70-680 Tough exam, but passed!!

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Hi guys,

Feedback
I took my 70-680 today and it was a lot harder than expected. I passed with 863/1000 but literally reviewed like 10 questions and thought I was going to fail haha. It was difficult, I have no IT experience but study hard, originally I was going to take a couple of months to go after the 2nd exam to get a MCITP, but I'm going to wait until I get some experience.

What to watch out for
SYNTAX!

Preperation used
Did it all mainly from Testout, fantastic software.

Vouchers
Got mine for about £80 off Certify4less

I'm going after my Network+, i'm halfway through but I'm finding it quite tedious. Struggling to find the motivation as all the jobs I see are either degree level, or you need experience.

 

Congrats

 

Congrats!

 

Nice one dude! Good score too

 

Congrats on the pass mate.

 

Awesome work! Well done!

 

I've ordered the certificate, however I think it's just the A4 paper one. I would like that card also but not sure how to get it. I also can't access their MCP store, probably because MS haven't updated their database yet. Did you say it comes with the paper certificate algorithmblues?

I'm thinking of leaving this certificate off my CV when I apply for jobs, I assume my interview questions would be a lot harder with this cert on my CV? I've never had an IT interview before, but alot of the IT guys from work say to only put your basic qualifications ie A+, Network+. Is that right?! :S

 

Congrats!

 

Congratulations on passing the exam. It is a touch one. I took a class at CED Solutions and it really helped me pass the exam this past March. They have a lot of good classes for they type of certs you are going for.

Good luck!

 

Hi mate. Did you go on a course for the exam or was it all home study? Think u mentioned in the other thread u went on a course

 

I wouldn't leave it off. Although I personally think the exam is above entry level the simple fact of the matter is that it's the most basic client exam MS provide (that's worth the paper it's not printed on). It's not that far above entry-level to make anyone think "braindumper" or that you just want the job to give you a bit of money until something better comes along.
I doubt any hiring managers can be bothered thinking up cunning sets of questions depending on the certs someone has*. They're trying to find the person who best fits the job, which is not necessarily the one with the most technical knowledge. If there are tech questions then they're generally the same tech questions for everyone and are mostly designed to weed out the weak.

For entry level jobs I think there are three main factors:
Customer service skills.
Tech skills (not just current but potential)
Personality

People might put different importance on each but you'd need to tick each box to be considered.

Spend some study time on competency questions. Most interviews will have a competency style questions or two. For instance, at my last interview I was asked "Tell me about the last time you made a mistake". I find competency questions difficult merely because I can never think of relevant scenarios (I rarely make mistakes ) under the beady eye of the interviewer. I get round this by making a list of times when I've pulled things around or went the extra mile and I review these before an interview. 6-8 tales of my awesomeness seem to cover most questions.

Also, when answering tech questions verbally, try to say things like "I'd need to double check first but I think it's..." if you're not 100% sure. People who give users the wrong information are a lot more trouble than those who spend a few seconds/minutes (or even have to phone the user back) ensuring they give the right information.







* If they have time to do this they must be in charge of a super-stable system with super-efficient staff, so why are they hiring??

 

Well done and congratulations