Couch2MCSA (Study Group)

Kinet1c

I wanted to see if there would be any interest from people here for a study group similar to that of the CCNA one started a few months back.

What's a study group? An extra resource for helping you with your study progress. ie. Bob may know a lot about file servers and backups, while Tom may know a lot about forest hierarchy... knowledge sharing between the study group will help both of them.

What a study group is not? Your one and only resource for study. It should be used in addition to books/classes/videos/labs/practice exams.

The CCNA group has been quiet but any time I've been stuck on a topic I've got great help from it.

krankykitty

Tentatively saying I'm interested.. I have the Windows 2008 70-640 and 70-642 down already but I've had a baby in the last few months so not sure how much time I'd have to get back to it. Though perhaps a group might help me keep motivated...

Kinet1c

Microsoft just announced that Second Shot is back live so it's a good time to get studying. http://aka.ms/SecondShot

krankykitty

Thanks! Sure we might as well give it a go now

L1011

I'm trying to blast an MCSA and possibly MCSE (Private Cloud probably) out of my employers training budget before I leave.... had a 2003 MCSE and I've got a few random 2008 and SQL MCTS certs so its not quite couch start though. First exam September 16th and then probably the next two on two week rotations after that - if I haven't changed job by then

krankykitty

Will you get training courses paid for, MYOB? I just self studied the 2008 exams I did so far, I was MCSE on 2000 but didn't get round to updating till now.

I found since they improved the layout of Technet it's a fantastic resource for the MS exams, there's also a podcast (haven't listened to it yet but have a few lined up)

L1011

No - they'll only pay exam fees or for books. Used to pay for courses and a number of people blew the training budget on Cisco (when we're 100% sonicwall shop) and promptly left!

Kinet1c

I've set up the following study group on Google Groups. https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB#!forum/mcsa-study

Hopefully it will be of some use going forward for the study group as well as anyone pursuing Microsoft certifications.

newbie7

Cheers Kinet1c.

Have a bit of downtime myself. Will check it out

L1011

682 on 70-410 today... Grrr. Slightly more Powershell than I was expecting. Have secondshot on it anyway

krankykitty

Hard luck MYOB. So close too

Kinet1c

MYOB wrote: »

682 on 70-410 today... Grrr. Slightly more Powershell than I was expecting. Have secondshot on it anyway

Unlucky When are you planning on doing the resit?

L1011

Next week hopefully.

The Glass Key

I'm up for the 70-417 upgrade sometime before Christmas.

Have just started to build a lab up, I use the Partner Action pack for all the software. I'm waiting on a new Mobo to make use of an old quad core chip I have and with 8GB RAM it should do everything needed. I could use my desktop PC but it sort of formalizes the whole process when I sit down to work and switch a lab machine on, otherwise I'm popping back here and other sites all the time.

I'm slowly working through the CBT Nuggets for the 70-417 and think what I will do is also go through the CBT Nuggets for the 410,411 & 412 and come back and finish off on 417 study material. I know that sounds a lot of work but tbh I've hardly looked at a server since I passed the 2008 upgrade exams so I'll feel a bit of a fraud if I haven't put some work in.

Where do people test btw, I use FAS in Cork, online they only test alternate weekends but if you phone them they'll log in and open up an appointment time for you. Its a nicely setup test center.

horgan_p

The Glass Key wrote: »

I'm up for the 70-417 upgrade sometime before Christmas.

Have just started to build a lab up, I use the Partner Action pack for all the software. I'm waiting on a new Mobo to make use of an old quad core chip I have and with 8GB RAM it should do everything needed. I could use my desktop PC but it sort of formalizes the whole process when I sit down to work and switch a lab machine on, otherwise I'm popping back here and other sites all the time.

I'm slowly working through the CBT Nuggets for the 70-417 and think what I will do is also go through the CBT Nuggets for the 410,411 & 412 and come back and finish off on 417 study material. I know that sounds a lot of work but tbh I've hardly looked at a server since I passed the 2008 upgrade exams so I'll feel a bit of a fraud if I haven't put some work in.

Where do people test btw, I use FAS in Cork, online they only test alternate weekends but if you phone them they'll log in and open up an appointment time for you. Its a nicely setup test center.

So they test every weekend ????

The Glass Key

horgan_p wrote: »

So they test every weekend ????

Not checked since my last exam a couple of weekends back but iirc they do Prometric testing every other Saturday morning but will open at other times for Microsoft candidates during the week if requested. afaik they are now primarily a VUE testing center as that fits in with what the center does and other local companies.

donaghs

Anyone else given 70-417 a go? how did you find it?