Your Exam Day Experience

If you are unfamiliar with the examination process and format, taking your first MCP exam can be quite an experience. You should plan to arrive at your testing center at least 15 minutes before your scheduled exam start time. Ensure that you bring two forms of identification with you because testing centers are required by the vendor (Microsoft in this case) to verify your identity.

Types of Questions

You should expect to see a variety of question types on this exam because Microsoft tends to use multiple question types to further discourage cheating. Some types of questions that you could encounter are:

• Multiple choice  This is the standard exam question followed by several answer choices. You will see questions that require only one correct answer and questions that require two or more correct answers. When multiple answers are required, you will be told this in the question, such as "Choose all correct answers" or "Choose three correct answers."

• Select and place  This type of exam question requires you to select objects and place them into the answer area as specified in the question. You can get a good idea of how select-and-place questions work by visiting the Microsoft Testing Innovations page at www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/policies/innovations.asp and downloading the select-and-place demo.

• Hot area  This type of exam question presents a question with an accompanying image and requires you to click the image in a specific location to correctly answer the question. CompTIA regularly uses this type of question on the A+ exams; if you've taken one of those exams, you might already be familiar with this type of question.

The Exam Experience

The exam is delivered via computer. You are allowed to use the Windows calculator at all times during the exam, but all other functions of the testing computer are locked out during the testing process. The testing center will have some means in place to monitor the testing room, either via video camera or one-way mirror glass, to discourage cheating.

Before you actually start the exam, you could be asked to complete one or more short surveys. The time spent completing these surveys is separate from the time you will be allotted to complete the exam itself. If you are not taking the exam in English, you might be entitled to extra testing time, so be sure to talk to the testing center personnel about this issue. You might also be asked to complete one or more surveys following the exam; again, any surveys you are asked to complete will not take away from your exam time.

You will know immediately after the completion of your exam whether or not you have passed and will receive an official score report from the testing center. However, it will take several business days for your online transcript to be updated on Microsoft's Web site. You can access your online transcript at www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcpsecure.asp.