April 23, 2012 at 1:57 am
I thought it was time to push myself again so I have booked 70-450 for 29th May, which should hopefully give me enough time to go through the Transcenders.
I know there are no official MS Press books for 70-450, but other than Transcenders and MeasureUp/SelfTestSoftware, what other none rule breaking resources are good to swat up on. If anyone can recommend a book much like the MC:TS book for 70-432 that would be amazing as that helped me on the bits I struggled on when I failed 70-432 for the first time.
Also is the pass mark 700 still like it is for 70-432 so I can configure the pass mark on Transcender?
May 2, 2012 at 8:35 am
anthony.green (4/23/2012)
I know there are no official MS Press books for 70-450, but other than Transcenders and MeasureUp/SelfTestSoftware, what other none rule breaking resources are good to swat up on. If anyone can recommend a book much like the MC:TS book for 70-432 that would be amazing as that helped me on the bits I struggled on when I failed 70-432 for the first time.
The only one I've seen is Tom Carpenter's book. It's pretty good; I'm using it in my self-study class.
Also is the pass mark 700 still like it is for 70-432 so I can configure the pass mark on Transcender?
According to the FAQ, "All MCTS and MCITP exams are scaled such that the passing score is 700."
Good luck with 70-450.
May 2, 2012 at 8:51 am
Thanks Peter, I have ordered that book just waiting for it to turn up, knowing my luck it will get delivered when I'm not in and I will have to go to the sorting office to pick it up.
Will let you know the outcome in 4 weeks
May 2, 2012 at 9:44 am
Hi Anthony
Good luck with the exam!
Quick question I'm looking at doing the 70-432 and have looked at buying the MCTS 70-432 self study book but have read very mixed reviews.
What is your take on it, is the book worth the cash?
Andy
==========================================================================================================================
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. Mitch Ratcliffe
May 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm
It's not bad. I found with it that around 70% of it was basic enough to give the understanding but that it was lacking a bit of meat on the bones but that might just of been as I knew that part of the topics as I only just failed 70-432 by 1 question but it gave me the extra bits where I was lacking.
As with any MS book or course material it's been proof read as best it can but there are the odd mistakes both in the book and in the sample exam which come with it.
It also comes with ( I think ) a £15 discount voucher towards the exam price so in all the book only cost me £10 if you will due to the saving on the exam.
Other than that it's good for reference material as if your like me you only get to do the same things the majority of days so the stuff you only touch once in a while kinda slip to the back of your mind so good for the info when you need it.
May 3, 2012 at 2:31 am
Thanks Anthony - I'll order a copy
I'll probably need a few more books as well then based on your comments, my main role is Data Warehousing and SSRS but recently become the accidental DBA so I'm on a steep learning curve at the moment!
Thanks Again
Andy
==========================================================================================================================
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. Mitch Ratcliffe
May 3, 2012 at 2:53 am
If you can afford it this is supposed to be a good one http://www.amazon.co.uk/70-443-70-450-Microsoft-Optimization-Infrastructure/dp/0470183748/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1336034065&sr=8-4 granted its for the MCITP but the majority of the concepts would be the same.
I'm waiting on the Tom Carpenter book to turn up but the pocket consultant looked like a good one while I had access to it while I overtook a role from a contractor.
I think the issue with me is that I went into 70-432 a bit smug for one of a better word, as my main tasks have been administration focused for the past 5 years so I thought I knew it. The things I slipped up on the most where security and high availability, but I know where I lack in HA and thats with replication as I hadn't used that piece of tech before.
May 28, 2012 at 2:04 am
Right well tomorrow is going to be a scary day.
Not only do I have my 70-450 exam in the morning, in the afternoon I also find out what sex our first child is going to be (hoping for little girl but will be glad either way).
To be honest I dont think I'm ready for both, so today is going to be cram cram cram with Transcenders, re-reading the 70-432 book and also Tom Carpenters 70-432/70-450 book, then reading through Jason's (SQLRNNR) 70-450 Study Guide.
May 28, 2012 at 2:27 am
anthony.green (5/28/2012)
Right well tomorrow is going to be a scary day.Not only do I have my 70-450 exam in the morning, in the afternoon I also find out what sex our first child is going to be (hoping for little girl but will be glad either way).
To be honest I dont think I'm ready for both, so today is going to be cram cram cram with Transcenders, re-reading the 70-432 book and also Tom Carpenters 70-432/70-450 book, then reading through Jason's (SQLRNNR) 70-450 Study Guide.
All the best for both the tests 🙂
M&M
May 28, 2012 at 2:29 am
anthony.green (5/28/2012)
Right well tomorrow is going to be a scary day.Not only do I have my 70-450 exam in the morning, in the afternoon I also find out what sex our first child is going to be (hoping for little girl but will be glad either way).
To be honest I dont think I'm ready for both, so today is going to be cram cram cram with Transcenders, re-reading the 70-432 book and also Tom Carpenters 70-432/70-450 book, then reading through Jason's (SQLRNNR) 70-450 Study Guide.
Good Luck with both Anthony 🙂
==========================================================================================================================
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. Mitch Ratcliffe
May 28, 2012 at 3:42 am
anthony.green (5/28/2012)
To be honest I dont think I'm ready for both, so today is going to be cram cram cram with Transcenders, re-reading the 70-432 book and also Tom Carpenters 70-432/70-450 book, then reading through Jason's (SQLRNNR) 70-450 Study Guide.
I recommend you don't. If you don't know it by now, an extra few hours won't help, but will make you go to the exam more stressed than you would have been otherwise. Take the evening at least off, relax, get some sleep, show up to the exam awake and as relaxed as possible.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 28, 2012 at 3:49 am
GilaMonster (5/28/2012)
anthony.green (5/28/2012)
To be honest I dont think I'm ready for both, so today is going to be cram cram cram with Transcenders, re-reading the 70-432 book and also Tom Carpenters 70-432/70-450 book, then reading through Jason's (SQLRNNR) 70-450 Study Guide.I recommend you don't. If you don't know it by now, an extra few hours won't help, but will make you go to the exam more stressed than you would have been otherwise. Take the evening at least off, relax, get some sleep, show up to the exam awake and as relaxed as possible.
Thanks for the advice Gail. I do plan that after 4pm today that I wont be looking at anything till after the exam tomorrow. I just wanted to run through the topics again at a high level just to make sure that I have the right joins in my brain between certain topics, especially around replication, also just running over my flash cards which I made notes on in relation to questions which I got wrong in the practise exams.
May 28, 2012 at 7:01 am
good luck Anthony, staying out of the books is top advice, I failed 70-432 by trying to cram everything into my head up until the guy at prometric ripped it out of my hands, for 70-450 I did the exact opisite, listened to some music, ate some banana etc. Enjoyed the morning so much that I re did 70-432 an hour or so later and passed that as well...
May 28, 2012 at 7:06 am
Yeah, I'm out of the books now, everything is away, only thing i can see on my desk is my flash cards, but as I have spend all morning crossing the t's and dotting the i's I best get some work done.
May 29, 2012 at 5:19 am
just out of the test centre bad news this time round only got 624 so quite a way off. have to say there where a couple of questions which I was thinking it could be one of two answers, but hey ho such is life.
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 35 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply