Well how about right at the beginning. If you are enrolled in a school that offers training for a certification program, you probably have your certification path already laid out for you. However, if you are choosing the ’self study’ path, you may be wondering where you should start and which exam you should tackle first.

You should spend some time reading the certification information available on the Microsoft Website. It definitely provides you with the best source of information (and you can be assured that it is correct). You can easily find out what exams are required for different certifications, where you can write the exams, the books that are available and additional resources that can be used to prepare.

If you are interested in getting the Microsoft Certified Professional certification, I would recommend that you start off with exam 70-270 Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional. Head down to your local bookstore (or your favorite online bookstore) and buy a good book about Windows XP. As you are reading through it, I would definitely suggest that you have at least two or more networked computers running Windows XP in front of you to experiment with.

Just a little side note here, when purchasing study resources you should proceed with a bit of caution. There are a lot of resources available for this exam. Do a little research online and see what others have to say about the various books. Amazon always allows readers to post reviews which can be helpful for others who are considering purchasing it. Take some time to read through them to help choose a suitable book.

When you feel you are ready, register for the exam and give it your best shot. Although no one wants to fail an exam, it really isn’t such a bad thing. If you do happen to fail your first exam (or any other exam), look at the experience in a positive manner. You are now familiar with the exam layout. So don’t be discouraged. Reregister once you have reviewed any problem areas and pass that exam. And finally, good luck. However, if you study hard enough and cover all the material, you probably won’t need it.