Failed 70-462. Worth doing 70-461 before resit?

  • Took 462 yesterday and only managed to get 612 vs the pass mark of 700. Main problem is that I'm not a DBA so was doing everything from the book rather than based on experience. I will need to pass this at some point though (I have a Second Shot valid until the end of May).

    I'm actually a Senior Developer. I came in this morning and took a practice test for 461. Fifty questions, which I rushed through in 20min without having looked at the book at all yet I still managed 92%.

    So, assuming I do a quick "brush up" on 461 (Query Hints and Encryption was what I missed) is it worth taking that before the 462 resit just to get a bit of a confidence boost?

    As far as 462 goes does anybody have any tips for the best way to approach this? I think I need to spend more time actually working through examples and case studies from the book but I'm still not sure if that covers everything. I won't say anything about what was in the exam but there were a couple of nasty surprises there for me.

    I was hoping to get 462 "out of the way" as the other ones actually reflect what I do in my job. It's a shame that you now need a DBA qualification to get any sort of certification in SQL Server 2012.

  • If the Score Sheet they gave you said "Needs Inprovement" on Query Hints & Encryption, those are features that are relatively easy to implement & experiment with on a practice system (assuming you have Enterprise or Developer Edition). That and you probably have a good idea of which questions you were unsure of or had to guess on. Based on that, you probably have some fairly narrow areas to bone up on for a another try. That's what I'd do.

  • Unfortunately the 70-461 practice test(s) are NOTHING at all like the actual Certification Test.

    I was getting 95% + on practice tests. Took another one this evening after having not looked at ANY of the material for two weeks - and passed it at 90%

    Yet the actual Certification Test is MUCH different.

    I'm sort of hunting around hoping I can find some examples (not answers mind you - just *examples*) of the unusual test questions.

    In my opinion - it is actually a very fair test. The only unfair part of it is having the actual test format be so much different than how I was told to prepare for it.

    Scott

    Tucson, AZ

  • Be under no illusion, the exam 70-461 is nothing like the test examples from the training kit. I'm an OCP studying for Microsoft Certification and can inform you that the examination questions asked, their complexity and structuring, are completely different to the kit. You really need to know your stuff.

  • Transcender now has a product to help you prepare for the 70-462 exam:

    70-462 - MSCert: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

  • Thanks for the above info on 70-461 - sounds like it's a lot harder than the practice tests! I therefore decided to bash on with taking 70-462 again first (again one where the practice tests weren't great) and have my second shot next Monday. Been studying hard on what's not in the book and what I can remember from the exam.

  • Passed it this time 🙂

    Now on to 461.......

  • Congrats! I personally found 461 easier than 462. I've got 463 on Friday... gonna take a study break for a while after that!



    MCSE: Data Platform
    MCSE: Business Intelligence
    Follow me on Twitter: @WazzTheBadger
    LinkedIn Profile: Simon Osborne

  • Congratulations to Richard.

    Regarding the 70-463 exam, I'd be interested in hearing how that one goes as I'm sitting it in June.

  • Thanks, and good luck with 463. As a developer I'd classified these as:

    461 - The (should be) easy one

    462 - The hard one

    463 - The interesting one

    ...but I expect they're ALL hard!

  • Hi,

    So i've just got back into work having passed 70-463! It was an interesting exam with a good mix of questions accross all the topics, some easy, some not so easy. Aslong as you're using the study guide then you should be fine.

    Obviously can't say too much more because of the NDA.

    Thanks,

    Simon



    MCSE: Data Platform
    MCSE: Business Intelligence
    Follow me on Twitter: @WazzTheBadger
    LinkedIn Profile: Simon Osborne

  • Congratulations Simon! Hope they appreciate your achievement in the office.

  • Thanks! Me too some more £££'s would be nice!



    MCSE: Data Platform
    MCSE: Business Intelligence
    Follow me on Twitter: @WazzTheBadger
    LinkedIn Profile: Simon Osborne

  • Hi,

    Need information about Micorosoft Certification Path for SQL Server, Planning to complete one.

    Thanks,

  • All the information you need can be found from here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/sql-certification.aspx



    MCSE: Data Platform
    MCSE: Business Intelligence
    Follow me on Twitter: @WazzTheBadger
    LinkedIn Profile: Simon Osborne

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