MCTS,MCSE,MCITP,MCM,MCA
upgrade exams
Upgrade MCAD to MCPD 3.5 path
Nov 30th
As the latest technologies –Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 are born out, Microsoft have released the corresponding exams .So .most of exams corresponding to the oldest technology are retired ,such as some of MCSA/MCSE exams ,most of MCSD and MCAD and so on .Because most of them are related to Visual studio 2000 or Server 2000.
So, many MCAD holders want to upgrade their MCAD certs on .Net 1.0 to MCPD.net 3.5 .Unfortunately, there is no direct upgrade path from MCAD to MCPD on Visual Studio 2008 or .Net 3.5 .We recommend that you upgrade your skills to MCPD on Visual Studio 2005 and then explore the upgrade paths to Visual Studio 2008 .In other words ,you should firstly upgrade your MCSD to demonstrate your expertise in Visual Studio 2005 by earning MCTS on .net 2.0 and MCPD.Net 2.0 ,and then upgrade from MCPD .net 2.0 on Visual Studio 2005 to MCPD .net 3.5 on Visual Studio 2008.
Although we can get all the information about upgrade path from MCAD to MCPD from the Microsoft Certification site, most of the candidates are confused by the vague information .Here, we will give a detailed explanation about the .Net 3.5 upgrade path .
Preparation guide for MCTS 70-649
Nov 3rd
Yeah, all we know is that MCITP /MCTS70-649 is the upgrade exam. When we pass this exam ,we can get three MCTS credentials including MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring、 MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure and MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Platform, Configuring. So, we think the 70-649 is very hard for us to pass .If you want to get more detailed information, you can see” You‘d better give up hardest upgrade exam 70-649“.Although it recommended us to give up this exam, it doesn’t said we can not pass this exam .In fact, if you have a bit of experience and knowledge in difference of 2008 server from 2003 server, you won’t find it very hard.
So, today we’ll talk about how to prepare our MCITP 70-649 exam to make sure we can pass it with the passing mark or high scores. Read the rest of this entry »
The topic area or objectives on 70-649
Nov 3rd
1. Configuring Additional Active Directory Server Roles
· Configure Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS)
May include but is not limited to: migration to AD LDS, configuring data within AD LDS, configuring an authentication server, server core, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
· Configure Active Directory Rights Management Service (AD RMS)
May include but is not limited to: certificate request and installation, self-enrollments, delegation, Active Directory Metadirectory Services (AD MDS), Windows Server virtualization
· Configure the read-only domain controller (RODC)
May include but is not limited to: unidirectional replication, Administrator role separation, read-only DNS, BitLocker, credential caching, password replication, syskey, Windows Server virtualization
· Configure Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) Read the rest of this entry »
You‘d better give up hardest upgrade exam 70-649
Oct 19th
Generally speaking, we have two paths to upgrade MCSA/MCSE 2003 to MCITP: EA. (more detailed information, you can see this article “How to Upgrade MCSE/MCSA 2003 to MCITP/MCTS”)
It is known that if we want to get the MCITP: EA by taking upgrade exams, we are required to pass three exams: 70-649, 70-620 or 70-624, 70-647.
When we ask those of you who have done the MCITP: EA:”Which of the exams you thought was the most difficult?”, we always get the same answer- I have done the 70-620 and the 70-642 which I found easy enough, 70-649 is hardest.
The advice from those experiencing 70-649 exam is that you’d better give up 70-649, and take the other way to upgrade your MCSE 2003. Read the rest of this entry »
Best way to Upgrade from MCSA 2003 to MCITP SA
Oct 14th
If you want to upgrade your MCSA 2003 or MCSE 2003 to MCITP, which upgrade path would you like to choose? Take the upgrade exams, or take MCTS server 2008 exams?
Maybe some candidates for MCITP SA don’t know how to upgrade their MCSA 2003 or MCSE 2003 to MCITP SA.So, we’ll list the upgrade paths to MCITP, if you have known these, and you can skip this.
If you want to upgrade MCSA 2003 to MCITP SA, you have two choices.
1. Upgrade exams for MCITP SA .You know ,if you pass exam 70-648 ,your MCSA on windows Server 2003 can be upgraded to MCTS credentials(MCTS :Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration and Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure configuration).That is to say, upgrade exam 70-648 is combination of MCTS 70-640 and 70-642 .So ,generally speaking ,70-648 is harder .After your passing 70-648 or getting both of MCTS credentials ,only if you pass 70-646 ,you will get your MCITP :SA (Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008).
2. Take MCTS sever 2008 exams instead of the upgrade paths. That is to say, you can take any order of 70-640 and 70-642 exams to get the above two MCTS credentials. In my opinion, this way is easier.
Which way would you prefer?
Personally, the easier route would be to just do 70- 640 and 70-642 exams individually. Upgrade exams are always harder! The upgrade exam 70-648 is combination of 2 exams and far harder than the individual exams. Unless you have enough experience on the technology Windows Server 2008, you‘d better not take 70-648 instead of 70-640 and 70-642.So for me it wouldn’t have made a difference if I did the exams separately from a number of exams point of view.
There are several reasons below:
1. When you study the 70-648 upgrade exams, you can found most of materials including MS Press books for 70-640 objectives or topic area very vague and a bit lost.
2. To pass 70-648, you have to pass each section of 70-640 and 70-642,As each section is basically an exam on it own right ,otherwise you’ll fail the whole exam. Generally speaking, if you want to pass 70-648, you should have the ability to pass 640 and 642 exams. If you have trouble studying for basically those exams at the same time, you’d better give up the upgrade exam and study for the individual exams, which will help you concentrate on one set of objectives rather splitting you between the two.
3. To get MCITP :SA ,We can get to know it is unwise to take 70-648 ,from those who had experiencing on upgrade exams.Generally speaking ,Many of candidates with MCSA 2003 would try the upgrade exams three or more times to pass 70-648.
So, in my opinion, the easiest route to get MCITP is to take the exams separately for those with MCSE 2003 or MCSA 2003
NO upgrade path for MCSE: Security
May 22nd
There is NO upgrade path that is specific for the MCSE: Security, however, there are upgrade paths for the MCSE certifications to the new MCTS and MCITP. You will find all details here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcts/windowsserver/2008/transition/default.mspx
Also, if you have experience with Exchange and SQL, you can also go after the MCTS and MCITPs specific to those technologies.
MCSD upgrade to MCPD 3.5
May 13th
i just wanna know if there is an upgrade path to MCPD 3.5 (VS2008) with only 3 upgrade exams。Currently i am just a MCSD .net Developer but i want upgrade with exams 70-551, 70-552 & 70-554. So i will earn MCPD: Windows & Web & Enterprise Developer only with three exams instead of four. Is there for upgrade to MCPD 3.5 (VS2008) an easy way like for the upgrade to MCPD 2.0 ?
SOLUTION:
There is no upgrade from MCSD.NET to MCPD 3.5 as normally upgrades dont skip versions.
If you up to 2.0 then you can do 4 exams from 2.0 to 3.5 to get the full suite of MCPD certs on both 2.0 and 3.5
Other than that you are left with starting from scratch with .NET 3.5 and taking a total of 8 exams to get to get all the MCPDs on 3.5 … so its a choice for you of 7 exams resulting in a total of 13 certs or 8 exams resulting in 7 certs.