3/7/2007 -- Beginning next week, Microsoft plans to retest two Vista exams, 70-621 and 70-622, that were originally beta tested in January and February this year. According to an e-mail notification sent to beta candidates of those exams, Microsoft "errantly left out" coverage of some topics that were listed on its exam objective domain.

Exam 71-622 PRO: Supporting and Troubleshooting Applications on a Vista Client for Enterprise Support Technicians gets retested March 16, with beta registration opening up on March 9. Exam 71-621: Upgrading MCDST to an MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician will be retested beginning March 22, with registration opening on March 16. Both exams are slated for May release.

The retest is an unprecedented move by Microsoft and a few candidates, who provided the original e-mail note from Microsoft to MCPmag.com, expressed some unhappiness with the decision.

"They should have offered testers an option with scoring and certification based upon the first versions only," said one tester who asked to remain anonymous, "and seeded the missing questions into later updates." Another tester said he didn't like to have to retest, but said the note gave "some insight into the integrity of [Microsoft's] quality control."

According to the notification, Microsoft is allowing candidates to take the second beta. Doing so would wipe away the results of the first beta exam. Testers who opt not to take the second beta will have the first beta scored against the results of the second beta. Those who took the first beta will also receive an exam voucher that can be used for any Vista exams, as an apology from Microsoft "for this inconvenience."

This article will be updated as news becomes available from Microsoft.

For related information, read Vista Exams Go Back to Beta Testing in the News archive. -Michael Domingo, courtesy of MCPmag.com