What are /r/IT_CERT_STUDY's favorite Products & Services?

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I would not recommend university, that's an expensive route to take for what is essentially a trade skill. CBT Nuggets is great as another poster has said, but kind of expensive for starters. Professor Messer has some great free resources that can get you a solid foundation.

I'd actually recommend coming in the slow awful way: Help Desk. Try to find a staffing agency that specializes in IT and tell them about what skills you have (even if you haven't actually passed the certs yet). A place like Robert Half Technology can be a good place to start. If you interview well and can answer basic tech questions you can probably get a job at a help desk and work your way up from there.

Keep in mind - I'm not talking customer facing tech support like geek squad or a cell phone call center. I mean enterprise support for internal users at a company.

Not sure if you've stumbled on it yet, but the Professor Messer materials were pretty well spot on for what I needed.

I'm due to take the 411 in about a fortnight. I haven't really done much of the stuff that's covered in the exam at work.

But, I've found that the easiest way to study, and understand what's going on, is to set up a test environment, and run through what's covered in the 'Skills Measured' section on the exam info pages.

That's how I managed to pass the 410.

If you don't have adequate equipment for a test environment, I'd recommend running up a free trial on Azure

These are difficult tests. I had to take the 70-410 three time, the 411 four times and the 412 three times. Most others are twice, and only a few have been one-and-done.

Failing the test is fine. Giving up is not.

When I am taking the test I mark for review every question I wasn't 1000% sure about. Just before I complete the exam I reread them all and do my best to memorize it.

If I fail I spend the next 20 minutes writing down every single thing I can remember that I didn't know. Do Not Share This List. It doesn't violate the NDA if you just do it for your own study.

For study, try every method you can think of. Quizlet, labs, practice tests, reading, videos, talking to other experts. Try the pomodoro method. If your mind starts to wander before the time is up you can switch techniques but not quit.

You can do this.

sign up for a free 1 week trial of www.cbtnuggets.com

Then watch this video series (21 hours of active directory) http://www.cbtnuggets.com/it-training-videos/course/microsoft-windows-server-2008-active-directory and enable subtitles

The test is very basic, just make sure you are familiar with the proper terms for items as Microsoft presents them. For the most part, if you have some experience in IT then you can pass this easily.

I prepped using Certiport's guide and running through these flashcards and I was fine. Good luck!

>I was all set to run my home machine with a VM and use 2012 R2 through it

What are you using to create your virtual environment? Oracle Virtual Box should be able to run on Home Premium without any issue. Your hardware appears to be adequate to run a few VMs without to much of a problem.

... I should downvote you for insinuating cheating. BUT, check out Professor Messer's video. There is also Cybrary.it.

If you have any more questions come over to /r/comptia. We have a very friendly and helpful community.

if you go through some videos for Network+ and CCNA, they are almost identical in some parts.

Check out professer messner http://www.professormesser.com/n10-005/free-network-plus/ (FREE VIDEOS) for Network+ and sign up for a free trial of www.CBTNUGGETS.com (or torrent) to get access for 1 week of NEtwork+ and CCNA+ videos.

I've heard people can literally use 1 or both these sites to pass the test.

Proffesor Messer free 70-680 Professor Messer does a good job covering command lines and switches on the topics you mentioned. The videos for this exam are also free.

I prefer cbt nuggets as it is much more interesting to watch but you would like try, you can join visual studio dot net essential for free which gives 3 months pluralsight subscription.

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/dev-essentials/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/subscriptions/vs-pluralsight

congrats on passing! looking to take this exam myself.

Can i ask which book you used? i'm looking at this one myself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MCSA-Windows-Complete-70-698-70-697/dp/1119384966/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1528195096&sr=8-4&keywords=70-698 but i don't want to waste money on a book that might be rubbish!

also there is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MCSA-Windows-10-Study-Guide/dp/1119327598/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1528195096&sr=8-5&keywords=70-698 but not sure what the main differences between the 2 as one seems to cover both parts of the MCSA?

These are the books that I used the first time:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119384966/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-697-70-698-Cert-Guide/dp/0789758806/ref=pd_sim_14_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C9273WSW0XP4AX8XNQNW

I found a couple of online practice tests which I'll get the links for tonight, however this book (https://www.amazon.co.uk/98-361-Software-Development-Fundamentals-Microsoft/dp/047088911X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473233040&sr=8-1&keywords=MTA+98-361) seems to have a ton of material and questions inside so I'd definitely have to recommend it.

As I said, I'll get those links for you when I finish work.

CBT Nuggest, Exam Ref from Microsoft, and Technet on every chapter

https://www.amazon.com/Exam-70-697-Configuring-Windows-Devices/dp/1509303014/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470870083&sr=8-2&keywords=70-697

You gonna need hands on experience with Azure, bit of O365, and Win10 -all the features in the exam objectives- to really understand and answer the questions.

Thanks for the tips. I have an easier time focusing on books than video. I am going to buy this one: https://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-410-Cert-Guide-Configuring-ebook/dp/B00N5UZ656?ie=UTF8&me=&ref_=mt_kindle

Looks like it's more in-depth maybe than the 410 chapters in the Sybex book.

http://www.amazon.com/70-412-Configuring-Advanced-Windows-Server/dp/1118668383/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1443766784&sr=8-3-fkmr2&keywords=70-412+labs+moac+r2

Just to be sure, is this what we're talking about?

I'm currently using this book that has the three-in-one, but is by Zacker who did the one at a time books too.

My company bought CBTNuggets which I'm enjoying quite a bit, but if you're doing this on the cheap I highly recommend some of the tutorials on YouTube.

On the Google Play store (Android apps) there's a VCE player called A+ VCE. The free version is decent on its own, and the full version is like 18 bucks (one time, not a subscription). That's what I'm using right now to work on the 70-412 exam.

And before I get guff for "cheating", I'd note that I went through a very comprehensive online class. The teacher was fantastic; she knew the material backwards and forwards, and gave us a lot of insight on how to actually use Server 2012 in real-world situations. We also had a couple of textbooks, which I've read through a couple of times.

The frustrating bit was that a lot of questions on the 70-410 and -411 exams are based on memorizing terminology, regardless of your familiarity with the procedures.

For example, a question might say something like this:

> You need to use WMI filtering to change the way a Group Policy Object is applied. What tool do you use?

> 1. The Group Policy Editor Console

> 2. Group Policy Editor

> 3. Group Policy Management Console

> 4. GPO Manager Console

Now, the fact is, I know exactly where the WMI filter settings are in the GP management applet. I know how to open the group policy editor from a command line. I know what WMI stands for and why it's necessary. I used WMI filtering routinely at work before I ever took the test. I used it last fucking Tuesday. The GPO manager is the most common tool I use at work. And yet, I could not for the life of me remember what the fucking thing was officially called, and that is what the question is testing me on. It didn't help that the textbook referred to the GPMC as the "Group Policy Editor" because that's what the freaking title bar says.

And that's why I ~~drink~~ use VCE tests.