September 30, 2015 at 10:49 am
I've just taken exam 70-464 SQL 2012 development, and failed it, getting a score of 500 (pass mark 700).
The training I did for it was to watch the Microsoft videos on it:
and also the VTC.com training course on it (cost around £20/month):
https://www.vtc.com/products/Microsoft-SQL-Server-2012-Development-70-464-Tutorials.htm
My impression is that the above two resources don't cover all of the required information, or at least not in sufficient detail to get a pass
Then there is a website that has around 500 links to MSDN and Technet pages that cover the subject:
But reading through 500 pages in sufficient detail to understand and inwardly digest what is required is going to take a very long time (I have not done this). And in addition the pages are Microsoft documentation which tends to be quite dry and serves as a reference to those who know the underlying concepts, but are not good at training those concepts.
So one pair of sources of information seem to have too little information, and the other source has too much.
Does anyone know any other source of information that provides just the right amount of information, and in a training format?
Perhaps this is one of the online courses on Google that cost around £200?
I could go to a training course at a physical location, but these tend to cost around £200/day or more for a week or two - very expensive.
I would have read a book on it, as I have done for SQL exams I have taken in the past (back in 1999 and 2008), but for this exam there doesn't seem to be a book.
My background is that I am a SQL Server DBA contractor with 12 years experience. I want to try out a move over into SQL Development work as this seems interesting and absorbing. I have not done exam 7-461 - I thought I would jump in at the deep end and do the more advanced one first - maybe I have been too arrogant and should do that one first. Would doing 70-461 + associated training help with 70-464 ?
At age 45, maybe I'm getting too old for this exam lark 😛
Many thanks
http://90.212.51.111 domain
October 2, 2015 at 5:25 am
The 70-464 exam is a fairly tricky exam, without breaching the the NDA its the format of the questions I found difficult rather than the actual question being asked.
What I would say in terms of preparation you are better sitting the first 3 exams which will achieve the MCSA SQL 2012 qualification before considering the 70-464 and 70-465 exams for the MCSE Data Platform qualification.
The 3 MS training books are more than enough to get through the first 3 exams.
There is some overlap from the first 3 exams that helps with 70-464.
In terms of study material I found using the following 2 books covered everything you need to know. Depending on how good your T-SQL programming knowledge is several chapters from both books can be ignored.
http://tsql.solidq.com/books/tq3/
http://tsql.solidq.com/books/insidetsql2008/
The second book I listed is for SQL 2008 so wont cover the likes of in memory tables but between the 2 books almost all of the question areas are covered.
You just need to then cross reference the exam learning criteria from the MS website to make sure you cover all topics.
Transcender does offer some products to help you prepapre, but I would suggest only resorting to these once you are happy you know the material well. If anything this will just help with being prepared for the exam format and roughly the type of questions that will come up.
I too have worked with SQL server for a long time, coming up on 18 years now but you rarely use every aspect frequently so the books are really essential to get all your knowledge up to speed.
Its never to late to learn, and at 45 your certainly not too old 🙂
MCITP SQL 2005, MCSA SQL 2012
October 2, 2015 at 5:31 am
I meant to add, that realistically if you want to pass the exam and more importantly know the functionality inside out you have to be prepared to give up a lot of your time.
I generally spent at least a month per exam preparing and that will usually involve reading materials for about 2 hours per day 4 to 5 days a week (a long train commute is ideal for this) and the same again working through examples.
MCITP SQL 2005, MCSA SQL 2012
October 2, 2015 at 6:14 am
RTaylor2208 (10/2/2015)
I meant to add, that realistically if you want to pass the exam and more importantly know the functionality inside out you have to be prepared to give up a lot of your time.I generally spent at least a month per exam preparing and that will usually involve reading materials for about 2 hours per day 4 to 5 days a week (a long train commute is ideal for this) and the same again working through examples.
gotta agree with this, and it's not enough to sit through the videos form the Microsoft Virtual Academy. you need practice and labs to do hands on.
I just passed the 70-461- and 70-462 this month, and am looking for the right study material for 70-763. i limped though 462 by watching videos, and they covered things i don't do on a daily basis, even though i wear the dba hat full time.
my feeling is they test edge cases to see if you know them, which assumes you know the core.
After you've ramped up, maybe a transcender test to get a feel for the question formats, but not until after your lab work.
Lowell
October 2, 2015 at 9:08 am
The 40-463 training kit book is adequate to get through the exam, make sure you lookup the corrections for the book though.
As long as you have a good understanding of database design when designing a warehouse or mart its not a bad exam.
Day to day I support our Data Warehoure \ Marts \ OLTP systems and I found the book made me realise where we can make improvements to how we load our Marts and Facts and also our deployment and monitoring of packages.
To put the exams into context, one of our DBA's that started with us as an associate DBA with zero experience and now has 3 years experience has just passed his final MCSE 2012 data platform exam yesterday. But he has put hundreds of ours into studying and practicing to get to this point.
To say we are rather proud of what he has achieved is an understatement as he did it all through self learning and myself and other senior members of the team training him.
MCITP SQL 2005, MCSA SQL 2012
October 6, 2015 at 3:16 am
Thanks for your replies.
Yes I think I tried to bite more than I was able to chew. So I will study for exam 70-461 first, and maybe 70-462, and then go back and look at 70-464
Not sure whether 70-463 (Implementing a data warehouse) is appropriate for me because I have never worked with OLAP cubes or BI stuff. So it may be difficult to understand without the experience in it.
http://90.212.51.111 domain
October 6, 2015 at 3:40 am
If your after the certs then 70-463 will be needed to get MCSA and then MCSE when you do 70-464 and 70-465.
I wasn't looking forward to 70-463 as its not something I excel at, but the training provider I use Firebrand[/url] are amazing and the use of the 70-463 training book and the MeasureUp practice tests help drive home the detail.
The exam is heavy on SSIS, with bits on DQS, MDS and Fact & Dimensions but primarily SSIS
Edit.
You can substitute Exam 411: Administering Windows Server 2012, Exam 412: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services, Exam 70-417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 or Exam 483: Programming in C#, for Exam 463.
So if your not to keen on SSIS etc, but you are keen on the operating system or C#, you can swap the DW exam for a Server or C# exam and get MCSA:SQLServer2012
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