New to certs

Zhou

In the class I'm taking, if you pass the 70-270 exam it's an automatic A in the class so I wanted to try it. I have the MS press book and studying it from front to back the best I can (taking it Tuesday morning so it's hard to keep up!). This is my first exam for any certification.

For this exam, if you pass are you giving a certification? Or is it only 1 part of a certification (like how the A+ exam is two parts). I'm new to all this certification stuff, so I'm curious to how it works. I know like server 2003 is a few exams for the whole thing, do you get certified for that only after all the exams or is each exam a certification, and you build up for a full one?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, I just wanted to know how it works. I'm thrown off because I know some certification require more than one part to pass (like the A+). Also, if this exam does get you a certification, do they send you a little certificate like the A+ one?

Lastly, how do you prove that you passed the exam (if a employer requires proof)? Thanks in advance for any help I figured I might as well not assume anything with these. This is a great site and I know it will help me with the exam.

keatron

If you pass 270 then you are an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional). This is typically a starting point for most people to obtain MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) or MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). So basically passing any Microsoft certification exam gets you in the Microsoft Certified Professional Program. You will be given an MCP ID as well as access to the MCP website. The website is where you would to to prove your credentials to a prospective employee. You could either print an official transcript or you can take advantage of the Transcript Sharing Code. This automatically generate an email that you can send to the employer. It will include a link to the transcript along with the needed transcript ID (login) and transcript code (password). Once following this link, the employer will be able to view and print a copy of your transcript.

Your questions are not stupid at all.

Read here for more information about the MCP program and how it works.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/default.asp

Click the certifications link on the left.