At the top of your shopping list for a training program should be full 24x7 support through dedicated instructors and mentors. Far too often we see trainers who only provide office hours (or extended office hours) support. Locate training schools where you can access help at any time you choose (even 1am on Sunday morning!) Ensure you get direct access to tutors, and not simply some messaging service that means you're waiting for tutors to call you back during office hours.

We recommend looking for training programs that have multiple support offices from around the world. All of them should be combined to enable simple one-stop access together with access round-the-clock, when it suits you, without any problems. Never ever take second best with the quality of your support. The majority of would-be IT professionals that throw in the towel, are in that situation because of a lack of support.

Don't accept anything less than the latest Microsoft (or Cisco, CompTIA etc.) authorised exam preparation packages. Make sure that the simulated exams haven't just got questions on the correct subjects, but ask them in the same way that the proper exam will structure them. This really messes up students if they're met with completely different formats and phraseologies. As you can imagine, it's very important to ensure that you're completely ready for your commercial exam before taking it. Revising 'mock' tests helps build your confidence and will avoid you getting frustrated with unsuccessful attempts at exams.

The vendor-neutral international association CompTIA now offers possibly the most familiar & highly-regarded independent IT accreditations. There are also various other organisations, including the ISC2 (shortened from the somewhat long winded: International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium!) & CWNP ('Certified Wireless Network Professional'). Clearly, there's a complete gamut of certification programs from Cisco & Microsoft. The options might be rather over-whelming, & so we encourage you to tread carefully and talk through your plans with an expert who understands the process well. You might save a lot of time and expense, as well as annoyance and disappointment.

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