HOME | FREE TESTS | STUDY GUIDES | CERT PREP | FORUMS | JOBS | ARTICLES | EXAM DETAILS       Training Center Training Center is a distributor of MindLeaders online courseware. Over 800 courses available covering Microsoft, CompTIA, CCNA, Oracle, PMI, LPI, CEC and CNE. more products...  CBT Nuggets Classroom style video training delivered on CD and led by expert instructors. Current products include MCSE, Cisco, Linux, CompTIA, MCSD, MOUS and more. more products...  CertifyPro  TechTutorials  TechExams  TechRepublic  FreeTechMail   MC MCSE Certification Newsletter :: 98th Edition :: March 1st, 2004 In This Issue: :: What's New @ MC MCSE :: Agents Raid ITT Technical Institute :: Prosoft Training Merges With Trinity Learning :: Server+ Objectives :: Save 20% on MCDST Exams :: Exam Discounts in Latin America :: Article: Don't Get Screwed By Training Schools :: Product Review: CompTIA A+ Book :: At the Boards What's New @ MC MCSE: New Newsletter Software We are using a new system for our newsletters and there are some changes that you need to be made aware of. If you are already a member of our forums, then your newsletter subscription is managed through your profile after you login. If you were a member of our newsletter on the old system, then your subscription is managed by replying to our email with remove in the subject line. If you wish to remain on our list, it is best that you register for our forums at: http://mcmcse.com/forums/profile.php?mode=register. Free Magazines We have developed a new partnership that allows us to offer you free subscriptions to many of your favorite tech magazines such as Computer World, InfoWorld, eWeek and many more. There are no obligations, deadlines or suprises and you will never be billed for anything. To view the collection of magazines that are being offered, click here. If you have further questions, please refer to the FAQ. Coming Soon Our free practice exam for CompTIA A+ Operating Systems (220-302) should be ready in the next week or so. Agents Raid ITT Technical Institute Federal law enforcement agents have raided ITT Technical Institute's corporate headquarters and several of their branch offices in 8 states. ITT has not been charged and there is very little information as to why the search warrants were served. It appears that it has something to do with the organizations records and reporting of student placement, retention, admission, and graduation figures. Prosoft Training Merges With Trinity Learning In a press release on their web site, Prosoft Training has announced that they will be merging with Trinity Learning Corporation. Prosoft Training, owner of the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) line of certifications, has been plagued by financial troubles over the last several years despite a boom in their certifications' popularity. The CIW certification program will continue under Trinity Learning Corporation. Our ExamSim software will help you prepare for your Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco, Oracle, Linux and other certifications. Download our ExamSim software and try it out for free. Server+ Objectives CompTIA has released the new exam objectives for the Server+ exam that is scheduled to be updated in the 4th quarter of this year. To view the new exam objectives, click here. Save 20% on MCDST Exams Microsoft has announced that they are offering 20% off of the new MCDST exams worldwide at both Prometric and VUE testing centers. This offer is available until August 31, 2004. In order to claim this discount, you must use the promotional code "MDSTEX" when registering. For U.S. candidates, 20% off of the MOC courses can also be claimed. For more information on this, please click here. Exam Discounts in Latin America If you live in South America or Central America, Microsoft is offering a 30% discount off of all exams for current MCPs. The promotion will run for 1 month. The start and end date will vary depending on which country you are in. For more information read the full article. Article: Don't Get Screwed By Training Schools This article is inspired by an article on CNN.com titled "Students stung as computer schools close". After reading this, I realized that there hasn't been nearly enough coverage of this topic, especially considering how often this happens. Every year, dozens and dozens of training schools go out business leaving scores of ripped off students in their wake. We currently have members here that are involved in lawsuits for this very reason. In this article we are going to present some tips and suggestions that will hopefully help you avoid this type of situation. We offer the following tips to help you avoid getting screwed. Keep in mind that these are suggestions that should help you narrow the odds in your favor, but are by no means fail safe solutions. Choose training schools that are licensed or accredited. Most states license training schools through the state department of education. If that is not the case in your state or country, ask the training school which agency they are licensed through. Contact the licensing board and verify the school's licensure. If you are in the U.S., check with your local Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if any complaints have been filed against the school. In addition to the BBB, you can also search FirstGov and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) web sites. If you are in the U.S. and the training school is incorporated, check out the state business registry that the company is registered in. For example, in Oregon, the business registry is located here. If you enter our business name, 7 Seconds Resources, Inc, and search you can find out a lot of interesting information about us. Of special note is the date that the record starts. If your state does not offer this information online, you can most likely call them. Find out how long the training school has existed. A business is most likely to go under sometime during their first 5 years. To verify the length of a school's existence, you can use the state business registry that was discussed above. If they have a web site, another tool you can use is internet WHOIS records. As an example, the following exerpt from a popular training company's WHOIS records tells us that they have been with this same registrar for nearly 10 years. Record expires on 12-Jul-2004 Record created on 13-Jul-1995 This doesn't tell us how long they have been in business, but it does tell us that they have likely been around for at least 9 years and that would be a promising sign. Training schools that have multiple locations will tend to be a safer bet. This is simply because they are likely a larger company and have more resources to get through difficult times. Don't believe anything the schools tell you. There are plenty of stories regarding schools that have blatantly lied. When possible, independently verify any information that they give you. Ask to audit a class so you can see what goes on for yourself. This may also give you a chance to speak with other students and get their feedback on the program. Search the school's name in Google putting their name in quotation marks. How much talk on the internet is there about them? Do another search, this time putting their URL (if they have one) inside quotation marks. How many sites are linked to them? The more the better. Consider a community college instead. Most community colleges have similar training and certification programs and usually cost less money. There is very little risk in going this route. If for some reason, something does go very wrong and you do not get the training that you paid for or it is grossly unsatisfactory, there are several steps you should take. You should first make every effort to resolve the issue with the teachers and school administrators. If that doesn't work, you can report the problem to the following agencies. Better Business Bureau Your local or state consumer protection office Your state Attorney General's office Federal Trade Commission at 877-382-4357 School's accrediting organizations (if applicable) state licensing agency, state board of education and the state's education department U.S. Department of Education, if you are receiving federal financial aid to pay for the school training. To file a complaint, call toll-free 1-800-MIS-USED (1-800-647-8733). You should also consider contacting a lawyer and find out what legal options may be available to you. For further reading on this subject, take a look at the following links: Don't Take a Training Class Until You Read This! AmeriTrain Students Fight Back IT training rip-offs Product Review: CompTIA A+ Book Mike Myers' A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide - Review By David Schultz. I picked up this book because I teach A+ at a tech school and wanted to take a look at the new material that will be on the new test. I have never owned one of Michael Meyer’s books, but I had always heard that they were the best ones to use. After reading this one, I would have to agree. One thing that really struck me was the depth, confidence, and personality of this book. I think that a lot of students in my class are turned off by the dry and humorless descriptions that are in a lot of A+ materials. I have also found that some books will have a lot of dry charts and unrecognizable diagrams. However, this book uses real pictures of actual items. Also, the book uses a lot of descriptive diagrams and almost cartoon imagery of parts communicating with each other which helps to make the point in a simple and memorable way. This author is really down to earth and will relate to the reader in real computer world terms instead of writing a Doctoral dissertation about everything you need to know to pass the test. I feel this really adds a feeling of confidence that is difficult to write into a computer cert book. I also appreciate the way that the information is organized. It really feels like you could use this book in the real world after the test. This book keeps each Operating System together and also the information goes a bit beyond what is required by the test to aid in understanding. It does not overwhelm the reader, but fills in the cracks and makes the topics fit tighter together. The book comes with a CD with the usual practice tests and study materials included. These are good. This CD also comes with some very useful tools that you will also want to take with you on the job. I do not know of any other book that includes these. This really elevates this book/CD above the rest. One note that I would like to add. When you are purchasing this book, make sure that you are buying the 5th edition. All the editions of this book look alike, but this is the only one that will prepare you for CompTia 2003 objectives. All and all, I think this is the best book that I have seen. I will encourage my school to use this book, and I will keep this resource with me when I am doing my contracting work. A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide Pages: 1176 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media Author: Michael Meyers, Scott Jernigan Format: Hardcover Edition: 5th edition Publish Date: October 31, 2003 Price: $41.99 At the Boards Our forums currently have over 16,847 members and 15,343 posts. Here are our favorite posts from the last 2 weeks. Topic Title Replies Views Start Date Project Management Professional (PMP)...worth it? 0 9 March 1, 2004 Is Career in IT dead ???? 1 49 March 1, 2004 OS...not as hard as I thought 4 56 March 1, 2004 I-NET+ | Starting out 2 38 February 27, 2004 are the 2003 hareware questions *very* different? 3 79 February 27, 2004 Linux and 64-bit computing 3 78 February 25, 2004 Did anyone notice that exam 70-290 is absurd? 2 88 February 25, 2004 When is Windows 2000 Prof 70-210 exam being stopped 4 58 February 25, 2004 Exam order 7 113 February 24, 2004 Server Settings 5 92 February 23, 2004 Domain Forest clarification 2 111 February 20, 2004 Task Manager Practice Question 70-270 5 118 February 19, 2004 Very Slow Network Login 10 533 February 18, 2004 Don't forget to tell your friends about us!