Exam Profile: MCTS 70-662: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring
Exchange Server 2010 is one of the most complex server products that Microsoft makes. As such, IT professionals may find that an Exchange Server certification may go a long way toward proving to employers that they have mastered Exchange Server 2010 and have the skills necessary to support Exchange in a real world environment. Passing Exam 70-662 earns candidates a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification. This exam also counts as credit toward Microsoft’s MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010 certification.
This exam profile will give you an overview of the exam and provide some helpful hints for passing it.
Exam Details
- Number of questions: Microsoft does not officially disclose the number of questions on the exam, but IT professionals who have taken the exam typically report being given between 45 and 65 questions.
- Type(s) of questions: Primarily multiple choice, but you may encounter an occasional drag and drop, build a tree, or reorder question.
- Passing score: 700 (70%)
- Time limit: Microsoft does not publically state the amount of time given. Most sites state that the exam is 120 minutes (2 hours), but some claim that the exam is only 60 minutes.
- How to register (e.g.; Prometric and/or Vue)> Prometric
Trouble Spots
There are a few different areas that candidates taking the 70-662 exam may find challenging. First, you must have extensive knowledge of EMS commands. Some questions only require you to know the name of the cmdlet that is required in a given situation, while other questions require you to know the exact command syntax. In any case, you cannot pass this exam without a good working knowledge of EMS commands.
Some of the information on this exam will already be familiar to Exchange 2007 administrators, but it is important to have a good understanding of the limitations that come into play when Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2003 are present in an Exchange 2010 organization. You will also need to know that if you create a brand new Exchange 2010 organization, you cannot add legacy Exchange server to that organization.
Likewise, you should also spend some time familiarizing yourself with all of the various issues that come into play when migrating to Exchange 2010 from a legacy version of Exchange. In doing so, you must be aware that Microsoft does not use the terms migration and upgrade interchangeably. Upgrades from Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 are not supported whereas migrations are.
Finally, make sure that you have a handle on federated sharing, Role Based Access Control, and managed folders. These are areas that many candidates seem to have trouble with.
Preparation Hints
This tends to be a very challenging exam because of the sheer amount of information that is being tested. Microsoft expects candidates who are taking the exam to work with Exchange Server 2010 on a day-to-day basis. As such, my recommendation would be to focus your study on those aspects of Exchange Server configuration and management that you are not normally exposed to on the job. For example, if you primarily interact with Exchange Server through the Exchange Management Console, then you should spend a considerable amount of time learning how to manage Exchange from the command line. The exam tends to be very command line intensive.
I also recommend that you not waste your time studying Unified Messaging. Candidates are expected to know that Unified Messaging exists, and what it does, but that is pretty much the extent of the Unified Messaging coverage on this exam.
Recommended Study Resources
There are a wide variety of resources available to help you to study for this exam. There are several sites that claim to be able to sell you actual Microsoft exam questions. I recommend avoiding such products for two main reasons.
First, Microsoft exams typically pull exam questions from a pool of questions. A single exam rarely, if ever exposes all of the potential test questions. Those who purchase brain dumps and merely attempt to memorize the answers often fall victim to exam question rotation.
The other problem with brain dump sites is that if you get caught using them, your certification can be revoked. There are unsubstantiated rumors circulating on the Internet that Microsoft actually purchases customer information from some of the brain dump sites in an effort to catch cheaters. I don’t know whether or not these rumors are true, but why take a chance?
Rather than relying on brain dumps, there are many helpful study guides available. In my opinion, among the most helpful study aids are the Transcender practice exams. A practice exam (which includes a voucher for the real exam) is available at: http://www.transcender.com/practice-exam/microsoft/70-662.kap for $244.00.
Also helpful are exam study guides. I have actually written a study guide for PrepLogic that covers exam 70-662. This study guide assumes that you already know the material fairly well and focuses on the most challenging aspects of the exam. When released, this study guide will be available at http://www.preplogic.com.
Finally, a friend named Peter Bruzzese has created a video-based training course that covers all of the objectives associated with exam 70-662. This training course is nearly 20 hours long and includes a copy of the Transcender practice exams for $799. It is available at: http://www.trainsignal.com/Exchange-Server-2010-Training.aspx