Over the last two days I sat exams 70-331 and 70-332 (Core and Advanced Solutions of SharePoint 2013). Along with my MCSA for Windows Server 2012 (exams 70-410, 70-411 and 70-412) I am now an MCSE for SharePoint 2013! Yay me!


Subscribe
joelblogs.co.uk | joelj.co.uk | joeljeffery.co.uk | jfdiphoenix.co.uk
Over the last two days I sat exams 70-331 and 70-332 (Core and Advanced Solutions of SharePoint 2013). Along with my MCSA for Windows Server 2012 (exams 70-410, 70-411 and 70-412) I am now an MCSE for SharePoint 2013! Yay me!


I’ve finally created some practice tests of my own.
I’ve built an exam of 40 questions in a similar style to those from Microsoft 70-573 “TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development”.
These are brand new questions. Not pirated. Not copied. Not stolen.
Ethical.
And you can access them for free!
See the SharePoint Practice Exams page for more details and links to PayPal.
Are you taking Microsoft Certified Professional exams with Prometric between now and 30 June 2011? Then you should consider buying a discount multi-pack of exam vouchers from Microsoft – the "Microsoft Certification Exam Pack" from Prometric. If you’re only going to sit one exam, you can pay 15% on top of the usual exam price and have a second shot at the exam – should you need it – for free. If you’re sitting exams as part of a course at a training partner testing centre, then it is likely they will have second shot vouchers ready for you as part of the deal.
| Certification Pack | Savings | Second Shot |
|---|---|---|
| 5-exam pack | 20% | Included with each exam |
| 4-exam pack | 20% | Included with each exam |
| 3-exam pack | 15% | Included with each exam |
| 2-exam pack | 15% | Included with each exam |
| 1-exam | Regular Price | Add 15% to exam price |
There are some gotcha’s though. You need to visit Prometric’s Exam Retake page to reclaim your free retake if you do not pass first time. Watch out though, as it can take up to 72 hours for them to send you the email with your free voucher.
The 70-668 has been out a month, and I’ve only just got round to taking it. When I sat the 70-667 beta, Microsoft gave me the MCITP Administrator certification as well by mistake… A bit of googling showed me that this was a known bug in their certification database and they’d taking it away again by 1st of September from any MCPs who hadn’t really sat 70-668.
Well, they’re not taking mine back! :o)
I’ve just read a really thought-provoking blog post from Patrick Sledz (@patman2520) on Microsoft’s approach to bringing SharePoint to market.
It strikes me that SharePoint is a product that’s taken a while to mature, but mature it certainly has. The several first iterations of the technology stack didn’t really have very much in the way of targeted Developer or IT Pro learning.
In fact, looking back at WSS 3.0 and SharePoint 2007, the only real, official Microsoft courses were for the IT Pro community (courses 5060 and 5061). I don’t think it’s a matter of Microsoft leaving things up to the community, but more the case that even with Microsoft’s man-power and financial might, SharePoint was a comparatively niche product and Microsoft simply couldn’t get the support and training to all the different groups who needed it, and remain cost effective.
But what they did do for learning in the SharePoint community was to make use of the already growing Microsoft Courseware Library. The Microsoft Courseware Library programme allows 3rd party vendors of training courses of sufficient quality to get a Microsoft seal of approval, and achieve a semi-official status.
Through this channel there have been some great training courses (and some not so good). Some of the good ones covered:
SharePoint 2007 Advanced Development (e.g. from Architecting Connected Systems or MindSharp)
SharePoint 2007 Business Intelligence Training
SharePoint 2007 Branding and Content Management
and
SharePoint End Users and Information Workers (or "Functionals" as Patrick calls them.)
To teach these courses to a paying audience, you’d need to be a Microsoft Certified Trainer /* like me! :o) */ but there is also a thriving community of other training companies who make terrific SharePoint courses outside of the Courseware Library programme (e.g. Ted Patterson / Critical Path).
As always, Microsoft leaves gaps for Microsoft partners to fill. Big partners like Firebrand Training, and not-so-big partners like JFDI Phoenix. /* my company! :o) */
But possibly there is a case for certification for Information Workers – maybe a SharePoint equivalent of the Office User certification.
However, I’m not convinced everyone who wants training also wants certification. I assert that the Venn diagram of Set A: "SharePoint Information Workers", Set B: "SharePoint Developers/Administrators/Architects" and Set C: "People Who Want SharePoint Certification" probably has those last two sets almost entirely overlapping, and only slightly intersecting the first.
The training landscape is definitely changing with SharePoint 2010:
The Microsoft ‘Get The Point’ Blog mentions an upcoming List training course.
Microsoft’s guide to End User training resources (OK, not classroom based)
Great free, third party End User SharePoint 2010 training videos.