Professionals in the field of Information Technology must possess the knowledge and skills needed to administer and support a wide variety of services and products that allow end users to carry out their businesses without any issue. The MCSE: Productivity credential offers IT professionals the opportunity to validate a wide range of skills that are associated with some of the most popular products of Microsoft such as Skype for Business, Exchange Server, and SharePoint. The Microsoft 70-345: Designing and Deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 exam is required to earn the MCSE: Productivity certification. This certificate verifies that a professional has the skills and experience required to function in the role of an IT manager, a system administrator, a senior systems engineer, and a senior system administrator, among others.

The individuals who can write the 70-345 exam are senior administrators or IT consultants who function as the senior technical lead for administrators’ team. To earn this certification, it is recommended that you have at least three years work experience in designing and maintaining Exchange Server and managing responsibilities for Exchange Servicer 2016 messaging solutions in enterprise environments.

Skills Measured

There are some specific skills that have been highlighted by Microsoft, which will constitute a bulk of the certification exam. It is therefore important that you go through the topics carefully and look for resources that will help you in attaining the required knowledge level in them. Below are the skills that Microsoft will measure in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 – 70-345:

• Planning, managing, troubleshooting, and deploying mailbox databases
• Planning, managing, troubleshooting, and deploying transport services
• Planning, managing, troubleshooting, and deploying client access services
• Planning, managing, and deploying Exchange infrastructure, security, and recipients
• Planning, managing, and deploying compliance, eDiscovery, auditing, and archiving
• Managing and deploying co-existence, migration, federation, and hybrid scenarios

Exam Details

The exam is made up of 40-60 questions with a total of two hours allocated to its completion. It is important to note that Microsoft does not reveal the precise number of questions to be expected during its tests. However, you can plan to answer up to 60 questions during your exam. The passing score is 700. Note that there are variances in the number of question so the candidates do not necessarily have to score 70% of the total exam to attain the passing score. Depending on the nature of the questions, 70% may be more than the 700 passing score and it might also be lower than it. The types of questions you can expect to answer during the exam include Active screen, Drag and drop, Multiple choice-Best answer, Build list, Hot area, Case study, Short answer, Multiple choice-Single answer, and Multiple choice-Multiple answer. You can learn more on the types of questions and exam formats of Microsoft through its official page: You can register for the exam through Pearson VUE or Microsoft Learning platform.

Exam Resources

There are numerous resources and platforms that are available for your exam preparation. As a matter of fact, you might find it a bit difficult choosing from the wealth of resources that are available to you. In this certification guide, we look at some top resources that will be of immense help for your exam preparation.

• Kaplan IT Training

Kaplan IT Training offers training course packages that are designed to help the candidates have an effective preparation for their Microsoft 70-345 exam. The packages can be customized to suit your study method. With this resource platform, you can study at your own pace; wherever you want to study and whenever is convenient for you. You can choose between the 30 days assessment and 180 days exam preparation resources on the site. You also have access to practice exam questions that give you a feel of the real exam. The different packages on the platform come with varying features ranging from access to exam-like practice questions, detailed course explanations with references, simulated exam experience, online and download format, full set of major concepts flashcards, performance tracker, study calendar, student discussion board access, access to instructors, among other features. Visit the website to get all necessary preparation tools in one click:

• Exam-Labs

Exam-Labs offers practice questions and answers for the 70-345 exam preparation. The platform is regularly updated with questions from the certification exam to help you prepare for your test at your first attempt. You can explore the compiled database of exam questions and answers through this site without any issue. You can be rest assured that all training resources available on the site are fully up to date and have been verified by experts in the industry. All resources on the site can be access through your mobile device to enable you study on the go. As soon as you sign up on the site and make the necessary payment for the resources you want, you can download it immediately. The Exam-Labs website is definitely one of the resource platforms you should consider for preparing for your Microsoft 70-345 exam.

• PluralSight

This platform offers training course for the Microsoft 70-345 exam. PluralSight has developed series of video training courses to tackle the different exam topics under the Microsoft 70-345 certification test. The topics you can expect to learn when you take a training course with PluralSight include Mailbox Database, Transport, Client access, Management and Administration, Security and Compliance, Migration and Hybrid, High Availability and Site Resilience. To enrol for the course, the students are expected to have ample knowledge about Active Directory, Windows Server, DNS, PowerShell, earlier versions of Exchange Server, and basic knowledge of networking.

Conclusion

There are various resource platforms that you can explore for your exam preparation. Some of the top sites you can check out have been highlighted above. Some other websites you might want to look into include PrepAway and Udemy. The Microsoft 70-345 certification exam is quite challenging and you need to be fully prepared to be able to pass it on the first try.