In order to be accepted for MCM you have to already be pretty good at what you do. Maybe not right at the top, but definitely better than average.  You're likely to have passed 20-30 exams covering a career of 10+ years. And you would have submitted a high quality application.

Once accepted, you book your time off, say goodbye to the family and hop on a plane towards Redmond where you will spend the following three weeks living and breathing your chosen Microsoft technology (Exchange, in my case).  There, you meet the nearly two dozen others who have done the same, have the same experience or maybe greater, got the same number of certifications or perhaps even more and are as good at what they do as you or possibly better.  And you think - 20 of us control a million or two Exchange seats, maybe more.  We're good! And then you remember that you are about to embark on three weeks of the toughest technical training around, where each topic is presented by the top expert in that area.  So, your confidence is a bit shaken.

Day one starts and you're in shock and any semblance of ego you may have had disappears at this point.  You're there to learn, not to compare.  You struggle through week 1 and if you're very good - you pass the first exam on your first attempt.  Or, you fail and resolve to move on.  You then find your footing in week 2 and maybe now you're getting better and you pass the second exam on first attempt.  Then week 3 starts and just as you think you are at or near the successful end - you, and all your classmates, with huge hints from the instructors whom you've learnt not to second-guess by now, all of a sudden can only think of one thing...

...the final qualifying lab

The Qual Lab, as everyone refers to it, is a 6-hour open-book practical examination.  It takes place on the last day of the course, the third Saturday.  The start time is agreed with the Program Manager, but is probably going to be between 8-9am.  The Non-Disclosure Agreement that everyone signs precludes me from talking about the actual content of the lab.  But, then, it wouldn't help, anyway.  The guys who put it together know what they're doing and they didn't design it in a way that would allow it to be passed by merely reading another candidate's experience.  However, I could illustrate it like this.  Imagine the environment you are working on, to be a series of puzzles.  Your job is to put them all together.  However, at your disposal, scattered on the floor are pieces of many more puzzles than you require.  Your job is to figure which ones to pick and in which order.  Sounds complicated?  It is.  But, if you keep reading, I will tell you...

...how to beat the Qual Lab

OK, maybe not beat the Qual Lab, as much as give yourself a fighting chance:

1. Pay Attention Throughout The Course

There is absolutely nothing in the Qual Lab that isn't covered during the course.  So, make sure you're getting your money's worth.  Each instructor will tell you what is in the lab.  Not in so many words and they won't exactly draw your attention to it, but they will definitely cover it.  So, take notes.  Lots of them.  Don't rely on remembering.  Quite simply - you can't.  Too much material is covered in any one day to remember everything, let alone in 15 days of training that Qual Lab can be created out of. 

The course starts at fast pace straight away.  There is no "settling in" period.  If you don't start paying attention, taking notes and asking questions, rest assured - you will either struggle with the first exam or with that part of the Qual Lab or both.  In retrospect, I'd say my "delayed start" was probably the single greatest reason I passed the week 1 exam only on the third attempt.  I not only missed a few important introductory points, but worse than that - I didn't have the notes about those points to refer to during studying.  And, just a gentle reminder: there are significant portions of the course content that are not available anywhere else, so no notes - no knowledge.

1a. Try and Complete All Labs During the Course

As a more specific addition to above, the hint is in the terms used. Labs you do throughout the course are invaluable for the final Qualifying Lab.

2. Find Study Partners and Use Them

You are surrounded by your colleagues.  They are as good as you, maybe better.  They're together with you in the same boat.  But, you take notes differently and you have different strengths and your body clocks will ensure that you are alert at different times.  So, use that.  Working together will ensure that you pick up from one another what each is lacking on their own.  Stay in the classroom after the day's training, compare notes, ask each other questions, even give each other problems.  Single sentences may provide critical explanation to something that appeared incomprehensible.  Work at home, as it helps to be motivated by others when you can hardly keep your eyes open. (Microsoft has preferential rates for managed apartments on or near the campus where you could share with one or two classmates.)

3. Prepare with All Classmates

We had folk from 10 countries in our class, with widest possible experiences. When preparing for the Qual Lab, it's all about having as many possible viewpoints.  We spent 2-3 evenings during the last week going over potential problems that could be thrown our way in the Qual Lab.  Imagine 15-20 highly skilled professionals pulling together their collective knowledge of Exchange for the purpose of breaking it and putting it back together. 

4. Create Toolkits

Working together like that, allowed us to create an actual scrap book of potential issues, which we then methodically listed potentials resolutions for.  This further prompted a few guys in our group to create shortcut scripts (my deepest gratitude to them all) which you are allowed to reuse during Qual Lab.

5. Don't Take Heavy Lunch

There is an offer of lunch during the Qual Lab.  In fact, the Program Manager will happily order pretty much any deliverable food.  But, I think we,  were all in agreement that having pizza half way through only served to throw our individual concentrations right out the window and made the second half far less productive than the first.  But, you can't function properly if you're hungry.  So, have a good breakfast, stock up on your favourite beverage and snack on nuts or fruit or even chocolate through the lab.  Lunch should be light - sandwiches or similar. That ought to keep the sugar levels up, without throwing you into a half-slumber, after pizza, burgers or anything else heavy.

6. Make OneNote Your Best Friend

I must admit that the course was the first time I used MS OneNote. And I loved it. Not that I had a choice, truth be told. Course notes were delivered in OneNote, but once I got the hang of it - I was hooked.  So, rather than working out how to do what while on course, make sure you know your way around beforehand: how to organise pages, highlighting, adding notes, images, sharing notebooks etc.

I never fail to quote my classmate Joe Hoegler when describing the Qual Lab.  He summed it up in one word - humbling. To that you could add draining, exhausting, tough, unexpected, challenging, exciting and a number of others. But, even before I got the results, it felt great to have gone through the experience. It's like an acid test of your level of preparedness. And I was content with mine. I'm sure I can do better, but I'm glad to be able to leave it until the next release of Exchange to find out.

It would be great to hear from other MCMs about their experience of the Qualifying Lab and any additional suggestions for potential candidates.