If you're going through this material then it's likely that either you want to get into networking and you fancy taking your MCSE, or you could already be in IT and it's apparent that you can't get any further without a qualification such as MCSE.

When researching MCSE's, you will discover colleges that lower their out-goings by not upgrading their courses to the most up-to-date Microsoft version. Stay away from such training providers as you'll have problems at exam time. If your knowledge is of an old version, it will make it very difficult to pass. Don't rush into buying a computer course before you feel comfortable. Set your sights on finding a company who will make sure that you're on the best course for meeting your goals.

Many training academies are still offering the slightly musty old method of in-centre classes. Very often portrayed as a huge benefit, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, don't be surprised to be lectured on several if not most of these:

* Loads of travelling - frequent visits and quite often 100's of miles at a go.

* Asking for time off work - a lot of companies can only give class availability from Monday to Friday and typically group 2-3 days together. This is generally difficult for those of us who work for a living, even more so when travel time is included.

* Usually, we end up feeling four weeks vacation allowance isn't enough by far. Sacrifice a good 50 percent of that for training workshops and see your problems doubled.

* Classes fill up fast and can be very crammed in.

* Tension can run high in mixed classes as most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.

* Calculate the increasing cost of all the fares or petrol, accommodation, parking and food and you may be surprised (and not pleasantly). Attendees have reported extra costs mounting to several hundred and sometimes thousands of pounds. Break it down - then you'll know.

* Keeping your training private from your employer can be very important to quite a lot of trainees. Why sacrifice any possible promotions, salary hikes or accomplishment at your current job because of your studies. If your boss finds out you're taking steps towards qualification in a different industry, what do you think they'll do?

* Every one of us must, at some time, have avoided asking a question, because we wanted to look smarter?

* Working and living away - a fair few trainees need to live or work away for certain parts of their training. Events end up being impossible at that point, but the monies have already been handed over as part of your fees.

It really does make more sense to learn at your convenience - not your training provider's - and exploit instructor-led videos with interactive lab's. You can train wherever you want. If you own a laptop, why not get a little sunshine outside while you learn. If you have any problems then make use of the 24x7 support. Note-taking is a thing of the past - every lesson is laid out for you already. If you want to re-do anything, you've got it all. Even though this can't completely stop every little difficulty, it undeniably vastly reduces stress and simplifies things. Plus you've got less travel, hassle and costs.

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