News
MCP Exams for $35?
The catch: You must be enrolled in an IT Academy. Also, exam retakes to be revived for IT Academy students.
Microsoft is giving a big break to students who obtain training through IT
Academy schools in the U.S. with a significant discount on MCP exams. Schools who participate in Microsoft's IT Academy program will be able to offer discount exam vouchers to students for for $35; original IT Academy exam pricing is $60.
Exams regularly retail at $125. A source says that exams will
be priced even lower for emerging countries, at around $30. (India and China are not on the list of emerging countries where the offer will be available.)
The discount will be available in the form of a voucher that will be issued by the IT Academy schoool; it can be redeemed
at any Pearson Vue or Prometric testing center.
Microsoft doesn't provide much detail on this offer, but mentions it as among
many of the program's benefits on the info page at http://www.microsoft.com/education/msitacademy/itapprogrambenefits.mspx.
Our source also tells us that Microsoft is also reviving its popular exam "second-shot"
promotion it ran last year, but only for exams taken at any U.S. Authorized Academic Test Center.
The exam retake offer provides students with a free voucher that can be used
to retake a failed exam. This offer, however, cannot be combined with the $35 exam offer
mentioned above, so students who want to take advantage of the second-shot must
pay the regular $60 exam price. Details for the second-shot offer are at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/2ndshot/.
[This article has been edited for clarification.--Editors]
About the Author
Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.