IamITgeek – aka Shabaz Darr

Tag: Modern Desktop

Exam MD-101: Managing Modern Desktops study guide and exam prep — February 3, 2020

Exam MD-101: Managing Modern Desktops study guide and exam prep

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Salaam, Namaste, Ola and Hello!

Back in August I blogged about the MD-100 exam, the resources I used and how I prepared for this ( https://iamitgeek.com/2019/08/28/md-100-modern-desktop-associate-study-guide-exam-prep/ ). 

Last week I was successful in completing the second part of this certification, the MD-101 exam on Managing Modern Desktop and in this blog I will detail my journey, including:

  • Study Resources
  • Topics you need to cover
  • Exam Tips

For those who are not aware, the MD-101 is the second certification required for the ‘Modern Desktop Associate Administrator’ and focuses on Windows 10 deployment and management using services such as Azure Intune and SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager).

STUDY RESOURCES: To start my learning for this exam with the content on Pluralsight (https://www.pluralsight.com/). There are some great videos on here which gave me a good starting platform for my preparation. The main course series you will need to watch is “Microsoft Modern Desktop Administrator: Managing Microsoft Desktops (MD-101)” by Glenn Weadock. The course is 5 videos totaling up to 8 hours altogether which have the following headings:

  • Introduction to Microsoft Modern Desktop Administrator MD-100 and MD-101 Exams
  • Managing Microsoft Desktops: Deploying and Updating Operating Systems
  • Managing Microsoft Desktops: Policies and Profiles
  • Managing Microsoft Desktops: Managing and Protecting Devices
  • Managing Microsoft Desktops: Apps and Data

All the content is video based and I, like others I am sure needs more than just this to take in content. What i found worked really well for me was watching a video and then doing some practical content around that subject.

For example I would watch the video on ‘Managing Microsoft Desktops: Policies and Profiles’ and then login to my test Office 365 subscription and put what I just watched into practice by configuring policies and profiles, then deploying them to my test Windows 10 VMs.

I found the content was going in much better this way and I was ‘Learning by doing’ rather than watching and half of the information being forgotten.

The final resource I used for my preparation was the Microsoft OpenEDX learning resource (https://openedx.microsoft.com). I cannot speak highly enough about this resource as it blends written content with practical and test quiz questions which helps you test the skills you have learnt over the course. For the MD-101 it is split into three course:

  • MD-101.1: Deploying the Modern Desktop
  • MD-101.2: Managing Modern Desktops & Devices
  • MD-101.3: Protecting Modern Desktop & Devices

Each course has a great mixture of written, video, practical labs and a quiz at the end which I found to be a great blend for a learning resource.

TOPICS YOU NEED TO COVER: For a detail look at the skills that are measured in this exam I recommend reading https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/md-101 which breaks down in detail each of the following sections:

  • Deploying and updating operating systems (15-20%)
  • Manage Policies and Profiles (35-40%)
  • Manage and protect devices (15-20%)
  • Manage Apps and data (25-30%)

EXAM TIPS: In my blog on the MD-100 I explained the over arching format with the standard multiple choice questions, scenario based questions and use case section which consisted of 7 questions. As with the MD-100 there was no lab in the MD-101 either, however I would recommend preparing as if there is a lab section just in case Microsoft decide to change it up.

The exam was 42 questions in total with the big use case to start (7 questions in total). Now I have done a few of the new format exams, I have actually found a great way to tackle these types of questions. What I found was that their is a lot of information to take in with these use cases and it can take up to 5 minutes plus to read through everything. What I did with both the MD-100 and MD-101 exams was is that I did not read the use case to begin with, and instead read the question first and then referred to the specific part of the use case I needed to read to be able to best answer the question.

I found this way of tackling the question saved a lot of time but also didn’t clog up my mind with a lot of information i didn’t need for the questions. As I mentioned there were 7 questions in this section, so I only needed 7 bits of information! Please note this is just my own experience with the exams in this format and it might not work for you.

Hope you find this helpful, if you would like any more information feel free to tweet me @shabazdarr or ask a question in the comments section below! I am planning on doing the AZ-500 exam next so will follow that up with another post!

MD-100: Modern Desktop Associate study guide & Exam prep — August 28, 2019

MD-100: Modern Desktop Associate study guide & Exam prep

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Modern Desktop Administrator

Salaam, Namaste, Ola and Hello!

This is my first blog in a few months due to various different commitments, including spending more time around my learning. I have recently (the day of writing this in fact) passed my MD-100 exam and in this blog I will take you through my journey, including:

  • Study Resources
  • Topics you need to cover
  • Exam tips

For those who are not aware, the MD-100 is the first of two exams you need to gain the certification known as ‘Modern Desktop Associate Administrator’. This certification is all based around Windows 10, including upgrading from older OS versions, the different ways in which you can keep it updated and also the security that Windows 10 brings with it.

STUDY RESOURCES: There are a few different ways you can go about studying for an exam, either a tutor led course or self paced learning. For this specific exam I decided to go for the self paced learning approach and the best way I found to get started was the Microsoft Learning resources which are free and can be done at your own pace. To get started on my MD-100 journey I worked through the following course from the learning site:

There are a lot more resources around the Modern Desktop subject, but none that relate to this specific exam. The second free resource I found really useful is again thanks to Microsoft: https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/asset/collection/modern-desktop-associate-certification-part-1-exam-md100#/

Again these are self paced training videos but much more interactive than the learning paths as you have labs as well as interactive activities you need to complete which can actually be quite fun! Another positive about this resource is that each module has a set of questions that you are graded on and at the end of the full course you have a final test and in some cases a lab which is marked. The reason this resource was probably the most useful was because of how interactive it was with the labs as well as the mark tests, as this gives you hands on practice and realistic questions which allows you to judge if the information you are learning is actually going in or not!

The final resource I used was a Plurasite course which was all video and reading based. Personally this was the most difficult to get through for me as I found the watching and reading only element very mundane. Some of the videos within the training were very useful however as they were based around real life engineers being interviewed and giving there experience around the subject matter, be it Windows update, Installing Windows or even the security side. Unlike the Microsoft learning site which are free, Plurasite is a subscription based site but again I highly recommend investing in it.

TOPICS YOU NEED TO COVER: You can find the main topics to cover on the Microsoft exam site: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-md-100.aspx. Topics they suggest include Deploy Windows, Manage devices, Configure Connectivity and Maintain Windows. I recommend you cover all these as suggested, however the following should be covered in greater depth:

  • NTFS permissions
  • Windows permissions
  • Group Policy
  • Powershell Commands
  • AutoPilot
  • Bitlocker

EXAM TIPS: The new Microsoft exam format covers a few different question types, with your standard multiple choice, scenario based where they have multiple questions based on one big use case and finally practical labs. With this particular exam however I did not get any labs. The exam was 45 questions, 40 of which were multiple choice and 5 were based on one big scenario. I do not think there is anything new I can tell you about the multiple choice questions that you do not already know, however with the scenario based questions I was not to bothered about reading the full scenario in to much detail as you can always refer back to it. Once I skim read it, I looked at the question, found the relevant part in the scenario which I read in detail and then looked at the possible answers. I found this saved a lot of time and needless reading of information that is not really valid for the questions. One thing to note is that I had over 2 hours to complete the 45 questions in, which means you can take your time and even go back and review your answers before finally submitting them.

Hope you find this helpful, if you would like any more information feel free to tweet me @shabazdarr or ask a question in the comments section below! I am planning on doing the MD-101 exam in a few weeks so will follow that up with another post!

Until next time, ‘IamITGeek’ over and out!