Certification Update MS 70-680 Configuring Windows 7

Well after 7 years I have started to update my Microsoft certifications. I completed my MCSA in 2003 and since then I haven't seen the need to update until now. With the restructure of the Microsoft qualifications and the  noticeable difference in the Windows based technologies today, I decided it was time to start updating.
Originally when I did my certificates, I took out a career development loan and paid for some courses with a reputable company since my employer at the time was not interested in paying for or giving me the time off to complete them.
These days with my experience and the fact there are tonnes more resources online, I decided to take the route of self study. One of the best sites available to gain advice and links to resources is http://www.certforums.co.uk/ there are all the major qualifications covered on there, Microsoft, Comptia, Cisco and most others you could think of.
For those of you who are not familiar with the process for taking the exams I will describe it in brief here:

There are 2 main organisations that you will take your tests with, these are Pearson Vue or Prometric . These act as test centres for many different organisations. You can do your MS exams at a Prometric Centre and your Cisco exams at a Pearson Vue Centre. You may find that other organisations will allow you to take their exams at either Vue or Prometric.
Once you have determined which testing organisation you need to use (Vue, Prometric or other), you need to make an account with them and then register for an exam. The general process for this is they will ask you to locate a test centre. The first part of this will be to pick the exam you wish to take. In my case this was the 70-680. You then look through a list of test centres which will be sorted by the town/city they are in.
Once you have found a test centre near you, you will need to find an available time slot at that centre which it will show you all the available ones, once you have clicked on a particular test centre. You then confirm your booking and pay.
The cost for MS exams is generally £88. You can sometimes get special deals on these. There are usually vouchers in the Microsoft Press books which will give you something like 15% off or there are other deals you can find sometimes such as "free second shot". What this means is if you fail your exam you can retake it for free.
Other recent deals that I have taken advantage of are exam bundles. You can pay for a few exams upfront and if depending on the number you purchase you can get a discount and a second shot.
4 & 5 exam pack will get you 20% off
2 & 3  exam pack will get you 15% off
Single exam pack is normal price + 15% if you want the second shot.
The offer can be found here .

Now I have waffled on about the whole booking your exam process, I will talk about the resources I used to prepare for this exam.
These are the two books I used:

The MS press book are the usual first port of call for studying for the exam. You have to be aware though that they have a reputation for errors to creep in to their text so if you purchase this book you also need to read the errors and corrections here .

I found the test software that came with the book to be very good and using it allowed me to learn as much as reading the book in some areas as well as reinforce the knowledge gained through reading the book.

As always there are plenty of areas in the book which suggests futher reading on certain subjects. In some cases this is essential as the book doesn't always cover all the material on the exam.


Although I had access to this book I didn't read it that much as I thought it tended to go on a bit about certain subjects, but after sitting the exam I wish I had read more of it as it may have had me better prepared for some of the exam content that I came across.
The test questions that came with the book were also good but were a completely different style to the "Measure Up" test that were with the MS Press book. I would say that the tests with this book gave you a good working knowledge of Windows 7 but the Measure up tests were more in the style of the proper exam questions.
I would say a combination of these 2 books would be the best to prepare for the exam. Each one filling in some of the gaps that the other leaves.



There are plenty of other resources I used online as well. A great list of resources can be found here .
Some of the best resources are the Windows 7 Virtual Labs . These allow you to log onto a virtual machine through your we browser and complete the lab.
There are some great videos here for some of earlier subjects that you find in the books.
People find that chapter 2 & 3 in the MS press to be hard going as it it deals with configuring and deploying system images. If this is a subject you are new to, it will be very hard going but very valuable once you have got your head round it all. I will blog later about some of these processes as they are easy enough once you break them down into smaller chunks.
For a good listing of the MS exams and their requirements please have a good look here .