question on Vista and the MCSA

gins007

Does anyone know if taking the Windows Vista exam would could for the OS portion of the MCSA?
If so which one.

NinjaBoy

I watched one of MS webcasts and they stated that the Vista exam (70-620) could be used as an elective of the MCSA, however as for using it as the core client OS for the MCSA, the best thing to do is to e-mail/contact the MCP helpdesk.

To view the webcast, see here.

-Ken

pllegends

Vista exams are only considered as an elective in MCSA.
Vista will only give you Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification only.

Slowhand

pllegends wrote:

Vista exams are only considered as an elective in MCSA.
Vista will only give you Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification only.

No, the 70-620 exam counts as either your elective or your desktop OS exam (but not both). As a stand-alone test, it will get you the MCTS certfication, as well.

losercore

Slowhand wrote:

pllegends wrote:

Vista exams are only considered as an elective in MCSA.
Vista will only give you Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification only.

No, the 70-620 exam counts as either your elective or your desktop OS exam (but not both). As a stand-alone test, it will get you the MCTS certfication, as well.

Can you point to the source of this? I am waiting for MS to get back to me about this.

Thanks

pllegends

you are an MCP so you can signon to the MCP website, on the left hand side click "View My" and choose Certification Planner. In the field choose either the MCSA 2003 or the MCSE 2003.
You will then see listed your current certifications as well as all core and elective requirements. Scroll down to elective and you will see the 70-620 as an elective not a core O/S requirement.

losercore

I thought I would let everyone know what MS has to say abut this.

Hello xxxx,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Vista exam.

We appreciate your continued interest.

Vista exam (exam no. 70-620), does not qualify for the OS portion of the 2003 MCSA/MCSE track.

However, you can be MCTS: Windows Vista, Configuration by passsing just one exam (70-620).

Slowhand

My source was the webcast on the new track of MCITP exams for Longhorn, where the coordinators for the Microsoft Learning talked about the retiring of the Windows 2000 MCSA/MCSE track (along with 70-292 and 70-296), as well as what the new exams will mean to the current 2003 track. They stated that the 70-620 will be a valid desktop exam, in leau of 70-270 and 70-210, as well as an elective (just not both at the same time). They did mention, however, that a lot of what was in that webcast won't be formally announced by Microsoft until May or June of this year, so it may be that the 70-620 exam will be considered an elective-only exam until then. Of course, all that's subject to change, so it may end up never being a desktop OS exam for MCSA/MCSE 2003, Microsoft is finicky like that.

From the sounds of losercore's answer from Microsoft, I guess the safest bet for the desktop exams is to take either the 70-210 or 70-270 tests for now, and do a little bit of "wait and see" until May/June, to see if Microsoft decides to change their policies in time with the launch of the next-gen certifications.

ajs1976

From Trika's blog:

Monday, March 26, 2007 6:20 AM
To be clear: 70-620 as MCSA/MCSE elective
For both MCSA and MCSE 2000 and 2003, 70-620 ("Big Vista" exam) can be used to satisfy:

core exam for client requirement OR
general elective
just not BOTH in the same track.

In this post, I said that 620 can be used as a CLIENT ELECTIVE, but it is more accurate to say that it is one of your options for your CORE CLIENT ELECTIVES. Is that better? These updates should be reflected in the MCSA/MCSE requirements pages on MSCOM/learning momentarily.

Posted by trikah@microsoft.com | 12 Comments
Filed under: vista certification, MCSE, mcsa

http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/Default.aspx?p=2

sthomas

Does anyone know if you can use 70-236 (Exchange Server 2007) toward MCSA:Messaging? I thought I read it somewhere that you can but I cannot seem to find the info. Maybe it is the same situation with 70-620, MS just needs to update there site but maybe not.

Slowhand

sthomas wrote:

Does anyone know if you can use 70-236 (Exchange Server 2007) toward MCSA:Messaging? I thought I read it somewhere that you can but I cannot seem to find the info. Maybe it is the same situation with 70-620, MS just needs to update there site but maybe not.

Hang tight and see. The WebCast said that there would be "announcements and changes in mid-2007" regarding Microsoft's certification tracks. Chances are, if they're planning on including the Exchange 2007 exams as part of MCSA/MCSE: Messaging, they'll announce it when they announce the Vista exam info and the MCITP for Longhorn.

ajs1976

Friday, May 18, 2007 8:15 PM
(Cert) Grids Gone Wild(er)
Sorry it took so long for the new elective options to be added to the MCSA and MCSE certification grids. They are there as of this week sometime... hope this will help with your planning.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcsa/windows2003/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/windows2003/default.mspx

From: http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/