1. I found the Craig Zacker Exam Prep to be a spot
on guide. If you can learning the principles and tasked covered in the book, you
should be successful on the exam.
2. You need to know Hyper-V as a stand-alone
virtualization host, and be able to create VMs through Hyper-V Manager. Also,
you need to know how to configure new and existing VMs through the GUI and
using PowerShell.
3. You need to know how to perform all tasks
related to the exam objectives in the GUI AND via command, whether that be
PowerShell or other specific tools like dnscmd or dism.
4. If your background is on a previous OS, I think you
will find previous knowledge of AD, DNS, and DHCP will be a great benefit. Just
make sure you know how to work with all three in Server 2012, as well as
knowing new features in 2012.
5. Spend as much time as you have available
hands-on. When I work with students on preparing for exams and learning in
general, I stress visualizing the environment. You should be able to visualize
how you perform tasks in Server 2012 without having the environment in front of
you.
6. Run through every available wizard related to
the exam objectives AND make sure you understand every option presented along
the way. You can pick up a lot of insight from the wizards.
Well, I was off to prepare for 70-411. However, I had to reschedule and the only available time was after my scheduled time for 70-412 so I guess I will be studying for both exams in tandem. I'll let everyone know how that goes.Thanks for listening…Mike
Comments