Passed My First Microsoft Certification Exam

Today, I passed my first Microsoft Certification exam, MCTS exam 70-433! With this certification, I am a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist for SQL Server 2008 Database Development.

Getting a MS cert has always been something that I always wanted to achieve, but I never thought I would have the time to study. Well I signed up back in April and just knew that if I didn’t just do it, I probably never would. I had a great book to read from. It included an application that simulated the exam with practice tests. I took quite a few of the practice tests before the exam day and never could pass one, so needless to say, I was very nervous.

Once I was in the exam room, things seemed to get easier as I loosened up. The questions were hard and quite a few were rather tricky. Luckily, there was a review later checkbox at the top of each question that allowed me to go back after the test and review the ones that I was feeling unsure about. That was the real key to passing, I think. I went back through every question and re-read each word to make sure that I was fully understanding the question. Honestly, I was able to change a few of my answers because of it.

All in all, I would definitely do it again. In fact, I am already thinking about my next cert. But I think I’ll take the summer off to relax before I dive into that study mode again.