If you're looking to get certified at the MCSA study level, the best training tool on the market today is CD or DVD rom based top of the range interactive training. Whether you're an IT professional looking to formalise your skill set, or are new to the industry, there are interactive MCSA study programmes to cater for you.

For a newcomer to the industry, it may well be necessary to pick up some skills before attempting to go for the first of the four MCP's (Microsoft Certified Professional exams) needed to pass the MCSA. Find a company that can tailor your studying to suit your needs - with a team of advisors who will work with you to ensure that you make the right choices.

Make sure that your MSCA study is exactly right for the role you want to do. Ask about job roles, and ask for a description of what you'll actually be doing on a day to day basis.

You can learn at home or anywhere you choose to take a laptop, as state-of-the-art training is now delivered on a library of discs. You'll find this type of training the most natural way to study - watching full-motion video tutorials, each followed by practical on-screen demonstrations of what you've just learned. Then the fun begins as you're able to interact with the software to perform tasks yourself and practice what you have just learned. No more studying from manuals!

This type of training allows companies to reduce their charges to you by hundreds of pounds, as they don't have the overhead of maintaining a college. An even bigger benefit to you is not having to travel to a classroom somewhere, taking up more of your time and money.

The average level of support in this country is pretty poor and that's one of the biggest factors that causing students to give up. This is because most colleges only offer direct access to tutors in office hours and have message systems in the evenings and weekends when many people are studying. There's now a new type of provider with offices set up in different time zones around the world so they can genuinely offer 24/7 direct access to experts. This sort of support is the only sort you should consider.

For continuity of study you must have access to help that you can contact any time of day or night - where there's a team of experts who will get you through your challege and back to studying. This level of support is absolutely vital for those studying alongside a job, and to avoid a stop/start routine emerging which can cause you to quit.

Also look for a course that includes access to Microsoft authorised exam practice software, so you can test yourself in an exam environment prior to taking the real exam. Experience suggests that the chance of passing these exams first time without such a tool is very low.