Last year Microsoft did a promotion that allowed exam candidates to retake certain exams for free if they failed the first time. There were certain stipulations to the promotion. You could only retake certain exams and the offer was only available to U.S. candidates. That was the real kicker, since I reside in Canada. I just assumed this was because we Canadian exam takers were less likely to fail than our southern counterparts.

Microsoft recently launched the promotion again calling it ‘2nd-Shot.’ However, this time the offer to retake a failed exam for free applies to any exams and it is open to all exam candidates world wide (which shoots down my theory).

What do you need to know about the promotion? First of all, to take advantage of it, you must register. You can do this directly on the Microsoft Web Site. Just be prepared to provide your .NET passport to register.

Secondly and as with most offers, it is only available for a certain amount of time. You can take advantage of this offer between March 1 and May31. If you plan to fail an exam, do it soon so you can get your free retake.

Finally, you only get one free retake for a single exam, but you can retake as many exams as you need to. So put a certification back up strategy in place now and register for your 2nd-shot.