2/10/2008 4:36:22 PM

Actually, I've taken two Microsoft exams in a single day before. It's not *too* terrible.

And actually, I think you should sign up for the retake right off the bat. The tests actually change each time you take them, as per the proportion of questions in each category. I know this from the MCSE Security Exam I failed when taking my MCSE. The exam required you to examine and answer questions based on case studies of different corporations' desired network setup. Anyway, the test involved four different case studies out of a potential pool of 16 total case studies. I found this out as I was surprised, on the second test, to have one case study be exactly the same as one from the first time I took the test, down to exact wording of questions, exact wording and order of the multiple choice answers, etc.

Anyway, as such, when you retake the exam you're likely to get a different mix of questions next time you take it, though don't be *too* surprised when you see a few questions that are exactly verbatim from the last time you took it. But take the risk anyway! Especially do so if your company is paying the cost of the tests; after all, what have you got to lose? (I lost $125 since I paid for the test myself, but you learn things)

Also, if you want to cheat, and I don't suggest you do, you can check out MCSEBrainDumps.com (which has more than just MCSE tests nowadays) for an assurance of passing. MCSEBrainDumps gets people to memorize, word-for-word, some of the questions and answers from MCP exams and submit them; thus, you're studying the test itself, before ever taking it. I learned this when preparing for my fourth MCSE test (of the seven) when I used it to help study and then was surprised when taking the real test to see a couple of the questions/answers word-for-word from what I'd studied (luckily I only used the first couple of questions from the studyguide just to see if my brain was prepared, so I didn't really feel like I had cheated, at least not on *that* test).

It's your call whether you use that latter resource, though. I did on the seventh MCSE exam, on Security, as I had been absolutely sure I'd been giving the correct answers and yet failed abyssmally. I used the BrainDumps to see what the right answers *should* have been to see if I could reverse-engineer the logic on *why* such answers were correct. Security was and still is my weak suite. Since I passed all of the other six completely on my own, and as Security was one of the elective courses for finishing the MCSE, I don't feel myself to be a "paper MCSE." You will, of course, have to develop your own feelings on the topic of whether you'd be a "paper whatever" (is this a MCAD exam? so a "paper MCAD"?), meaning that you don't actually know the material and so aren't a *real* whatever, you just have a piece of paper that *says* you're a whatever. Again, you'll have to check your own ethics and see what you find your bounds to be, how far you'll allow yourself to go and still be able to look at yourself as a credible person. Mine, like I said, I justified as I wanted to know what the right answers were so that I could figure out *why* those were right. If you feel you'd be using it only to do well at your job, I might suggest you not use the above.

Anyway, there's your temptation for the week. I'm your host, Satan ("Adversary"), please join us next week as we see just how hungry the typical man must get before he considers eating a puppy.

LordCyclohexane