++ I PASSED TOO!! ++

[SarahPVC]

Hi peeps, if you wondered why i had been a bit quiet on the board recently it was because i was preparing for my computer exam which i sat earlier today. Well i PASSED! Woohoo! Now have the letters MCP after my name!

IBIZA here i come!!

[CreamyC]

Nice one Sarah!

[Bunnykins]

well done what betta way to celebrate than in ibeefa

[SarahPVC]

i am sooooo relieved!! I can go relax in Ibiza without having to worry bout a resit when i come back! No - in fact i dont have to relax - i can GO WILD!!

[TidyTraxGrant]

Congrats !

Well Done !!

[jasun]

wicked!

 

what exam did you take? and did you do any training for it?

I know you only have to pass the 1 to become mcp and then the other 6 after.

 

I'm currently working on mcse/ccna .. training for them is damn expensive and in my case not really needed, but for the ccna I'll probably do it as it's more than windows point and click.. it's real networking that powers the Internet and most networks!

 

I'm from a unix background and windows is laughed at as such, but since MS is the standard in most places it'll be good to get certified as mcse/mcsa and various other things..

 

I'm probably just going to go and book an exam on 2test and just do it!

 

MCP is a good start though, at least you can big yourself up to people that are not informed about the certs as an MCP, working towards mcse+i!

[SarahPVC]

i took the 1st exam - Configuring & Administering Windows 2000 Professional or whatever its called - havnt a clue what % i got as they have done away with the scores at the end now - its just a pass or a fail. Did all the study from books & practise tests really. Am going to go on the courses before i do the rest though as they get much harder now!

[jasun]

yeah it's MS stuff, just a case of learning by using the stuff, same with all things really only the MS stuff is easier.

 

I've got a 1000 page book here for the ccna stuff, it's hardcore networking, you could find anything in the exam.

 

Suppose you booked through 2test and took it at a prometric center?

 

also.. Since the board transition, I can;t update my profile now without getting a signiture is too long error... Even if it's hard coded it could be changed, not looked at threads as I've stuck with the cgi based version, although php with an sql back end is nicer.

 

so can you get that sorted out?

[SarahPVC]

Yeah i booked through 2test linked from the Microsoft siteand took it at a testing centre in Leeds today. With some centres you can actually book for next day!

[jasun]

even same day possibly, not sure!

 

menstion to james about the signature thing!

I'll only forget.

 

let me know what nice things they send you through the post MS that is! you get certificate there and then I think?

 

how long did you get?

[James]

maximum length for signatures is currently set at 300 characters - let me know if this is too short.

[SarahPVC]

Got 2 1/2 hours for the exam including a brief questionaire about your studies etc. i got a sheet of A4 that said i had passed straight after the exam then the actual certificate gets sent approx 2 weeks afterwards. I'll let you know what goodies they send me - i wonder if they'll give me some reduced exam fees (maybe not!)

[jasun]

yeah it is james!

 

probably doesn't need extending by much, just easier than inserting stuff into the messages manually every time..

 

annoying with some boards when you've got to do this because sigs are turned off.

 

let me know when it's done, cheers.

[jasun]

oh wicked! how many questions? I did lok at it all but forgot hehe, thought it was something like 90 mins actually!

 

supose you get way longer than really needed.

I'm just going to starting working on the ms ones as I do ccna as that'll deffo be a single longer learning thing rather than smaller sets of learning for the MS ones.

 

probably won't even use these skills gained with the mcse as I'm mostly linux/unix based.

 

deffo worth having though, I know people earning 25+ an hour wth just mcse certs

[SarahPVC]

There were 61 questions in total which seemed like a lifetimes worth!! Had major headache by the end of it all & they were a lot harder than any practise exam i have done. I did all the Transcender ones, Measure-up, CertTutor etc but the real thing made you think more laterally.