First Virtual Lab-based MCP exam launches

This is VERY VERY VERY exciting news, awesome! I ve already past 70-640, but I m wondering: "Will 83-640 count as an elective equal with 70-640?" In other words, when someone wants to become MCITP Server Administrator 2008, they can choose between taking 70-640 OR 83-640? Am I correct or not?

Virtual Lab Based Exams Go Live... The first of Microsoft’s Virtual Lab based exams has gone live as of yesterday.  83-640 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory offers an extension to the tradition simulation questions seen in some exams  by providing a full and l...

Hi Roel, Yes, you can use 83-640 to count toward MCITP:SA Ken

AWESOME. We need to make every exam 83-only. The 70 era has passed.

Hello, Is this exam available for testing? I don t see this exam in this to shedule at Prometric? Regards, Guido

Here s the way roll out works for this version of the exam...once enough testing centers in a region have demonstrated that they can deliver performance-based exams, only the performance-based version of the exam will be available to customers in that region. In other words, either all of the testing centers in a given region will deliver the performance-based version of the exam or none will; they will deliver the traditional version.

Yeah, it would be a great exam if the lab VMs actually worked. I have to reschedule the test because none of the labs were working. Kept getting an error message "Lab is not ready". Way to go Microsoft forcing this new exam down our throat and contributing to even greater test anxiety. Oh yeah, and by the way, your testing provider Prometric in one word SUCKS!

Hi, As i write this post I amhighly frustrated and agitated with the working ways of Prometric. I have been trying like hell to take the 83-640 exam. I have prepared for some where around 150 odd hours closed down my consultancy and when I actually go to take the test Prometric s is not ready to deliver the exams. They have no technical expertise with the software. They say you ned to come back on Monday. Is this some kind of joke. Those of you sitting there in your Ac cabins may not know the affect of this negligence by Prometric. In face this has not happened only with me. My collegues my friends as well. All of them went prepared for the exam.....alas they all failed as the system froze and testing center had no technical assistance. Why do you guys continue with this exam if you know that there is some problem with the software. Why dont you just bring back the 70-640 while you test the 83-640 once agian. Just for the testers sake thisnk again this exam is taking to our nerves and we are loosing confidence in Microsoft exam administration. Please do something abut this...

I am a MCT and would like to test out the new exam format for my students. I have already passed the 70-640 (and the whole MCITP:SA/EA). Would there be anything bad if I fail the 83-640?

VM based exams sound awsome! I do want to chime in on the Prometric thing..IT STINKS. The fact that MS exams are ONLY available from prometric is crazy. Prometric has the worst customer support I have ever experinced. By far the worst testing center/organization in history. I had to make 3 different international phone calls because I could even register for the exam because their website was busted!

Took and passed the 83-640 exam this past Friday June 19th. Would like to say congratulations to all who created an exam format that truly creates a positive strategic paradigm shift in our industry. I am an independent IT consultant, and although I had some of the same problems with Prometric finding a site to deliver the exam... I thought everything about the lab portion was awesome. Studied for my first NT 4 exam about 15 years ago and been studying for MS exams ever since. The new format requires different study -- much more hands on and application -- spent majority of time with the labs from the training kit... feel I learned more in preparing for this exam than any other in the past 15 years. I ve been in this business for 20 years and have often been disappointed with the level of MS candidates for hire. Although this first exam delivery is a first step, I can see that the evolution of this type of testing will make everybody in our industry better prepared to meet the needs of clients. Very excited to see all MS exams go this way -- Great job!

I like the idea, it is realy getting closer to the real world. The only minus is that most of the exams crashed and the students had to make a new appointment. I hope the problems are solved quick.

I can t believe I missed this initial announcement, I will need to get signed up for this soon. I took the pilot exam for this and was very impressed with the technology, I was lucky enough that my testing center had no issues, but I think that many centers will have issues because of the outdated equipment 90% of them use. I could definitely see slowness and crashes for anything beyond processing text. Hopefully Prometric will push its centers into upgrades to enhance the testing experience.

I could not find any better person who can do something about this.. Many of the Microsoft Certified Professionals (Including Me) have horrible experiences with Prometric’s way of adminsitering tests. To list a few… 1. They register an appointment and never turn up on the exam day 2. They have numerous technical difficulties all thorugh the exam. 3. Their customer service is Atrocious .. and all they can do is redirect evry simple issue to Microsoft who in turn redirect to Prometric. 4. Almost Every exam gives a technical fault which is hard to beleive and Microsoft can just say that ” Ok this happens with every computer based exam”. 5. There is no technical help at most of the testing centers. The people at the center need to call up technical support and wait for hours in the queue to finally get a resolution and the resolution is ” a ticket has been created and you can retake the exam” It is not that I have something against these people (Prometric) but the major frustration is they are not ready to do anything about it. One, two,three even ten or twenty technical issues can be ignored but a technical difficulty on almost every exam cannot be ignored, after we need to drive miles and take a day off to take the exam. The major concern is Prometric’s way of adinsitering the 83-640 exam. Now that the exam has gone live I would like to highlight a few points 1. During the initial launch of this exam many of the testing centers were not technically sound to host this exam. The virtual images and labs kept freezing and the exam had to be stopped forcing us to intentioanlly “fail” the exam although we were fully prepared. 2. The second issue was that we never got any score report for this exam with the ususl bar graphs which literally made it impossible to determine how strong we were in specific areas and what are the areas of improvement. 3. Very little or no tecnical help that can restart the test after a lab has frozen. The only way to gat back to the exam is to quit the exam and retake the test.\ Now, after three vain attempts I contacted Microsoft so that they can do something about this issue. Microsoft "ESCALATED" THIS to their some team and then came back to me asking me to retake the exama nd that would be free. It is not a free retake that we want but justification for our efforts. if any person in Microsoft realizes how much hard we work for the exams they would not simply shrug this away by giving a free retake.

Just tried to take the 83-640 for the third time and was unable to due to the test not working properly. Each time there is a different error, first time the lab would launch but wouldn't load, the second time I was kicked out in the middle of the second lab, the third time the lab wouldn't launch. This is starting the get very frustrating! If you are going for you MCITP I would suggest you take this test last in hopes that Microsoft has resolved the issues by the time you take it.