Exam Profile: Transition Your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2 (70-458)
- Exam Details / Trouble Spots
- Preparation Hints / Recommended Study Resources
- Exam Objectives / Where to Go from Here
The 70-458 exam is meant to be taken by those who have already earned any one of the MCTS certifications on SQL Server 2008 and who wish to transition their skills to MCSA: SQL Server 2012.
After passing the Transition Your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2 (70-458) exam, you complete the requirements for the MCSA: SQL Server 2012 certification.
Exam Details
- Number of Questions: Approximately 45-55 questions (Since Microsoft does not publish this information, the number of exam questions may change without notice.)
- Types of Questions: This test format is multiple choice and multiple choice multiple answer. You may also see several scenario questions.
- Passing Score: 700
- Time Limit: 120 minutes
This passing score does not mean that you must answer 70 percent of the items correctly in order to pass the exam. The actual percentage varies from exam to exam and may be more or less than 70 percent. There is no penalty for guessing. No points are deducted for incorrect answers. If a question specifies that you must choose multiple correct answers, you must choose the exact number of correct answers specified in the question in order to earn a point for that item. Some of the questions on the exam may not count toward the calculation of your score. Microsoft will often throw a question in that is meant to gather data that will help them improve the exam.
Trouble Spots
As with any exam, it will vary from person to person as to what is deemed to be difficult. Be sure you are familiar with each of the topics in the exam objectives listed below.
- The only reliable way to protect your SQL data is to make sure you have a good backup procedure that has been tested. Backups protect you from media failure, user error, hardware failure and natural disasters. It is important that you place your database and backups on separate devices. This may seem obvious, but it happens more often than you think. The SQL Server on-disk storage format is the same in the 64-bit and 32-bit environments. Therefore, backup and restore work across 32-bit and 64-bit environments. A backup created on a server instance running in one environment can be restored on a server instance that runs in the other environment. For partial or copy-only backups, you must use the Transact-SQL BACKUP statement with the PARTIAL or COPY_ONLY option.
- Microsoft SQL 2012 supports High Availability (HA) using the AlwaysOn feature. AlwaysOn uses an availability group concept to achieve clustered HA services without shared storage.
- Database mirroring will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. It is advised that you using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature. The alternative to database mirroring is the new Use AlwaysOn Availability.