Microsoft Learning Welcomes You to Join a Study Group

Once upon a time not so very long ago, Microsoft provided all kinds of information to help certification candidates get ready for exams. Take, for example, Exam 70-698 "Installing and Configuring Windows 10." Its exam page has always been the first and best place to check for exam preparation options.

If you check this Wayback Machine page for the exam from May 2017, you'll get an excellent sense of all the goods that Microsoft Learning offered to interested candidates. If you scroll down that page, you'll see the following sections:

Skills Measured

? Implement Windows (30-35 percent)
? Configure and support core services (30-35 percent)
? Manage and maintain Windows (30-35 percent)

Preparation Options

? Instructor-led training
? Practice test
? From the community
? Books

Who should take this exam?

More information about exams

The "From the community" section has always been kind of hit or miss. Sometimes you could find info about study groups online there, sometimes not. It was always a crap shoot, and looking outside the Microsoft Learning pages (using your favorite search engine) you can quickly see how difficult it can be to find something useful.

Try searching on a string like "70-698 study group" (Bing, Google). You should quickly see this kind of thing suffers from two major deficits: lots of extraneous or even unwanted hits for 70-698 stuff, and too few meaningful hits for out-and-out study groups.

Microsoft Learning to the Rescue!

As of the recent redesign to the Microsoft Learning site (which includes a rebranding of the Born To Learn blog as just the Microsoft Learning blog, as featured in the latest GoCertify Certification Watch newsletter), that's not a problem any more.

If you scroll down the current 70-410 exam page, you'll find a Study Group section explicitly provided right there. The same general page organization appears on that page, with a few more elaborations, to wit:

Skills Measured

? Install and configure servers (15-20 percent)
? Configure server roles and features (15-20 percent)
? Configure Hyper-V (15-20 percent)
? Deploy and configure core network services (15-20 percent)
? Install and administer Active Directory (15-20 percent)
? Create and manage Group Policy (15-20 percent)

Preparation Options

? Instructor-led training
? Exam prep video
? Self-paced training
? Practice test
? From the community
? Books

Who should take this exam?

More information about exams

Study Group (Under this heading you'll find a searchable Study Group finder/browser.)

Alas, a search on 70-698 found no study groups for that exam formed just yet. But a search on 70-410 (which has been around somewhat longer) turned up 27 hits. I like this change. It's one thing for Microsoft Learning to point you at its active and vibrant online community.

It's another thing entirely to provide a wayfinding tool to help you dig in, find, and easily join the study groups Microsoft Learning knows about. If you're studying for a Microsoft cert exam, don't overlook this newly-minted option to find like-minded fellow professionals with whom to caucus, and from whom you can learn while exchanging tips, pointers to resources, and more. Great stuff!