Sunday, January 20, 2013

Exam 70-432: Week 1

Week 1 is done. Here's what I accomplished:
The hardest part is going to be posting something substantial in an online forum each week. I don't have enough technical knowledge to contribute anything meaningful -- at least not yet.

On to Week 2.

8 comments:

  1. How's it going? I finally passed 70-432 last week.

    Dan

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dan,

      Congratulations! Do you have any comments you can make about the exam (without violating the NDA, of course)?

      I have to admit, it's going slowly for me. I'm not sure why, or what I have to change, but I'm not giving up.

      Thanks for the feedback.

      Peter

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  2. Without violating the NDA, here's what I can say. Since the Second Shot promtion is still on, take the exam using the Second Shot voucher. Although they don't tell which questions you missed, you will walk out with a sense of which questions you were unsure of or had to guess on. You'll then have a better idea of which areas to need to study.

    As you know, there's too much ground to study everything in detail. You're better off identifying which areas you're already experienced and proficient in (you will probably answer those questions correctly without extra study), and focus your study time & energy in areas you've had little experence with and need practice on.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dan,

      I didn't know the Second Shot promotion was currently on, so thanks for the info. For anyone else that wasn't aware, it's good until May 31st of this year. Check out the Microsoft Learning page for all the details.

      Again, congratulations on passing 70-432. Are you continuing on with certification? I see 70-433 expires July 31st.

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    2. I'm moving to the SQL 2012 exams next. As I interpret the Microsoft Certification site, once you pass a single 2008 MSTS level exam, you're eligable for the two Upgrade to 2012 MCSA exams (70-457 and 70-458) rather than 461,462 and 463, which don't have pre-requisites. I will clarify with Microsoft before signing up for the tests, but in the meantime I have ordered the the study guides for 461 and 462, which cover the topics tested for in 457.

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    3. Yes, this page seems to say: "You can upgrade Any MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to the MCSA: SQL Server 2012 certification.", so I agree with you.

      Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

      Peter

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  3. Another suggestion: If you use Management Studio in your job, use script commands instead of GUI clicks whenever possible. This can be a pain sometimes, but try using the Script Action To... options, so you'll see the script commands when you run them. If you have time, look these up in BOL and read about the parameters. You may discover parameter options that will work better for your situation than the options GUI gives you.

    The more familiar you are with script commands rather than the GUI, the better off you'll be.

    Dan

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