Well i took my test today and unforutnately failed it. Went in there expecting 50 questions and got presented with 85 questions, 35 of which where not scored and about 10 of them where SQL questions. Better luck next time i guess, now i know what to expect, bit annoying though not knowing which of the 85 aren't scored.

SQL questions on a 70-680 exam?! SQL and databases are nowhere to be found in Microsoft's "70-680 Skills to be Measured" document.

My initial thought was that some sadistic SOB is in charge of test questions. Then again, could the individual/group be incompetent? Or could the exam is rigged to cause a certain percentage of test takers to fail to fulfill some corporate numbers goal? Not making accusations -- just commenting how strange it is to hear there were SQL-related questions.

Sorry to hear about the result. Don't let it spook you. Ask yourself what material you ought to be better prepared for ... more study ... and take the exam again.

The SQL questions where part of the set that are not marked and dont count towards the final score.

So let me get this right, you pay for an exam, follow the objectives, work your butt off then are presented with nearly half the questions being superflous? Is this normal practice with MS? say you will get x amount of questions then give you loads more that arn't worth any points ? That really puts me off Microsoft.

I wasn't there, so the exact conditions of the extra questions is not something I can comment on.

However - I have recieved exams which "ask" if you would like to participate in beta exam after you complete the exam you paid for. There was no penalty if you choose not to accept. but there was an inducement (they hinted that at the end of the beta exam, if the score acheived was within a range (not revealed at the time of the test), I would automatically get credit for the certification).

Months later I got an email notice that I did not meet the criteria for passing the exam. I've also recieved email notices that included a free voucher for a beta exam - which I could schedule the exam for free, usually they were new tracks ... and they were offered based on your current acheivments. I assume Microsoft was going through tweaking the recommended prerequisites for exams; to guage difficulty - finalize subject matter to include in the initial exam release.

They, like many other exams, try to find a reasonable failure rate. high enough to make the questions worthwhile, but low enough to keep it relevent to the subject. As noted in the disclamier they have the right change subject matter at anytime for any reason to insure the integrety of the exam (or keep the subject matter relevent)

IMHO there is some merit of seeding an exam with a few questions that won't be scored. Hopefully they would be towards the end of the exam so as not to chew up valuable time. Furthermore the questions ought to be relevant to the subject matter being tested.

Can you imagine AIK or WRE or IPv6 questions being asked of a programmer or database administrator taking the test? I just don't see the relationship between SQL and the 70-680.

By the way @jazman, can you comment on how the exam was different from your expectations before you took it?

A year ago when I was hot on the heels of getting my MCTS, I remember senior techs talking about the same issue posted here. That they would study for months and then go and take the exam, and almost 75% of the exam was covering stuff they didn't study for. I didn't experience that on my exams, but I did run into some test questions about 15 or so. I just took educated guesses and went along my merry way. But I would prefer to get a extra bonus like 5 points added to my exam finial score for electing to answer those "test" questions that don't count. But since we don't have a choice, then we do what "Microsoft" says we have to do. lol

I will also say that after my testing experience with the MCTS, I am not pursuing my MCITP or any Microsoft cert moving forward.

I agree, there is no explicit mention of SQL in the 70-680 exam requirements. However, after I started to think about it, SQL needs to be installed to support WAIK, deployment, WSUS, MDT 2010 and various flavors of System center products - right? You are not required to install a full feature SQL product, setup, configuration is satisfied with SQL 2008, express, which is a free download. But the data is stored in SQL.



Its easy to skip over the requirement - since it is not specifically mentioned on the prep outline. The only reason it registered for me - was I needed to rebuild one of my test machines. As I was going through setup it asked for a local SQL install on the Tech computer (before, I had installed a SQL server 2008R2 and forgot it was even on the system.

So once again - they snuck one in on me. When it comes to following all the branches to get a little "in depth" tangentail knowledge - I'm gonna have to expand my horizons at bit more. No doubt things have changed and its getting more involved to rule "Clients" since so many thing which used to be done on a server are now being migrated to the desktop ( or to be more to the point - are being ported to the client).

The enterprise/Ultimate client is more like a workstation than a desktop, especially once you start installing various tools,utilities, RSAT, etc. I would expect this in 70-686, 70-685 or 70-682 ... but not in the entry client exam.

jazman, I was reading about this on the MS cert forums. A MS representative said the SQL questions were included in error and are being removed from the test. The SQL questions were not scored.

Here is the response...

This may be of help too.

Below is an update from Microsoft Learning.

What happened -- On February 17, 2012, an English version of Microsoft Certification exam 70-680 TS: Windows 7, Configuring was published erroneously with a few exam questions on SQL technology. The SQL exam questions were not scored and did not impact the candidates’ final scores.

What has been done -- The error was immediately fixed and on February 21, 2012 a new exam was published without the SQL questions.

What to expect next -- If you took the English version of exam 70-680 between February 17 and 21, 2012 and failed, Prometric, Microsoft’s exam delivery provider, will contact you directly to make arrangements for you to retake the exam. We expect that you will hear from Prometric on or before March 9, 2012.

If you have further questions or concerns, please contact your local Regional Support Center: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us ... pport.aspx

even better...

Its great you followed through on the issue. even better that Microsoft owned up to the mistake - hopefully, Prometric will either be cleared or send out a similar mea "maxima" culpa.

Study hard... you seldom get a free pass retest.

ALL RIGHT !!!!

oh man this was really interesting I hope JAZMAN took it again and passed i havent seen a reply from him. Good LUCK jazman and if you need some exam tips to help you pass just post your email and ill send you something that will definitely help you.

Hi guys,

Sorry i haven't responded to any of your posts for a while, i've been a little busy and forgot to check up on my post.

I took the exam on the 20th feb i think, but i haven't heard anything from them about it. I am on an apprenticeship with a microsoft partner called QA who provide all the training, i did the exam their on the tokens that they bought, so maybe they have been contacted about it. I've not had chance to do much studying for it again unfortunately, and thanks for all the input.

I have a windows 7 workshop in 2 weeks as part of the course followed by a possible resit as well in 3 weeks time

Jaz

When you pass a Microsoft Certified Professional exam (MCP)... of any difficulty, your certification is added to the MCP site, it will be listed on site within days after the results are forwarded from Prometric, who collect and report the data to Microsoft.

https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp/Default.mspx

Generally it takes just a few days for results to be posted online, they only post pass/fail results - your numerical scores are only revealed to you, as listed on the results sheet provided at the conclusion of the exam; 2 weeks - is the longest I've heard and that was due to intermitant connections, problems from Prometic.

You can also go directly to the Prometric site for a pass/fail result listed under the ID which you used to logon to the proctored exam. That is usually available within 24 hrs after the exam. Again, the numerical score is only provided on the sheet issued at the conclusion of the exam - keep that sheet, if bragging rites are important to you . Otherwise, all other reports are merely pass/fail.

http://www.prometric.com/Microsoft/default.htm

Not sure what happens when its a company sponsered exam, in my case - right after concluding the exam, you are provided a sheet which give you the results before leaving... the online results are the "official notification" that the scores are registered.