Microsoft Certification Passing Tips!

Good afternoon everyone!

As you will probably know (by looking at the SQL Genius Facebook Page or reading yesterday's blog post) that the reason why I have been so quiet this week is because I took my MCTS 70-433 Database Development exam on Monday and passed! I have been incredibly busy my end.

So, today I am going to go through ways of preparing for your Microsoft exam (like I did) in order to give you the best foundations for passing the exam. Training and learning is something I really think is vital for an individual (not only those in a career) to develop themselves as a person. I found training for and taking my Microsoft examination a pleasure and I wouldn't hesitate at taking more in the future to support my skill set, or recommending the programme to fellow developers who are in the same position as me.

Preparing For Your Exam

Read the Appropriate Training Kit! 

When I first started at my current work place, I was given the appropriate training book to read. It was obvious as time went on that I wouldn't have enough time at work to read and absorb everything, so I bought myself my own copy for home use. This meant that at the end of each day and occasionally at weekends, I would read part of a chapter and make notes about it the following day. This ensured that I remembered as much as I could and any information I struggled to recall I noted down and came back to later.

All in all, I read through the Microsoft Self Training Kit 3 times. I know that sounds boring - and many people may not get on so well with that kind of learning format. However, I still managed to take in a fair amount of information and anything that "slipped through the net" first time around was captured on the second and third read through.

What you do have to note though is that the purpose of the training kit books is to give you the knowledge to practice more in SQL Server, not to pass the exam (that would be too easy otherwise!). You will need to do much more than just read through the books in order to pass; though it does give you sound grounding knowledge to help you pass.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Whenever I had a moment at work, I carried out the practice lessons within the Training Kit and even formulated my own scenarios and made my own test databases. While I could have used the examples included on the CD, I found that if I had to create the tables and views from scratch I had to think about it much more.

Some people find it easier to learn when they practice and I did find it really helped me to cement the knowledge that I read from the books.

Real Life Experience

What also helps is that I am a developer by trade, so I use SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio for the majority of the time. This means that I can see and pick up scenarios at work and remember and learn from them. If there was anything I didn't fully understand, I would note it down and then ask one of my senior mentors to help me when they were free (which thankfully, they were very supportive and really helped me!)

Who knows? Maybe you will come across a similar example in the exam to one you tackled during your normal working day! As a guideline - I have been a Junior Developer for just over a year now and I would recommend a year of work experience before you attempt to take the exam as you need to be able to think in the mind of a SQL Developer, which is probably one of the hardest parts of the Microsoft exam. Not only do you need to be quick at making a decision but you need to know why you have chosen the best solution in your answer.

Use the Questions on the Training Kit CD to Revise! 

Although the questions may not apply to the questions you encounter in the exam, I found the CD very useful in preparing for the kinds of questions you face. Generally, the questions are multiple choice however you will be expected to occasionally choose more than one answer or select an item from a diagram. The CD that came with the training kit was very useful to get myself familiarised on how I should answer each of the questions - so I didn't have to worry about how each question had to be answered. More information on the types of question you could be asked is found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/certification-exams.aspx

Create Flash Cards

I created flash cards and used Post-it notes to remember snippets of information. I found this particularly useful to distinguish between the different types of JOIN as I was constantly getting myself confused. I wasn't popular for leaving my post-it notes all over the office and around the house, but seeing the facts and information every day also helped me remember the vital points for my exam. I did this in the 3 weeks leading up to my exam and found that I could recall information during the exam quickly as I could visualise each one. I always make them bright, colourful and eye-catching.

Blog! 

Believe it or not - writing this blog has actually really helped me and proves to myself that I understand the features that I am writing about. If I don't understand something or there's a gap in my knowledge, I either went back to the training book, I researched more online or I asked one of the senior developers to help me.

On the Day of Your Exam... 

Make sure you get plenty of sleep! 

There's nothing worse than not being able to concentrate due to lack of sleep!

Be organised! 

Make sure you sort out things you need to take with you on the day of your exam the night before  (e.g. Your 2 forms of ID) and keep in mind that you only receive a small locker on the day so don't bring any big or heavy bags with you!

Try to stay calm and relaxed!

Cram revising can help some people but I ended up getting myself confused on the morning of my exam and panicked more, so I did other activities instead to keep my mind fresh.

During the Exam 

My technique during the exam was to answer the questions I knew straight away and if there were any I got stuck on or wasn't completely sure of, I marked and came back to them. That way I made sure that I spent an adequate amount of time on each of the questions and didn't spend 5 minutes trying to answer a question I didn't know, and therefore compromising completing the test. Thankfully, this technique paid off and I passed with a pretty reasonable score.

For more information about the Microsoft examinations and policies, read more here:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/certification-exam-policies.aspx

Hopefully this article will help someone else pass their exam too - wishing you the best of luck!

As A Final Word...

Thank you for reading today's blog post! If you have any questions/comments/feedback, please leave them in the comments section below and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Alternatively, please like my SQL Genius Facebook Page and leave a message on there.

Have a great weekend! :)