Just came back from the 71-680 Win 7 beta exam

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Hi All,

Well, after driving to Luton & back (2 hour round trip), I'd just like to say that I've sat the beta 71-680 Windows 7 exam. For those that don't know, the 71-680 is the beta for the 70-680 exam.

The exam itself

I'm limited in what I can say, due to the NDA, but here are a couple of the key points:

1. Unlike the Vista exam, the Windows 7 exam concentrates more on... Windows 7. For example when I sat the Vista exam, when it first came out, I could say that 50% of the answers could be answered right with little real experience with Vista. With the Windows 7 beta exam, maybe 5-10% can be answered. Moral: Know and study all of Windows 7.

2. The exam format keeps in line with the MCTS format.

Study materials I used

Software

Windows 7 - build 7000 (beta) & build 7100 (RC) at home and in a live coporate domain

Websites

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd451022.aspx

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=922

http://www.windowsvistaplace.com/windows-explorer-–-what’s-new-in-windows-7/othersoftware

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4263

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4254

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/windows-7/default.mspx#BOOKS

http://learning.microsoft.com/manag...96b6-44e5-4a80-b86c-d0ce94688c84}&clang=en-US

http://learning.microsoft.com/manag...4233-fc53-4a51-a143-0181b15c06d8}&clang=en-US

http://learning.microsoft.com/manag...3e50-22a9-4639-9c7c-1404dd25d372}&clang=en-US

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/snacks/default.mspx#WIN7

https://partner.microsoft.com/40091612

https://partner.microsoft.com/40084742?msp_id=Windows7

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262126.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/dd361745.aspx?ITPID=carepgm

http://blogs.technet.com/mslcommunity/archive/2009/04/17/who-wants-a-windows-7-snack.aspx

http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/hands-video-guide-windows-7-555?page=0,1

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/win7metro/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2530

http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SeriesDescription.aspx?CourseId=104

e-Clinics/CBT's

Clinic 10088: What's New in Windows 7 for Information Workers
Clinic 10077: What's New in Windows 7 for IT Professionals

Books

Sorry, didn't use any/could find any at the time...


My feelings

Well I have to say, that I'm in two minds on if I passed or not. There were a few questions were I had to ask myself, is this done like this in XP, Vista or 7. While I would love to pass, there were questions on certain technologies that I either didn't know or didn't have enough knowledge on, however I took the educated guess - lets hope that it's pays off.

-Ken

 

In about 2 months time. The results will be sent out approx 8 weeks after the close of the beta program, which will be next week.

-Ken

 

I'll answer it this way...

See here first of all, especially this part:

While I can't confirm or deny it (and even if I could, because it a beta it can change), just remember that while XP is "old Hat". The virtualisation technology (the Windows 7 Virtual PC feature) is different from VPC 2007/VMWare workstation.

-Ken