MCTS 70-630, level of difficulty and study prep
I am preparing to take the MCTS 70-630 exam next month and would like to know generally what the level of difficulty is for this exam for someone in my situation. I have had little experience with a stand alone server set up and no experience at all with a server farm. I am reading the book "MCTS Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Configuration Study Guide" by James Pyles, with the included review tests for each chapter and two 50 question practice tests at the end. How difficult will the exam be for someone with my knowledge and what else can anyone suggest I do to prepare for the exam that is cheap or free (can't afford practice exams like MeasureUp, limited budget)? Thanks, Ash
February 20th, 2011 4:57pm

Hi Ash_Spears, You can refer to the following page to get detailed information and some study guide about exam 70-630: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?id=70-630. The above article will tell you the proportion of each part in the exam. You can get learning materials in the “Preparation Materials” tab. Thanks & Regards, Peng Lei
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February 21st, 2011 2:04am

Thanks for the link but I think you may have misread the part where I said I don't have a bottomless budget. My employer is not compensating me for my training, only the exam, and every piece of preparation material on the microsoft site, other than forums and technet articles, seems to cost $150 to $200 easy. The very first thing in the learning plan provided for 70-630 costs $191, and there are 6 steps. Is there a less expensive way (I realize probably not as reliable, but I have to work with what money I have available) to make sure I know what I will see on the exam? Ash
February 21st, 2011 8:23am

No offense, obviously, to the quality or anything of Microsoft's learning materials. I am just being forced to be frugal with this one, hope you understand. It would also be awesome if any other users studying for this exam would like to start up an online study group over skype or something. Ash
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February 21st, 2011 8:25am

Ash, no offence but people forming a skype study group is a little unrealistic and in a way, this is almost like asking someone else to compile resources for you. plus not to mention most professionals are going to be looking towards SharePoint 2010 certification. Look at Peng's link, it gives you clearly identifiable sections that you can place into search engines or even locate on TechNet. Each of the areas here mostly have Technet sections against them or forums that will be able to answer specific questions you may have. Reading these sections fully will help you out and will add to your knowledge. You could also go as granular as looking at specific MVP blogs for thier areas of speciality, but that might be a bit overkill. You may also be able to find a Hyper V/Virtual Machine of SP2007 that you can use to play with, again no cost to you. I've had a look at your study guide and it seems like a good book. I'd suggest paying attention to how the questions are structured/worded and in the actual test, reading through the paper at least once before you start answering. http://www.final-exodus.net
February 21st, 2011 9:17am

Ash, no offence but people forming a skype study group is a little unrealistic and in a way, this is almost like asking someone else to compile resources for you. plus not to mention most professionals are going to be looking towards SharePoint 2010 certification. Look at Peng's link, it gives you clearly identifiable sections that you can place into search engines or even locate on TechNet. Each of the areas here mostly have Technet sections against them or forums that will be able to answer specific questions you may have. Reading these sections fully will help you out and will add to your knowledge. You could also go as granular as looking at specific MVP blogs for thier areas of speciality, but that might be a bit overkill. You may also be able to find a Hyper V/Virtual Machine of SP2007 that you can use to play with, again no cost to you. I've had a look at your study guide and it seems like a good book. I'd suggest paying attention to how the questions are structured/worded and in the actual test, reading through the paper at least once before you start answering. http://www.final-exodus.net
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February 21st, 2011 9:17am

Thanks both of you for the suggestions. I will keep studying and look into all the links you both posted. (Also, just fyi, the reason I am looking at the 2007 is because the jobs I am being offered are with the federal government and they are typically very slow to upgrade technologies and that is what they are working with and what they want people certified in right now.) Thanks! Ash
February 21st, 2011 12:31pm

Ash, Just took the exam recently. I used MeasureUp's Practice Test which is not too expensive and very useful. I also used the MCTS (Sybex) Study Guide which was also worthwhile. Ultimately, I would go through the following areas as these were prominent in the exam:- 1. InfoPath - Publishing, data connection 2. BDC - KPI Web Parts and Lists. 3. Search - Scopes, Content and Content Types 4. STSADM came up in 5 or 6 questions
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March 1st, 2011 12:13pm

rjl2u, Is the MeasurUp's practice test really helpful in the actual exam? I prepared from the MCTS studyguide as well, but i think that didnot help much. So, were you able to pass after preparing from measureup?
March 16th, 2011 7:37pm

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