Looking for good online or self study MCSE course

[ajbritton]

I'm looking for an online/self study MCSE course that would be a lot less expensive that going to a training center. Does anyone know of such a thing? Any reccomendations?

Thanks,,,

[alan-d]

I've been using this company, but it was via Skills Train (Can't find a link to them - got it at home).

About 3k for full MCSE but in all honesty the course material is mediocre and should be backed up with other resources if you can.

[ChrisH]

If you can find somewhere near you that does the courses similar to Lancaster university they do offer very good value for money with the discount Edugeek gets. Thats just for the core exams but they also pay for the exams as well I think and at £90 each exam thats a bargain.
Saying that though tbh someone of your experience could learn them out of a book. Alot of the exams is more about how they ask the questions and getting used to their style.

[ajbritton]

I suppose my other option is some kind of boot camp and do the whole thing in a couple of weeks. Has anyone tried this?

[ChrisH]

You will remember enough to pass the exam then forget it all soon after not worth it....

[alexknight]

When taking the MSCE course there are sevweral different modules for each exam, i.e core exam, elective exam etc. Which modules are worth taking when given a choice.

see: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/windows2003/

Thanks

Alex

[ajbritton]

You will remember enough to pass the exam then forget it all soon after not worth it....

Don't care, I just want the badge!

[ChrisH]

You will remember enough to pass the exam then forget it all soon after not worth it....

Don't care, I just want the badge!

Most expensive pieces of metal you will ever buy. Mine sat in a draw for 3 years then I just bluetacked them to my monitor. I mean its not like you going to show your face in public with one pinned onto you

[sahmeepee]

It took me 6 (SIX) months to get my qualification through after my last MCSA exam. Balustrades!

I did mine through Thomson Wavetech and I think they've got the self-study side of it pretty much nailed. The bulk of the material is based on sections from online versions of books from the good IT publishers. You then cover the same material in a very basic read-and-answer quiz thing. Next you'll typically do a related task connected live to a virtual server. This is followed by an hour-long camtasia/powerpoint session by one of their instructors to recap. Each topic ends with an exam simulation to check your progress.

It's really thorough, but if you don't put the hours into it it probably wouldn't be any good. Also they don't seem to build any weeks off into the schedule so it's pretty unrelenting. I did 6 months of self-study in total and about 8 days of bootcamps and exams. During the self-study I was doing about 14 hours of study a week. With hindsight I put far too much work into the XP and WS2003 exams. The tough one is 70-291, so if you're collecting pieces of paper, make sure you focus on that one. I was the only person (of 10) in my test centre to pass that sucka.

Prices vary wildly with prevailing wind direction, so give them a ring.