As your research has brought you here it’s possible that either you’re considering a career change into IT and you’ve heard good things about MCSE’s, or you could already be in IT and you’ve realised that your career is blocked until your get the MCSE accreditation.
As you find out about training providers, don’t use those who reduce their out-goings by not providing the latest Microsoft level. In the long-run, this will frustrate and cost the student a lot more due to the fact that they’ve been educated in an old version of MCSE which inevitably will have to be up-dated to suit the working environment.
Be on your guard for training companies who are simply out to sell something. You should know that buying training to get an MCSE is the same in a way as buying a car. They are not all equal; some are comfortable and reliable, whilst some will be completely unreliable. A valid provider will spend time understanding your needs to check you’ve got the correct course. When providers are proud of their courses, they’ll show you examples of it before you buy.
Training support for students is an absolute must – find a program providing 24×7 full access, as anything else will annoy you and definitely impede your ability to learn.
Locate training schools with proper support available at all hours of the day and night (irrespective of whether it’s the wee hours on Sunday morning!) You’ll need direct-access to qualified mentors and tutors, and not a call-centre that will take messages so you’re consistently being held in a queue for a call-back – probably during office hours.
The very best programs offer a web-based round-the-clock service pulling in several support offices over many time-zones. You will be provided with a single, easy-to-use environment that seamlessly selects the best facility available at any time of day or night: Support when it’s needed.
Search out a company that is worth purchasing from. Only proper live 24×7 support delivers what is required.
An area that’s often missed by potential students weighing up a particular programme is that of ‘training segmentation’. This basically means how the program is broken down into parts to be delivered to you, which makes a huge difference to how you end up.
Typically, you will purchase a course that takes between and 1 and 3 years and get sent one module each time you pass an exam. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues:
What could you expect if you didn’t actually complete every section at the required speed? Often the prescribed exam order won’t fit you as well as some other structure would for you.
To be straight, the perfect answer is to have their ideal ‘order’ of training laid out, but get all the study materials at the start. Meaning you’ve got it all in case you don’t finish as fast as they’d like.
Exam ‘guarantees’ are sometimes offered as part of a training package – they always involve paying for the exam fees up-front, when you pay for the rest of your course. However, prior to embracing the chance of a guarantee, consider this:
Clearly it’s not free – you’re still paying for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package.
For those who want to pass first time, you must pay for each exam as you go, give it the priority it deserves and give the task sufficient application.
Find the best exam deal or offer available at the time, and avoid college mark-up fees. You’ll then be able to select where you sit the exam – which means you can stay local.
Huge profits are netted by a significant number of organisations that take the exam money up-front. For quite legitimate reasons, a number of students don’t get to do their exams but the company keeps the money. Surprising as it sounds, there are providers who actually bank on it – and that’s how they increase their profits.
Don’t forget, with ‘Exam Guarantees’ from most places – they control when and how often you can do your re-takes. Subsequent exam attempts are only authorised at the company’s say so.
Average exam fees were about 112 pounds in the last 12 months when taken at VUE or Pro-metric centres in the UK. So don’t be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more for ‘an Exam Guarantee’, when it’s obvious that the responsible approach is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.
You should look for an accredited exam preparation programme included in your course.
Due to the fact that the majority of IT examining boards are American, you need to become familiar with their phraseology. It’s not sufficient just understanding random questions – it’s essential that you can cope with them in the proper exam format.
Ensure that you ask for testing modules that will allow you to verify your understanding whenever you need to. Practice exams log the information in your brain – so the actual exam is much easier.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Browse around Career Change Options or Adult Training Course.
