Luckily the MCSE upgrade to MCITP process is shorter than getting an MCITP straight off.  The MCITP upgrade track can be as little as 2 exams to upgrade to MCITP Server Administrator or 3 exams for MCITP Enterprise Administrator. Both these options include sitting one MCITP Pro exam and a number of MCTS Technical Specialist exams. Here are your MCSE upgrade to MCITP options:

MCSE Upgrade to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator

(3 Exams)
70-649 MCTS: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSE to, Windows Server 2008, Technology Specializations
70-680 MCTS: Windows 7, Configuring
70-647 MCITP: Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator

MCSE Upgrade to MCITP: Server Administrator

(2 Exams)
70-649 MCTS: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSE to, Windows Server 2008, Technology Specializations
70-646 MCITP: Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator

Both options require you to sit the MCTS 70-649 exam as per the list above. This exam is a composite of three mcts exams - 70-640, 70-642 and 70-643 which are cut down into one exam. Because of this, you can actually use all the study material on offer for these exams to study for your 70-649 exam.

MCSE 2000 Upgrade to MCITP

Microsoft has deemed the technology gap between a MCSE 2000 and MCITP 2008 Server is too great of a jump for there to be an upgrade track. The full certification path should be followed – either MCITP Server Administrator or MCITP Enterprise Administrator.

Whats the first step to upgrading MCSE to MCITP?

You should be looking at sitting your MCTS 70-649 exam to bring your MCSE 2003 knowledge up to speed with Windows 2008 technologies. The easiest way to get started is purchasing the official Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit which will bring you up to par with the technology changes between these qualifications.

We also have a post about the MCSA upgrade to MCITP certification track if you currently hold an MCSA 2003.

If you currently hold a Windows Server 2003 MCSA certification the next step in your certification path should be to upgrade to a MCITP Windows 2008 certification. Upgrading to a MCITP on Windows Server 2008 will bring your technical knowledge and skills up to par with the latest certifications on offer from Microsoft. Having the latest certifications looks great on your resume and will give you the upper hand at job interviews.

Luckily upgrading your Windows 2003 MCSA upgrade to MCITP is a straight forward process which requires as little as only 2 exams. You have 2 options to upgrade your MCSA to an equivalent or greater MCITP certification. All options require you to do at least one MCTS exam and one MCITP exam. Here are your MCSA upgrade to MCITP options:

MCSA Upgrade to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator

(4 Exams)
70-648 MCTS: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSA to, Windows Server 2008, Technology Specializations
70-643 MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring
70-680 MCTS: Windows 7, Configuring
70-647 MCITP: Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator

MCSA Upgrade to MCITP: Server Administrator

(2 Exams)
70-648 MCTS: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSA to, Windows Server 2008, Technology Specializations
70-646 MCITP: Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator

As you can see, both choices require you to sit the MCTS 70-648 exam. This exam is a composite of both 70-640 and 70-642 exams cut down into one exam. Because of this, you can infact use study material for both of these exams for your 70-648 study.

MCSA 2000 Upgrade to MCITP

Unfortunately the technology gap between a MCSA 2000 and MCITP 2008 Server is too large for there to be an upgrade path. People in this position must follow the full certification path for either MCITP Server Administrator or MCITP Enterprise Administrator.

Whats the first step to upgrading MCSA to MCITP?

The first step to upgrading your MCSA to MCITP is to sit the MCTS 70-648 exam. Below is the official Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit which will bring you up to speed with the technology changes between these certifications.

If you currently hold an MCSE 2003 check out our post on the MCSE to MCITP upgrade path.

The syllabus of the MCTS 70-680 certification is split into these 8 areas:

• Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7
• Deploying Windows 7
• Configuring Hardware and Applications
• Configuring Network Connectivity
• Configuring Access to Resources
• Configuring Mobile Computing
• Monitoring and Maintaining Systems that Run Windows 7
• Configuring Backup and Recovery Options

On passing the MCTS 70-680 exam you will become a MCTS: Configuring Windows 7, which is Microsoft’s most popular certification and opens the door to 3 MCITP specializations.

The first step in gaining your MCTS 70-680 certification is to work through the official MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit:

We have also made your study easier by creating a page full of MCTS 70-680 training videos which should help your pass 70-680

If your looking for free MCTS 70-680 training videos, need look no further! Here we have created an index of all the free training videos we could find for the 70-680 exam so you can spend less time searching for study material more time studying!

We have split them up into sections as per the sections in the 70-680 syllabus

Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7
Deploying Windows 7
Configuring Hardware and Applications
Configuring Network Connectivity
Configuring Access to Resources
Configuring Mobile Computing
Monitoring and Maintaining Systems that Run Windows 7
Configuring Backup and Recovery Options

Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7 Videos

Windows  7 Editions

Perform a Clean Install of Windows 7

Different Install Methods and Dual Booting

Upgrading to Windows 7

Installing Windows 7 From the Network

Migrating to Windows 7

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Deploying Windows 7

Customizing Windows 7

Creating a Reference Image

Performing Maintenence on a WIM Image

Deploying a WIM Image

MDT 2010

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Configuring Hardware and Applications

Windows 7 Virtual Hard Disks

Configure Windows 7 Device Drivers

Troubleshooting Device Drivers

Configuring USB for Windows 7

Windows 7 Application Compatibility

Application Compatibility Toolkit

XP Mode

Application Restrictions

Applocker

Interest Explorer

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Configuring Network Connectivity

Introduction to IP

IPv4

Internet Protocol Version 6 IPv6

Troubleshooting IP Connectivity

Wireless Access on Windows 7

Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

Remote Assistance and Desktop

Remote Management Tools

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Configuring Access to Resources

Folder Virtualization

Windows 7 Homegroups

Windows 7 File Sharing

Managing Printers in Windows 7

File and Folder Access

NTFS Special Permissions

Encrypting File System (EFS)

Configuring User Account Control (UAC)

Authentication and Authorization

Certificates in Windows 7

Smartcards

Rights and Elevating Permissions

Windows 7 BranchCache

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Configuring Mobile Computing

BitLocker

BitLocker To Go

BitLocker Data Recovery

Windows 7 DirectAccess

Offline Files

Transparent Caching

Power Options

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Monitoring and Maintaining Systems that Run Windows

Remote Connections

Windows Updates

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-680): Configuring Windows® 7

Configuring Backup and Recovery Options

If you are looking for free MCITP training, look no further. There is a new player in the free mcitp training game and they call themselves IT Free Training. They offer completely free training videos on many mcitp exam topics and are adding more all the time. The sweet thing about these guys is that their motto and plane is simple – no registration needed, no downloads needed, just simply free mcitp training videos which you can watch for free on YouTube and you cant complain with that!

Currently IT Free Training are offering mcitp training videos for the windows 7 70-680 exam and windows server 2008 exams 70-640 70-642 70-643 and 70-647.

From what we can see, they are going to become a valuable mcitp training resource once they have produced a complete set of free mcitp training videos for each exam. It also looks like they may be offering free mcitp exams in the near future.

So before you fork out for paid mcitp training, check out these mcitp videos and hopefully save yourself a few bucks! If you are already in a training course, these videos will be good as a supplementary training resource.

Check our index of free mcitp videos to see IT Free Training and others free training videos!

IT Free Training’s YouTube channel here
IT Free Training’s Facebook page here

1. Plan your MCITP certification path

Gaining a MCITP certification may be the ultimate goal, but which flavor? Most people aim to get MCITP: Server Administrator or MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, but these are only a couple of the MCITP specializations on offer. It is important to set a goal, and then you can choose the best exam path to reach your goal. There is more than one way to get each MCITP qualification and most require you to pass one or two elective exam of which you choose from a list. If you are planning on at some stage in your career to broaden your knowledge and skills(which you should be!),  a bit of future planning  can be helpful so you  choose elective exams which may count towards subsequent MCITP certifications.

2. Set yourself a deadline on sitting the MCITP exam

It’s all too easy to decide you want to sit an exam and begin studying for it only just to loose motivation a couple of weeks down the track. When you set yourself a deadline, you have more chance in achieving your goal as you won’t be able to put off study.Decide which mcts exam you are going to sit and draw up a study plan giving yourself a reasonable amount of time to prepare for the exam. Set the date and book it in at a mcitp testing centre. At the time of booking usually you will pre pay with a credit card, which helps as no one likes to see money wasted, so stick to the DEADLINE.

3. Study in small manageable chunks

Decide what you want to study in how much time. Perhaps it’s a chapter per day, or per week depending on how much time you have on your hands to study. Either way, make sure you have given yourself a realistic amount of time which includes plenty of breaks. Most people’s attention spans won’t be able to cope with studying for 4 hours non stop in front of a computer screen or book so splitting that time up with breaks will make it more manage able. For instance, after 50 minutes of study take a 10 minute break  – go rest your eyes, make a coffee and if you must check your facebook(but don’t get too carried away!). Check out the MCITPGUIDE facebook page here.

4. Read the books before watching videos

There is a plethora of MCITP study material out there that will aid in your understanding each topic. You will come across books/ebooks, videos, audio books, virtual labs and practice exams all of which have their place in your study plan, but in order for them to be effective you have to use them in the right order. Here’s an example –

1. Begin your study with reading an through the official MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit. These are endorsed by Microsoft so you know they are going to be a complete, quality study tool.
2. The next step is go watch some mcitp training videos. Videos are good for recapping over things you have already studied and already have a good understanding of the concepts. Watching videos before doing a decent amount of reading should be avoided as videos can be vague and lacking vital information which may give you a false sense of understand and knowledege in your particular MCITP topic if you havent done all the hard reading beforehand.
3. Audio books are a good resource to have playing in your car while you’re driving, or on your iPod while on the bus or train. They can be listened to multiple times without much hassle or effort on your part and do a great job of hammering ideas into your head.
4. Virtual labs are good, but do not take the place of an actual computer lab. Having knowledge in your head is one thing, but you also need the skills to apply this knowledge in a real world environment. Setting up a VMWare computer lab is an easy task if you have a computer with enough resources to run a few virtual machines simultaneously.
5. MCITP practice exams should be the final part of your study and not used until you have finished. The reason being for this is the human memory is very good at remembering answers to questions so you can really only use each practice exam ONCE for accurate scoring and to show how complete your knowledge is. Incorrect answers should be looked over and study material re-read to strengthen your understanding in the syllabus areas you had trouble with.

5. Set up a decent computer lab

As mentioned above, a computer lab is one of the best tools for your study. Being able to apply your new learnt knowledge and skills in real life environment is invaluable to your mcitp study. Most of us won’t have the luxury of having the money nor space to set up a physical computer lab for studying, but building a virtual computer lab is well within the realm of possibility. There are many virtual hypervisors out there available for free but the most popular is VMWare Server and it seems to do just the trick. All you need is a spare computer with a decent amount of CPU and RAM and in essence you split it up into half a dozen virtual computers which is more than enough for a decent lab set up.

6. Sit as many MCITP practice tests as you can

When you feel that you have studied the material and have a strong understanding in all topics, sit as many mcitp practice tests as you can. With each exam you sit go over your incorrect answers straight away and use study material to understand why you got each particular question wrong and how to correctly answer in the future. Repeat this process until you are scoring at least 90% in each exam you are sitting and you should be well prepared for a pass mark on your real mcitp test.

7. Don’t use MCITP brain dumps

There are two types of people who want to gain MCITP certifications – the ones who genuinely want to greater their knowledge and skills in a particular area and are willing to put the effort into achieving this goal; and the ones who just want the piece of paper and will go about anyway to get it. Generally the latter of the two head straight for the brain dumps and will gain a MCITP certification with little effort but have very little actual understanding and knowledge. Going down this route will only make things harder in the long run and will most likely lead to problems with the future of your IT career. It will be fairly obvious to your employer and colleagues that you lack the technical knowledge when the times get tough  There are no short cuts for quality study!

8. Take advantage of Microsoft offers such as second shot

Every now and then Microsoft will run promotions such as “Second Shot”. Second Shot gives you the oppourtunity to resit an MCITP exam for free if you are unfortunate enough to fail on your first attempt. Although you should always be aiming to pass on your first attempt, it does remove a lot of stress leading up to your exam. Seeing your results and sectional scoring from your first attempt will make it clear exactly which areas you need to work on which allows studying before you re-sit easier targeted directly at your weak spots. Check out Microsoft’s latest offers.

There you go, 8 useful MCITP study tips to give yourself the best chance in passing your exam first time around. Also check out our 7 tips for during your mcitp exam here MCITP exam tips.

We have been though the MCITP Certification, so we know exactly what it takes to achieve this industry standard IT qualification. Our comprehensive list of information, guides and tips will sure to get you on track to becoming an MCITP Server Administrator, or any other specialization in no time.

Whether your after MCITP Books to help with your study, information on the best MCITP Training vendors or last minute tips before you sit your MCITP Exam you have come to the right place!

To find out more, click one of the information links below

• MCITP Certification information
• MCITP Server Administrator information
• MCITP Exam information
• MCITP Book information
• MCITP Training information
• MCITP Salary information
• MCITP Syllabus information

1. Go through the initial practice questions.

These are the sample questions which you have the option of going through at the beginning of each exam. Even if you’ve already been through them on previous exams it is recommended that you run through them again for two reasons, first – there may be new question formats which you are unfamiliar with which could throw you off during the exam and second, it helps gets your brain in to “exam mode” before the exam has started rather than during your first couple of questions (while the time is ticking!)

2. Read each question carefully twice.

Microsoft has a reputation for having misleading questions in which they give you a whole heap of information and detail, but you won’t need half of it to get your answer. If you quickly skim read through the question then answer, more often then not you will make an assumption or overlook vital information you’ve just skim read over and choose the wrong answer. First read each question through once, then understand what they are asking you, read the question for a second time taking note of key information given and finally choose your answer.

3. Skip questions you don’t immediately know the answers to.

A good technique when sitting an MCITP exam is to first only answer questions you definitely know the answer to. The questions which you need more time to decide you answer with, take a note of them on the pen and paper provided to you in the exam and come back to them at the end. This is a good technique as there is no point wasting time and interrupting your positive exam flow on a question you may not know. So go through the whole exam answering all questions you KNOW the answers to, take note of all questions which you need more time on, when you reach the end of the MCITP exam, go back to all the questions you didn’t answer and spend the remainder of your time working through those.

NB, don’t use the skip feature on these questions. On adaptive based exams, it is rumored to have an effect on subsequent questions that you are asked. For instance if you tick “skip” on a question which the topic area you have poor knowledge in, there is a high chance that you will get a higher number of subsequent questions on the same topic.

4. Use the pen and paper provided to you.

There are 3 good times to do so –

• As soon as you get into the exam, you can start writing down notes which are fresh in your head. This may be notes from a topic which you are poor in and was quickly cramming study notes into your head right before the exam.
• Use it to write vital information down from difficult questions so you don’t have to keep re-reading over the question for it. Also use it to draw diagrams which may help you to work out the answers to some questions.
• Noting down questions you will come back to. As explained in the previous tip.

5. Go toilet before the exam.

This is an obvious one but often forgotten if your nervously waiting to get the MCITP exam over with. As soon as you get to the testing centre, go straight to the toilet. There is nothing worse than having to leave your exam while the time is ticking to go toilet. Even worse would be to hold on during your exam which will affect your concentration.

6. Eliminate obvious wrong answers if unsure.

On questions you are unsure of, there are usually one or two answer options given which are quite clearly wrong. Eliminate these incorrect answers first which will help you come to the correct answer through the process of elimination.

7. Use all of your time, don’t leave early.

It is no race to finish in a little amount of time and you’ve been studying hard for this exam so why ruin the final step to certification to save a few minutes? There have been no rumors of time taken affecting your final weighted score so if you’ve been given 60 minutes – use them all. If you finish answering all questions in 30 minutes, use the remaining 30 minutes to go re-read over your answers for obvious mistakes – it could be the difference between a fail and a pass!

There you go – 7 tips which should help you gain your MCITP certifications with minimal upsets.

Check out 7 Tips During your MCITP Exam for some tips to help you pass your MCITP Administrator exam