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Preparing Microsoft Certification Tests - Step by Step |
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Microsoft Certifications are one of the most widely pursued
and acclaimed professional certifications in the IT industry.
Preparing MS certification tests, however, is a significant
undertaking whether you're just out of college or have been
in IT field for years. IT professionals are continuously demanded
to acquire new knowledge in order to perform well on their
jobs as new technology in the IT industry emerged at a pace
that has never been seen before. Regardless what certifications
(Microsoft Certified Professional or MCP, Microsoft Certified
System Administrator or MCSA, Microsoft Certified System Engineer
or MCSE ) you are pursuing, a thorough planning will increase
the chance of success.
1. Pick the Right Certification
There’re two questions to answer while pursuing a MS
certification:
a) Whether a particular MS certification helps the long-term
and short-term goals of your career path. If your passion
is in IT consulting, MCSE certification is likely more valuable
than a MCSA certification, which may help you land a system
administrator job at companies which are MS shop.
b) Whether you have both sufficient knowledge and hands-on
experience to pass a series of tests for the certification.
You may want to talk to your friends who have taken the tests
before, or examine the questions from previous certification
tests to identify the gap between what you've known and what
you need to know. Braindumps or actual test questions from
past exams will help learn the format and the scope of the
tests.
2. Gain Hands-on Experience
Besides the official certification guide and reading materials
published by vendors or authorized organizations, there're
numerous other helpful learning materials available online
or in print. A few years ago, we’ve heard the stories
that employees with MS certifications who couldn’t do
their job. They passed MS certifications with little hands-on
experience but a lot of knowledge on paper gained from purely
studying practice test questions and braindumps. As certification
vendors improved the test questions and introduced new test
formats, it’s almost impossible to pass those tests without
years of hands-on experience. The real value of hands-on experience
is to prepare you for the job, not just to gain a certification.
3. Consolidate Knowledge with Training
The value of hands-on experience can not be replaced with
studying sample certification tests, and systematical knowledge
of a particular subject can’t be replaced by hands-on
experience either.
Use of Computer Based Training software is a very effective
way to speed up your Microsoft certification preparation.
For instance, many companies offer vendor-co developed CBT
or Computer Based Training for IT professionals to have a
comprehensive understanding of Microsoft products and practice.
4. Take Sample Exams
Once you have both systematical knowledge and hands-on experience
of Microsoft software products, you’ll still need to
know the format and style of certification test questions
to perform well in the exams. Use of sample tests and braindumps
will often further improve your test score.
5. IT certification exams.
Microsoft certification exams, like other major IT certifications
- Cisco, Oracle etc, are administered by independent testing
organizations at major cities worldwide. Registration can
be done online or via phone. More important than anything
else is to relax and have a good night of sleep before the
actual test date.
Copyright @2005, Bruce Zhang
You have permission to publish this article electronically
free of charge, as long as the bylines and links in the body
of the article and the bylines are included.
About the Author:
Bruce Zhang has over 10 years of experience in architecting
and developing large-scale Web-based applications, and designing
enterprise strength databases. Computer Based Training has
been a valuable tool for gaining new IT knowledge in his career.
Braindumps can be useful if it's used properly.
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