I really enjoyed studying and taking the 70-764 exam but everything is always muddied water, isnt it? Maybe it’s just me.
Ok, so it was time to renew the Microsoft Data Platform Competency – Silver, for Sequallity Limited and a funny thing happened on the way. I had decided to go down the Database Dev route and this consisted of 3 exams, initially. So, I had passed the first exam 70-761 – Querying Data with Transact SQL, and had bought the Voucher and MeasureUp questions, yet again, as this seems to work for me.
Microsoft Silver Data Platform Competency
Lo and behold, the requirements had changed for Dev around 30th June 2019 so now you had to pass 2 Dev TSQL exams and 2 further exams of DP-200 and DP201 (the Azure Data Engineer Associate consists of) as well as a Technical Assessment.
Wow. Now I needed 3 exams and 1 assessment. Luckily, I hadn’t cashed in my voucher so I immediately switched to the DBA route, which required 2 exams and 1 technical assessment. An easier route on a rocky path.
I do fancy finishing off the Dev exams but hey, you cannot revise all your life. Sometimes you simply have to do it. I also might want to do the data engineer exams, but I would like to look at the Skills Measured section first.
So recently, on the 17th September 2019, I took and passed the 70-764 admin exam and again, like the first exam, I had no idea if I had passed or not afterwards. I got 844. Pleased with that I was. Thank you, Yoda. That’s 3 unused resits over 2 exams. I hope I’m not tempting fate with this comment.
The Measure of My 70-764 Exam Success?
I put this down to the MeasureUp exams being very hard and the actual questions being a lot easier than the MeasureUp questions. What the heck do I know?
I used the same technique, the book
(kindle only now, I’ve got too many print books in the garage)
and the MeasureUp exams.
70-764 Exam – Administering a SQL Database Infrastructure Practice Test
I’d seen on Amazon the reviews of the 70-764 book were not brilliant, particularly from Amazon.com However, I actually think Victor Isakov did an amazing job. The book was succinct and full of experience and hints. He is obviously a well-seasoned DBA. I liked the book so much I enjoyed studying from it.
The downside is that the code is riddled with errors, commas becoming apostrophes or some such thing. As I’m an old hack, I could see what the code was doing anyways. But if you’re learning SQL from scratch with this book, I’d say that would be very annoying but I doubt that was the author’s fault. Other than that, I thoroughly recommed the 70-764 certification book. 9/10 from me.
So, you can’t always believe reviews and what the people say, for sure. What the heck do they know anyhows?