Microsoft Certification -
How to Pass the Test

You’ve finished the class. You paid attention did all the labs. The test date looms on the horizon. Now what? After all, each test cost a hundred bucks, so you want to pass in as few tries as possible.

The tests come in two basic formats – standard and adaptive. The standard tests will ask you a series of 60 or 70 questions, allowing you to go back and review and change answers. The adaptive exams typically ask you 15 adaptive questions and 20 or so standard questions, with no going back to review answers. Both exams are mostly multiple choice. They may include simulations, scenarios, and fill-in the blanks. All exams are going to eventually be adaptive. The standard exams are going away. More info on adaptive testing at: www.microsoft.com/train_cert.

What is on the test? The vast majority of the questions come straight from the course materials, although expect to see questions demonstrating hands-on familiarity with the product. Microsoft expects you to bring some real-world working experience with you. What kind of experience? This is hinted at in the pre-requisites for the course.

All the tests seem to ask certain generic information: what are the hardware requirements to install the product; how to use the administration/management tools; & security and authentication. Pay attention to the review questions in the MOC. You find these at the end of each chapter. Also, most chapters have an ending section called "best practices". These are worth re-reading.

Third party books can be very helpful. There are lots of them out there, but we have seen good results with the Exam Cram series and the Sybex "Test Success" books. Both are softcover and available from local booksellers or Amazon.com. These books offer "boiled-down", "distilled facts", that direct your focus on what is important to know for the exams. They also explain complex concepts perhaps slightly differently from Microsoft, maybe giving you a slightly different perspective on the material, and hopefully a better understanding.

There is no substitute for practice exams. The place to start is Microsoft’s Training and Certification web site with MSPREP. This is free, and will give you a feeling for what the test expects from you. The better practice exams are from Trancender. These cost money, but are definitely worth it if passing the first time is important to you. The Trancender exams have the same look & feel, and many of the same questions, that you are apt to see on the real test. It doesn’t get any more real than this.

If you have practice exams, keep taking them until you are consistently getting high scores on them (90% or better). Then and only then are you ready to take the test.

There are some good websites out there. One of our favorites is Cramsession. They have 10 page outlines (summaries) of each class that serves as a preparedness checklist. These are free, check them out.

Watch out for bad information on the web. Many so-called "brain-dump" sites are so full of errors that they are useless. Often sites are more interested in selling you something than helping you. Caveat emptor.

And the test. Call Sylvan Prometric to schedule at 1-800-755-EXAM. The testing center is busy, so schedule at least 10 days in advance. Warning -- even 10 days may not be enough advance notice. Plan your studying so that you are ready when the test happens. The best motivator to get you serious and to start studying is to schedule your test. With that deadline looming, it is do or die.

So the way to pass the test is to study. A few, gifted individuals can attend a class, grasp everything, and pass the exams without much effort. Most mortals will need to spend one hour studying outside of class for each hour spent in class, assuming you have met the course pre-requisites. If this is all new to you, it will take even more work.

Other Good Sites

 

Certification.MiningCo.com

Extremely good resource for certifications such as A+, Adobe, Cisco, Corel, IBM, Informix, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and more.

Wayne's Comprehensive Computer Professional Resource

A huge collection of links for Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, IBM and A+.