..by Guillaume Ross
Virtual Business Cards available to MCPs – Born To Learn
Interesting. I wouldn’t say those new Virtual Business cards are very useful, though one can certainly showcase them on some online profiles, and it’s a nice way to send your transcript to potential clients or employers.
I haven’t managed to generate one yet, the site is apparently much more popular than what was anticipated and seems to be experiencing a lot of issues.
Here is a list of what I used last week, right after taking the ICM course for vSphere, in order to pass my VCP exam.
This little document packs a lot of punch, read it a few times !
This document is longer, and includes a lot of interesting info about vSphere. Could be just what you need if upgrading from an older certification !
And finally, I used a few test exams:
VCP vSphere 4 Practice Exam – The SLOG – SimonLong/Blog.
All exams from Simon Long were useful, the ones concentrating on the maximums will help you know if you know that stuff by heart as you should. Be aware that I felt that the actual exam was a good 20-25% harder than the test questions of the main test exam.
I then used the mock exam from VMware (you can find it after login into myLearn).
Be sure not to attempt the test exams before you are relatively sure you’re ready, as they don’t have many questions and doing them too fast will then make them useless as you will already know most questions and answers. VMware’s mock exam felt a bit easier than the real one too, by about 10-15%.
Good luck to everyone!
I got a voucher for the Windows 7 exam a few weeks ago , so I had signed up for today..
I barely had the time to install the release candidate, so there’s a bunch of features I was not familiar with, but there was still some stuff that wasn’t Windows 7 specific. In any case, if you follow the guide, you should end up fine.
In any case, I’ll know if I passed in about 8 weeks, which should take us close to the middle of July.
Good luck to everyone trying it out.
Well, I’ve finally received my “Charter Member” welcome kit from Microsoft.
I was expecting a new card with a note on it or something, but it is just a typical certificate, with the note Charter at the top. Plus it doesn’t even appear on the transcript. Kind of lame.
Oh well, I guess I can put it on my resume.. like anyone would put MCTS certifications on their resume.
Why did I get FIVE certifications by getting my MCITP: Enterprise Admin? Are people craving instant gratification so much that Microsoft had to make you feel like you accomplished something every time you spent 130$ and 2 hours to pass an exam?
That MCITP itself is already easier than it should be, the individual certifications are a joke. Putting “TS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring” on my resume feels as stupid as writing “MCP” on it. OK, so I know how to install IIS and Sharepoint Services, and I know what a “Terminal Server” is. Now what ?
Well, if I was like some people I know I could put this in my signature!
/rant
I have completed my MCITP: Enterprise Admin certification this week.
I never got my MCSE before so I didn’t go the upgrade path, I started from scratch in the middle of May.
Here is a quick rundown of the exams I took:
This exam was pretty easy as I spend most of my days working with AD. Be sure to know the new features of AD in 2008, as well as what is required to make them work. If you already have enough AD experience but you’re lacking on the 2008 side of things, reading the AD chapter of this book should be enough for you: http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Windows-Server-M…
There isn’t that much new networking stuff in 2008, but NAP is a big one. Make sure to learn how NAP works.
This is the exam I found the most interesting of all 5, because it got me reading about new Terminal Services features and IIS7 which has some new cool stuff. I read this book to prepare for it http://www.amazon.com/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-70-… . Make sure you concentrate on the new features. If you already know IIS and Terminal server you should be fine by reading about only the new stuff. Oh, I also got my Charter Member certification on this one. Can’t wait to get my Welcome kit.
The hardest exam, to me. Yep.
Probably because I don’t use it, and because a lot of questions revolve around Internet explorer, Windows media player, Media center, Windows Defender, and various crap that any sane person doesn’t use. Why did I take this exam instead of Exam 70-624 (earns MCTS: Business Desktop Deployment)? Because I didn’t have any book to prepare for desktop deployment, and this isn’t an area I’m too specialized into, and I wanted to be one of the firsts with the MCITP:Enterprise Admin. However, I think it is ridiculous for a certification that calls itself “Enterprise Admin” to have this option.
70-624 should be required, and 70-620 shouldn’t even be proposed. I didn’t read any book, never used Aero (well I did, for 4minutes), and yet I still passed, just with common sense. The exam was easy because there was never a single question with 4 options that made sense. Sure, I had a crappy score, but I’d rather score 700 and pass without wasting time reading about something I don’t enjoy/don’t need to know when I could be reading about something useful than score 1000 after wasting hours of my life reading books to learn by heart stuff that anyone can figure out in seconds of clicking around the GUI
/rant
If you have passed the previous exams, especially the one about Active Directory and Networking, you should have no problem passing this one easily, as it is almost a review of the theory learned previously. It seems to focus more on design than actual “doing”.
Maybe it’s because this is the first revision of the exams, but I feel they are too easy. With Microsoft introducing a very high level Master certification, I feel there should be something between MCITP:EA and Master of Windows Server/Directory services. Also, the whole idea that every single exam = a MCTS certification seems to be designed for 8 years old who can’t work towards a long term goal and need immediate reward for their “hard” work.
In a recent Microsoft learning live meeting, it was mentioned that Microsoft wants to start using statistical analysis do spot cheaters.
What is a bit unclear is how will that “evidence” be treated?
I think it should be treated as a reason to launch an investigation, but not to accuse anyone.
Microsoft Exams are relatively easy, and sometimes, the questions pop up and if you know your stuff and you are a fast reader, you can be done with the exam in about 30 minutes and score very high.
I have only once used over an hour to do a Microsoft exam, and that was a few days ago for the 70-647, and I was taking my time.
This will also lead to the inevitable race between cheaters and Microsoft. Braindumpers will start making mistakes on purpose, and will leave questions open for 2-3 minutes while moving the mouse to make it look like they are thinking hard.
A good idea if used as a tool to launch an investigation, especially against a learning center or an exam center, and a slippery slope if used to ban people.
Well, I passed this exam yesterday afternoon.
I prepared by reading Configuring Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure in diagonal, really quickly.
If you already have OK knowledge (and I don’t mean GOOD by any means, I’m not GOOD with Sharepoint services or even IIS..just OK) of Sharepoint, IIS, and Terminal Server, you should be fine by just learning the new features of IIS7, Terminal server in 2008, as well as KMS and MAK activation. There will be a few questions on DRM and Windows Media server, but nothing really complicated.
4 exams to go for the whole MCITP:Enterprise Admin..