New Certification Pack offering will help you get or upgrade your certifications for less

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by Ron Grattopp…….Most of you, being Microsoft partners, should already be familiar with the fact that the former Microsoft Partner Program, now Microsoft Partner Network (MPN), has undergone some significant changes.  One of the major changes is the requirement for partners looking to qualify for “competencies” to be certified on our “current” technology/products.  For many of you, this likely means you’ll be needing to update existing certifications.  And for others, who may be going for Gold Competency, you may now need additional Microsoft Certified Professionals.  In either case, I hope you’ll see this new offering as a great thing.

Yesterday, August 19th, Microsoft launched a brand new learning offering called Microsoft Certification Packs.  This new offering is done in conjunction with our “Career Campaign” which is designed and oriented around helping our customers and partners/technology providers take a more strategic approach to certification.  By promoting, and discounting, these new “exam packs”, Microsoft is hoping to foster the purchase of certification exams around solutions (which typically encompasses multiple products/technologies) vs the historical single exam purchase model. 

Here’s a table that outlines the details of the offer (plus link further down for more info):

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As you have likely already noted, the Second Shot program is built into this offer, AND they’ve even provided for a discounted Second Shot with the purchase of a single exam.

Here’s a some additional details you should know about as well:

  • Limited time offer – you must register, buy, and take all exams in the pack by 6/30/2011.
  • Packs are valid only for a single customer (you can’t split up a pack among multiple customers)
  • Packs are paid for up front
  • The packs are only for the “commercial” exams (e.g. the 070 or MB-X series exams)
  • Offer uses a voucher model which is program-specific and, in some cases, exam-specific.

Here's the link to official web page:Buy a Microsoft Certification Pack with Second Shotswhere you can order packs as well as learn more about the offer (FAQs).   And here’s a link direct to the Prometric site where you can also get more info and purchase: Prometric Microsoft Certification Packs offer page

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Cheers, and happy testing,

Ron