MCSA - just a quick question

[sharkster]

this may be a daft question:o but you know the mcsa

they are 4 exams

1. One Client - XP (70-270)

2. Managing, Maintaining Server (70-290)

3. Implementing, Managing, Maintaining Server Network (70-291)

4. One Elective - The 3 most popular electives are SQL (70-228), Exchange (70-284) and ISA (70-277). Other electives are SMS, Windows 2003 Security.

 

do you take all these exams in one sitting? or do you take them when you want i.e.

take 70-270 one month then in two months time take the 70-291 exam untill you pass all 4 then get the certificate.

thank you.

[vikpaw]

Take them one at a time when you want.

Each is an exam in its own right and should give you the qualification of MCP, all the MCPs combined then give you the MCSA title.

[Diello]

You can take them as your own pace - as & when you want.

 

When you pass your first exam, you get MCP status, which gives you a fair percentage of the associated benefits.

[sharkster]

:)thank you

[OverWorked]

The elective doesn't have to be a Microsoft exam - they recognise some CompTIA qualifications as well. I did the CompTIA A+ and Network+ which together count as the elective.

 

I got the MCSA 3 years ago. MS are changing their qualifications now (I can't give details because I'm not clear on it myself), and it may be worth looking into the new certs instead.

[boomam]

When are they changing and what to?

[OverWorked]

See here for the current certification levels.

 

MCP => MCTS (MS Certified Techology Specialist) the basic qualification

MCSA/MCSE => MCITP (MS Certified IT Professional, (I think))

 

MCTS exams build up to make MCITP certs, like the MCP certs used to make up MCSA/MCSE certs.

 

Also see Certification Paths at a Glance. I think MS produced this doc originally but I can't find it on their site. It looks complicated, but it's OK when you read through it.

[cookie_monster]

Make sure you put extra effort into 70-291 it's the hardest exam IMO.

 

You can also take the MCDST exams as an elective this has the added benefit of gaining you another cert. I think you can take the VISTA MCTS or MCITP as well.

[boomam]

See here for the current certification levels.

 

MCP => MCTS (MS Certified Techology Specialist) the basic qualification

MCSA/MCSE => MCITP (MS Certified IT Professional, (I think))

 

MCTS exams build up to make MCITP certs, like the MCP certs used to make up MCSA/MCSE certs.

 

Also see Certification Paths at a Glance. I think MS produced this doc originally but I can't find it on their site. It looks complicated, but it's OK when you read through it.

Thats confusing.

So the MSCE & MSCAs are ceasing to be, and in their place there will just be MCITP.

And the MCPs will become MCTS?

 

So i take it bar the names, its gonna be mostly the same, so several MCTSs in the right areas will = a MCITP?

[strawberry]

one advantage to getting the 2003 stuff is taht it doens't expire, the newer one does. Also some of the modules on the 2003 qual's can be carried on, for isntance 620-vista.

[projector1]

i passed the 270 about a month ago, now almost ready to sit the 290, i recommend reading the microsoft press for certification as the amount of skills i learnt has made my carry out my role much more effiecently.

A example would be accessing mmc snap-ins on remote systems, using the ADTools such as DSadd,get mod query.

 

Also on the technet site their is a link for a free resit (just in case)

[cookie_monster]

@ strawberry: MS have change their approach to expiration now after everyone did their nut at the suggestion that they would have to start pating for topup exams every 3 years which would be about the same time that you would be studying for the new version (if MS ever stuck to a roadmap). They now remain current untill the product is no longer supported by MS so that should be around 10 years.

 

 

@ boomam: yeh that's about right 70-260 cets you a MCTS and 70-262 gets you MCITP Vista when you take them both. I will work like that for most products now.

Edited April 11, 2008 by cookie_monster

[boomam]

Im looking to do a MSCA now, and have persuaded SMT to buy me the core MSCE books.

Are they gonna be able to be used on these new qualifications?

[OverWorked]

Make sure you put extra effort into 70-291 it's the hardest exam IMO.

 

I agree. I failed it the first time, then the second time I thought I'd done much better, only to find at the end that I'd got exactly the pass mark of 700 - just scraped it. They weren't running the second shot promo at the time, so I had to pay again.

 

The 70-290 was an absolute doddle though, which gave me too much confidence for the 70-291.

 

@booman: I haven't seen the books for the new certs, but I doubt the MCP books will cover them as they're for different products.

[boomam]

So i should get the core books in a few weeks time. Then will start studying.

When are the new ones coming into play? As im wondering which ones i'll get when i come to do an exam?

[OverWorked]

I think they've been running for a while now. I don't know when they started. At the moment, MS are running both schemes together.

[cookie_monster]

If you ordered the core MCSE books than they should be the 2003 certs you could take your 2k3 MCSA using them and then buy the upgrade books to 2008 later.

[OverWorked]

If you ordered the core MCSE books than they should be the 2003 certs you could take your 2k3 MCSA using them and then buy the upgrade books to 2008 later.

 

That's not a bad idea, especially if you're more familiar with 2003 and are not upgrading your servers to 2008 yet anyway.

 

I wasn't clear enough earlier about what certification is available - it depends on what product you're interested in.

 

Old MCP/MCSA/MCSE are for Server 2003 and XP (and are still available)

 

New MCTS/MCITP are for Server 2008 and Vista (have been available for a few months).

 

This is how I understand it anyway.

[cookie_monster]

It's worth mentioning here that there has been a change to the Vista certs.

 

I took the MCDST WinXP exams as my elective for my 2003 MCSA, once you have this you can take the 70-621 exam to upgrade it to the Vista cert this gets you an MCITP and MCTS in Vista (bear with me :-)) you can now use the 70-621 exam anywhere that the 70-620 Vista client exam is required (in any certification path e.g. the 2008 path) .

Edited April 14, 2008 by cookie_monster