4/13/2005 -- It appears that many candidates still cannot register for Microsoft's 70-290 and 70-291 exams, featuring the new simulation questions, at their local Prometric center.

The exams, which are the first to include the new question format from Microsoft, were not available at Prometric centers when they went live on March 31. Several candidates reported last week that they were told that the exams would not be available until the end of the month, or that they would only be available in the pre-simulation format.

The exams have been available at Pearson Vue testing centers, except Japan, since launch.

A spokesperson for Prometric told CertCities.com late last week that the exams, in simulation format, would become available for registration yesterday, April 12, worldwide. While a check of Prometric's online registration system revealed that the exams do appear to be available in some locations, other locations -- including a Prometric-owned testing in the Los Angeles area -- still do not allow candidates to schedule the exams. In a check of 40 random testing centers in California, only 16 allowed registration for the exams.

When this reporter called Prometric's phone registration system to register, we were told that the exam was "available but not downloaded at many locations," and that we would "need to contact Microsoft" to find out when the exams would become available.

The spokesperson from Prometric did not respond to our multiple requests for comment on the reasons behind the initial delay, and did not respond for comment on the current sporadic availability by press time.

Al Valvano, group product manager for the Microsoft Learning Group, told CertCities.com today that the exams have been released to all testing providers.

According to Valvano, the company was aware of the delay in release of the exams through Vue in Japan and of the delayed rollout of the exams through the Prometric network through yesterday. He said that both relate to ensuring the quality of the exam delivery with the new simulation software is high: "The technical side is done ... we're finishing quality assurance."

Valvano said Microsoft was not aware that the exams were not currently available for registration in all Prometric testing locations as of today. He said that while he can't comment on availability at the local testing level, he said that he would assume the delays are so that Prometric "can ensure the best possible test delivery experience for its customers."

Valvano recommended that any candidates whose preferred testing center is not currently offering the exams should work with that testing center directly to arrange an exam appointment if they prefer not to go to an alternate center.

Microsoft said on its Web site that it plans to introduce the new question types into its 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure and 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure exams in June.

Prometric's online registration system is available at www.2test.com. Pearson Vue's online registration system is at www.vue.com.

CertCities.com will bring you more on this story as information becomes available. -Becky Nagel