Five apps to help you pass Microsoft certification exams

Transcender

Transcender is pretty much the granddaddy of practice exam software. I remember using a Transcender practice test to prepare for an Exchange Server exam back in the 1990s. Today, Transcender's quality is every bit as good as it was back then.

The software offers two main modes of operation. First, you can choose an optimized exam experience, which allows you to take the practice exam in the way that you deem to be most helpful.

Transcender

Transcender also lets you choose from several preset exam experiences that are designed to mimic the actual exam. In addition, it provides hundreds of flash cards to help you to prepare for the exam.

TrainSignal

Unlike the other vendors we're looking at here, TrainSignal does not produce practice exam software. Instead, it offers video-based training products that cover roughly the same material as an official Microsoft training class.

TrainSignal

TrainSignal takes a cookie cutter approach to its training classes, and the ridged adherence to its video template can quickly become annoying. But the videos are well done and full of useful information, and I've turned to TrainSignal many times for my own training needs.

uCertify

uCertify practice exams seem to have all the bases covered. But what really stands out is the sheer number of questions. Although a typical Microsoft certification exam has about 60 questions, one of the uCertify exams I looked at contained 362 practice questions.

uCertify

uCertify also includes a chapter-by-chapter study guide and a comprehensive explanation of all the exam answers.

Pass-Guaranteed

The best thing about Pass-Guaranteed is that it allows for a high degree of customization. You can configure the practice exam time limit and you can pick which practice questions you want to answer.

Pass-Guaranteed

My favorite feature in Pass-Guaranteed is the ability to randomize the answer choices for multiple-choice questions. This forces you to think about the answer rather than automatically choosing B after you have seen the question a couple of times.

SelfTest

The exact offerings in the SelfTest app vary depending on the exam that you are studying for, but the practice test for the 70-642 exam includes 184 test questions -- roughly triple the number of questions given on the actual exam. That practice test also includes 281 flash cards.

SelfTest

SelfTest features a learning mode, with detailed explanations of the correct answers. There is also a certification mode, which simulates the exam. Certification mode doesn't give you any answers until you complete the exam.