Exams 70-667 and 70-668

I’ve just completed exams 70-667 and 70-668 yesterday and today, making me an MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010. Woohoo! But this is not an own-horn-tooting exercise; I have a tip to offer on sitting these exams.

As I started preparing for these exams last week, I was under the misapprehension that there was very little in the way of guidance on the Microsoft Learning site. I think I perceived things this way because there wasn’t much to go on when the exams were first launched. But when I checked again last week I was happy to find a link to a learning plan from the Preparation Materials tab of the 70-667 page. Unfortunately, the 70-668 page does not contain a link to a learning plan (it’s listed but unlinked), but it does exist! I just searched for it on the Training Catalogue.

I also had a look at other resources, such as the Accelerated Ideas free practice tests, Paul Grimley’s post and Benjamin Athawes’ very thorough review. While I found each of these resources helpful in different ways, I opted to stick strictly to the learning plan, focusing purely on TechNet for the remainder of my study time. I basically clicked through to every link from the Learning Plans – many of which contain many more links. I’ve just looked at my browser history for the last week. There’s 267 TechNet pages in there. Obviously, this is a huge amount of information to take in (my brain really hurts), but the quality is great and it’s very well targeted for a crash course/review like this.

Probably most importantly, I learned loads! A lot of this content didn’t exist when I was focused on learning SharePoint 2010, so I (re)acquainted myself with lots of topics that I really should have known more about before starting this process. While there are other more exam-specific approaches to preparation, I feel like I got a great tuition out of this process. I’ve been marking many links to revisit when I have more time, I’ve validated some things I was unsure of and I’ve corrected some misunderstandings. All of this is really valuable for improving quality and for gauging what we do and don’t know.

I managed to pull this off with a little over three days of study (for both exams, in total). About a day of that time was spent figuring out where to start, getting distracted, etc., but I was also able to skip quickly through some content that I was already familiar with, so I reckon 3-5 days is probably a decent estimate of how long it will take to prepare from these learning plans. Keep in mind: I’ve been working with SharePoint for seven years, and I’ve been on the Ignite training for SharePoint 2010, so I may be taking some things for granted.

How did I do? I got a 950/1000 on 70-667 and a 930/1000 on 70-668. 700 is required to pass. In retrospect, this may be over-preparation, but I neither know where else I might draw the line of sufficient preparation, nor do I have any regrets about the additional knowledge I’ve acquired. SharePoint is a complicated beast. Exams like these are sometimes the only catalysts for learning broader/deeper than our daily duties allow.

9 thoughts on “Exams 70-667 and 70-668”

  1. HI Tristan, thanks for a good read. I just passed 667 today and did the study (from a sybex book) in 5 days. Like you, I’ve also been working with SharePoint for 7 years so it was easier than it would be for a newbie. I completely agree with you though, the training materials and TechNet articles DO teach you new things that you would not normally experience in your normal day to day duties! Cheers, Andy

  2. Hi Andy. Nice one! 668 is more difficult, but most of the study is cross-applicable and the issue is more the format of the exam that then content. Good luck, for when you get to it.

  3. I will be taking mi first Microsoft exam 70-667 (Config SharePoint 2010).

    How long is the exam and how many questions?

    Any tips on how to pass?

    Cheers

    Cliff

  4. Hi Cliff,

    Well, this blog post is my tip! 🙂 The exam format is very standard Prometric stuff. IIRC you have three hours to complete, which for 70-667 is more than enough. I can’t say much about the exam detail because of the exam NDAs.

    Cheers,

    Tristan

  5. Hi! I am new to sharepoint world. Can you please tell me that is 70-667 is prerequisite of 70-668
    and similarly 70-573 is prerequisite for 70-576??

    I am interested in both administration and development of sharepoint – are they assumed to be a totally difference tracks? #newbie

  6. or there is any other way around on this sharepoint certification track?? please guide me through the possibilities.. Thanks in advance.

  7. HI Syed. They are two separate tracks. If I remember right you can take 667 and 668 indendently, but you need both to get the MCITP. I don’t think there’s a required sequence that you have to take the exams in, if that makes sense.

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