MCSE Desktop Infrastructure: Which topics to focus on?

Certification: Microsoft MCSE - Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert

The MCSE i.e. Microsoft certified solution expert certification is the credential which is considered as the standard for those IT professionals who are willing to acquire the knowledge and skills for Windows operating system concepts including networking concepts too. The certification is recognized worldwide and considered as a proof of the individual’s skills in the appropriate IT field. The individuals who hold this certification can get many opportunities in the IT industry. The course introduced in this certification program covers the management part of the desktop machine that allows the user to access remote application. The maintenance and security aspects are also covered.

There are several topics which are covered in the certification syllabus. The Desktop Infrastructure certification  has two exams i.e. Exam 415 and Exam 416. The candidates have to prepare for both the exams to get their Desktop Infrastructure certification. If we talk about the topics we need to focus on for the certification, then we need to cover the topics for both the exams.

Exam 415:

The exam evaluates the candidate’s capability to finish the list of tasks discussed below. If we want to pick the most important topics, we should find out a number of questions covered by different topics. The more questions covered by any topic should be considered as an important topic for the exam. We can divide the aspects of the exam in percentage. The percentage will show the mass of important topics in the exam.

• Creation and maintenance of desktop images: This topic covers the 25% of the total questions in the exam. This topic contains the planning of images, capturing and maintenance of images.
• Designing and installation of desktop: The topic covers the 25% of the total questions. It covers the installation method, implementation of the installation, designing the installation which includes the user data settings and remote storage.
• Configuration of desktop settings: This topic also covers the 25% of the total weight of questions. The virtualization of user state is included in the topic, configuration of a remote machine and the security of the desktop.
• Management and maintenance of desktop : The topic covers about 25% of the total questions and contains a monitoring of the virtual desktop, creation of virtual aspects.

These topics cover the major part of the exam, thus, considered as the important topics for the exam. The candidates need to prepare all the topics, but they should put an extra effort in these four topics. It is important to score high in the Exam 415.

Exam 416:

This exam evaluates the skills of the candidates in the relevant tasks listed below. We have to find the percentage of the questions covered in the exam. Need to focus on major topics of the exam 416.

Now, the major topics of the Exam 416 are as follows

• Designing of the application environment: This topic covers 25% of the total questions in the exam. The topic covers different aspects  such as designing of the offline access and remote locations and also the updates for applications. Planning for the different versions of applications. The configuration of online services, offline VM services is also included.
• Management and maintenance of the application environment: The topic covers about 20-25 % of the total number of questions in the exam. The topic includes installation of the application on the desktop, planning and implementing the application updates and application upgrades. The implementation of application security is also a part of this topic. The monitoring of the applications which includes offline application usage records and the monitoring of host sessions, etc. is also included.
• Designing of business continuity of application and desktop: This topic also covers the 25% of the total questions. This topic is also considered as the major topic of Exam 416. The implementation of remote desktop is included in the topic. Designing and implementation of business continuity for virtual machines and virtual applications.

These three topics are the major topics to focus for the exam 416. The other two topics cover only about 15%-20%  of the questions. For scoring high in this exam, candidates have to prepare these major topics first. All the topics which are are the major topics and cover the highest number of questions. The best study plan is the one which focuses on all the major topics which increases the chance of scoring high in the exam. There are several study plans available in the market. The candidates use the most suitable way of preparation, but when it comes to follow the right plan, most of the individuals make mistakes.

After passing the Exam 410, 411, 412, you will earn MCSA’s Windows server 2012 certification. After getting that certification the individual can get take the Exam 415 and 416. The candidates should also take the information about the topics which are covered in these three exams.

In the Exam 410 all the six topics cover an equal percentage of the total questions. Each topic covers about 20% of the total questions. The candidates have to focus equally on all the topics and prepare the study plan accordingly. But in the Exam 411, the four topics cover more questions as compared to the two topics. The six topics of Exam 412 also hold the equal weight of the questions. In this exam also the candidates need to focus on all six topics equally. The four topics which have a maximum weight of questions in Exam 411 are installation and management of server, configuration of files, configuration of network services, management and configuration of active directories. These four topics are the most important topics for Exam 411.