By now, you’re probably aware of our new “Microsoft Certification Packs” promotion. (Judging from our download activity to date, I’d say you guys are well aware.) But after reading some of your comments and questions, I also know that some of you are scratching your heads wondering why we chose this approach rather than simply bring back Second Shot by itself for a third go-round.
One B2L member (RS1) thought it was a “brilliant idea” until he learned that to get the biggest discount you have to purchase all the vouchers up-front. “For 20% discount plus second shot, that’s too much to ask. If you keep your eyes out for offers you can find better deals at the time and not have to make the upfront investment.”
Paul Allen (any relation?) wrote, “Cool offer! The upfront cost can be tough to swallow. The 2nd shot offer makes it enticing. Not sure yet though if it’s enticing enough to commit (buy) vs just shopping around for something lower, studying harder and scheduling my exams out further, and passing the first time.”
I’ll address the “better offers elsewhere” argument first, just to get it out of the way, by simply stating: if you can find a better offer out there, please post it here. I’d like to know about it, because to the best of my knowledge, this is the best game in town, even without factoring in Second Shot.
Now, let’s get right to the heart of the discussion: why offer discounts only with the purchase of multiple exams, and does it really make sense to buy a pack rather than individual vouchers?
The “why” probably isn’t as obvious as you might think: while many companies use volume discount to incent customers to spend more money, that’s actually not our goal here (although I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t admit it’s an attractive side effect). Rather, certification packs are our initial attempt at re-framing the certification conversation to focus on the credential rather than individual exams.
In other words, if your goal is to become an MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, we’d much rather see you buy the credential (in the form of a five-pack) than buy an individual exam voucher. Despite the fact that we make money on certification exams, we’re not in this business for that reason—our primary mission is to ensure that there is a sizeable and strong community of IT professionals and developers who can design, develop, deploy, and support solutions based on our technology, so we’re focused on the ends (Pro level certifications) rather than the means (individual exams).
Unfortunately, a lot of our MCPs never finish what they start, taking an exam or two and then pausing indefinitely. Now, a certain amount of attrition is to be expected in any kind of a series: I’m sure there are a lot more people who read the first Harry Potter book than who read the final one, for instance. And there are all sorts of reasons why someone might not finish a certification path, including some good ones: for instance, getting your dream job before you finish your certification, hitting the lottery, changing careers.
But there’s also what I’d consider to be “bad” attrition: someone whose employer only pays for one or two exams a year, for example, or someone who fails an exam and loses confidence in themselves. (Second Shot was originally designed for the latter category—helping folks who fail an exam get back on their horse rather than walk away.)
Exam packs are a natural follow-up to Second Shot in that regard: not only do they give you a reason to try again if you fail the first time, but they also provide additional benefits:
And then of course, there’s just the plain old cost savings: buy a five-pack, and you’ll save $125 (that’s essentially a free exam) on the cost of your certification path even if you never need to use the second shots!
With all that said, we still recognize that many of you are pursuing one-exam-only MCTS certifications, so you can of course continue to purchase our exams individually. You can also add on Second Shot—it’s not free anymore, but at 15% of the exam price, it’s a pretty reasonably priced insurance policy if you need it.
We’d love to read your feedback on our certification packs—whether you think it’s a great idea or a dumb idea, and especially if you have suggestions for how we can make them even better, please comment below and let us know!
I love the exam packs! I have been working on my MCITP: Server Administrator, and now I can save by buying all 3 exams at once AND get the benefit of the second shot. Also, knowing I have to take all the exams by a certain date is the kick I need to really get working on it.
On a related note, are exams like 70-640 (Server 2008: Active Directory) still based on the 2008 product or are they updated to reflect the changes in 2008 R2?
That's my philosophy, too, Peter. :-) We'll consider these packs a success not if we sell a lot, but rather if we increase the completion rate of our certs.
As for the R2 question, I'll ping my team and post the answer.
Any news on the 70-402 and 70-404 exams? They are noted in the Partner program. I would be very interested to see what MCITP the PRO exam is linked to, and what the other TS exams are going to be required.
I too was quite surprised when I went to book my exam with the pack code and found a £200+ bill. Once I'd got over that initial shock I still decided to go ahead and book anyway as I needed three exams to finish my MCSE and one for an MCITP and decided it would be good motivation to finish the path as I have my exams already prepaid.
I'd also agree that it's a better way to book if you are having your exams paid for by your workplace as they are more likely to pay for a full MCSA/MCITP etc if they buy the exams in one go rather than every few months. The only thing I would say is that it's a shame these packs aren't offered as multiple person.. I.E. buy a 5 pack for one exam so 5 people can do it at a discount. In a workplace where everyone is looking at Windows 7 or Server 2008 certs this would be a great way to certify a whole team in one go. It's a shame there isn't a 15% second shot code for a single exam but I understand the idea of pushing path based certs rather than individual MCTS qualifications.
The only other thing I'd like to add is that these exams packs make a great present for someone keen on certification, if you're in a position where you are finding it difficult to afford you own exams then maybe getting a relative or partner to buy you a pack then at least they see something solid from it rather than just giving you money for an exam. Better to say they have paid for you to do an MCITP etc.
@Stuart:
If your employer is a Microsoft Partner then there are Partner Packs that offer similar discounts for buying in bulk but can be used by multiple individuals.
@Peter: Yes, we've added some R2-related items to our WS2008 exams as we've refreshed them over time, but the exam objectives remain the same. They are in essence still the same exams.
@Stuart: Great suggestion for multi-person exam packs for organizations. Stay tuned. :-)
If you want to "re-frame the certification conversation" then you need to have more MCITP qualifications, in particular every TS exam should tie in to at least one MCITP.
My guys are into getting their certs, but find some less motivating than others. In particular, the System Center series and the OCS exams. As a Certified Partner, it helps my business, so I'm willing to put them through it. But the guys do suffer from "I passed that one. Time to start another one" whereas the 680/640/642/646/643/647 track was a lot more motivating. I picked that one particularly because not only was the Enterprise Admin a good goal for them to work to, but the Server Admin in the middle was a nice milestone, reminiscent of the MCSA on the way to MCSE.
Having each exam feel like "I passed the first one, time to start the second one" is a lot better, but until every TS has an MCITP at the end of it, I think you are still going to have a lot of TS exams that are underappreciated, much like the long elective list of the MCSE days.
@Ken - Thanks for the clarification.
@Pete Jones,
Almost two years ago there was discussion of creating new MCITP certifications for operations management (System Center products, essentially) and Virtualization. The Virtualization Administrator MCITP is here, but I haven't heard anything on the Operations cert. Perhaps it's still in the works?
@OtherKevin,
That's why I asked about the 70-402 and 70-404. They recently showed up on the Partner program, but everyone at MSL is decidedly silent on the subject. Even if the only thing they can say is "We're looking at it, but we might abandon it", that would be good.
When I was at a client who was discussing their training, they listed all the products they used, and were looking at getting. They lined up all the TS exams that applied, and then looked at the ones which had an MCITP attached to them. Those ones got picked first, and the "dead-end" (Their words, not mine) TS exams were picked last. Given the tight budgets, all the dead-end TS exams were knocked off the training list, so the devs got an MCITP, the dba's got an MCITP, and the server guys got an MCITP.
70-664 and 70-665 are also on the Partner site. TS OCS 2010, and PRO: Unified Communications. I'm glad to see that OCS is getting the MCITP love, because OCS is an under-appreciated piece of kit. But it would be good to have these exams announced on MSL rather than the Partner site.
Dumb question, but are the exam packs with second shot a limited time offer? I know you have to sit for all your exams by June 2011, but does the program itself end? I want to buy a pack, but can't put out the money upfront right now. In another month will this be available or does this promotion end?
I still don't understand the whole 2nd-shot thing yet, so I can't formulate my opinion... is a 2nd-shot tied to a single exam? In other words, if I buy the 5-pack and pass the first exam, do I still have 5 2nd-shots left or only 4 (1 per remaining exam voucher)?
@rza
I believe that the packs are on sale until the end of the year. I'll see if I can find the exact date. I believe it was December 31st though.
@BitWise
You get one Second Shot per exam. So if you buy the 5 pack and pass the first 4 exams, you still only get one Second Shot if you fail the 5th exam.
Guys for FAQs about the Microsoft Certification Exam Packs, check out this link:
www.prometric.com/.../certpacks_FAQ.htm