Helmers Blog

Virtualization Exams Today I read a nice blog post on the MS Learning blog. The post is about the three new virtualization exams which will enter the beta stage soon. If you want to attend one (or all) of the virtualization beta exams all you need is a SME Profile with the correct expertise! The post is a bit mysterious about the date on which the exams will be available. That was the reason for me to contact some friends of mine over at MS Learning. They were able to make some things clear, but didn’t give me the exact dates.

Ehh…Desktop Administrator 7

Earlier this week I blogged about my new MCITP Certification. I didn’t notice it right away, but Freddy Fuentes tweeted about it on November 20th. When he checked his transcript the exam showed up as the PRO: Windows 7, Desktop Administration and in the list of certifications it said : MCITP Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7. Oke..nothing strange I would say. But when you log on to the Certificate Manager the Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 just said MCITP : Desktop Administrator 7 – Charter Member (Yeah..the Charter Member part was oke, but the Enterprise part is missing). Freddy mentioned it to @MSLearning via Twitter. @MSLearning only responded with a short ‘interesting…I’ll find out’. Too bad it hasn’t been fixed yet, so when he told me he didn’t get any response yet from @MSLearning I decided to contact Krista who immediately took action (Thanks Krista!). She will blog about the issue later today on the MSLearning’s Born2Learn blog! Krista told me she would look into the wrong certification name issue and she will have it fixed! When it’s fixed I’ll update my blog post. Krista also published a blog post about it at the MS Learning blog.

Almost 14 days ago you could read that I passed the first MCITP Windows 7 exam, just today Prometric published the results of the second (and last) MCITP Windows 7 exam. I also passed this one!  

The first MCITP exam doesn’t give you a new credential at once (at least not at the moment), but with passing the second one I can add the MCITP Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Administrator to the list of Microsoft credentials.

UPDATE (Nov, 20th) : The 686 is also available in the MCP Transcript…

A new credential has been added to my transcript (bringing it to a total of 19 credentials)  And both the exams also show up on the Exam List (pff..already passed 27 MCP exams)

To see all my exams, just go to this MCP Website and use these credentials :

Transcript ID: 656731 Accesscode: hzandbergen

  When logging into the Prometric Candidate History pages I noticed that I passed the first Windows 7 MCITP exam. I’m not sure if passing this exam gives me a new credential. According to this page in the Microsoft Learning Catalog it should give me a new credential : Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7. But for now, it’s not showing (yet) on my transcript.  For now you still need pass the HDI exam to earn the MCITP Desktop Support Technician 7 credential, but according to this blogpost at the MSLearning blog things can change .

UPDATE : Just received an update from one of my sources over at Microsoft Learning. The results of the 71-686 are already at Prometric. Prometric is processing the results as-we-speak and they should pop up on your Prometric Candidate History within 2 weeks from now!

UPDATE (16-09) : All the seats for both the exams are taken so for know you can’t register anymore for the exams below!

UPDATE #2 (16-09) : I just spoke to somebody from Microsoft and she told me that the product planner opened new slots earlier today. So IF you want to sign up for the exam….be QUICK!

UPDATE #3 (17-09) : And all slots are filled up again…

Earlier today Microsoft announced via the Beta Exams blog that the registration for the 71-686 and the 71-685 are available! To register for one (or both) of the exams, please read the information below.

71-686 : PRO : Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop

You are invited to take beta exam 71-686: PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration. By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

71-686: PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator, Windows 7

Availability

Public Registration begins: September 14, 2009

Beta exam period runs: September 21, 2009– October 16, 2009

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam. Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: EDA7 Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

 

71-685 : PRO : Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support

You are invited to take beta exam 71-685: PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration. By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

71-685: PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician, WIndows 7

Availability

Public Registration begins: September 14, 2009

Beta exam period runs: September 14, 2009– October 16, 2009

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam. Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: EDST7 Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

 

Too bad (the exams are probably very populair!) the registration pages at Prometric are overloaded. You are able to select the exam.

But as soon as you’ve selected the exam location you receive a page with the error you can see below.

UPDATE : After a lot of retries I was able to register for both the exams!

Today my former colleague Kay asked me if I received the MCITP Win2k8 Server Admin scores, so I checked the Prometric website. And yesss I passed! Kay passed the exam too! Congrats Kay! So now it’s just waiting for the MCITP : Windows Server 2008 – Enterprise results as they still say Tested on the Candidate History page.

And just a few minutes ago the page was updated again….and I also passed the MCITP Win2k8 Enterprise Admin exam.

So right now I’m completely certified on Windows Server 2008!