Latest lesson: Don’t underestimate the CRM 4.0 certification exams!
The CRM 4.0 certification exams are now available! I admit, I was a bit overconfident before I took the CRM 4.0 Applications exam. I’ve been working with Microsoft CRM for many years now, so I wondered: “Really, how hard could it be?”
I took Exam MB2-632 last Friday and got an unfortunate 60% grade. I needed a minimum of 70% to pass. This new Applications exam, along with the other two CRM exams (Installation and Deployment & Customization and Configuration), can be surprisingly tricky, from what I’ve seen and heard. There are many “gotcha” questions which at first glance seem to have multiple correct answers, but you’ll have to use your best judgment to pick what is deemed as the most efficient answer.
This does make the exam feel incredibly tough, and apparently I’m not the only one. In the comments section of Larry’s MSDN CRM Blog and at Phil’s CRM Blog, some test takers posted negative feedback regarding some exam questions.
So to wrap this up, make sure you revise the Exam Topics, which I’ve included below. For the Applications exam you will need to focus primarily on the newest features in CRM 4.0. You can also safely disregard CRM 3.0 study materials, as most of the questions deal with newer concepts. And you will need to log some practice time with the application, so download the VPC image if you don’t already have it.
Finally, don’t forget to register for a “Second Shot” voucher number, which lets you take the exam again for free in case you have trouble on the first round. Register as soon as you can, this program is valid only until June 30, 2008.
Good luck! Let me know how it went for you. 
Exam Details:
- 50 total questions with a 70% passing grade (you’ll need at least 35 correct to pass)
- 100 minutes to complete the exam
- Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer Questions
Exam Topics for all three Dynamics CRM 4.0 exams are found in the below link.
Microsoft CRM 4.0 Applications: Exam Topics
Prometric Exam # MB2-632
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Concepts – 34%
- Understanding Microsoft Dynamics Software
- Multi-lingual User Interface and Multi-currency
- Customer-centered view
- Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Office Outlook
Sales – 18%
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sales Concepts
- Opportunity Management
- Managing Leads
- Sales Order Processing
Marketing – 16%
- Planning and Creating Marketing Campaigns
- Managing Marketing Campaigns
Service Management – 18%
- Managing Contracts
- Managing Cases
- Creating a Knowledge base
- Managing Service Queues
Service Scheduling – 14%
- Understanding the Service Scheduling Life Cycle
- Scheduling Services
- Maintaining Users and Resources
Microsoft CRM 4.0 Customization and Configuration: Exam Topics
Prometric Exam # MB2-631
Configuring Your Deployment – 28%
- Configuring Business Units
- Configuring Security
- Configuring Users and Teams
- Configuring Organizational Settings
- Configuring Multi-User Interface Language Packs
- Configuring Currency Exchange Rates
Customizing Forms and Views – 12%
- Customizing Forms
- Customizing Views
- Publishing Forms and View Changes
Customizing Entities and Attributes – 32%
- Maintaining Custom Attributes
- Maintaining Custom Entities
- Maintaining Custom Entity Icons
- Renaming Entities
- Translating Customized Entity Labels
Customizing Relationships and Mappings– 20%
- Relationship Concepts
- 1:N Relationship Behavior
- Creating 1:N Relationships
- Creating N:N Relationships
- Entity Mappings
Maintaining Organizations– 8%
- Core Concepts – Multi-tenancy and the Configuration DB
- Managing Additional Organizations
- Importing Organizations
- Maintaining Servers and Licenses
Microsoft CRM 4.0 Installation and Deployment: Exam Topics
Prometric Exam # MB2-633
Planning a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Implementation – 18%
- Planning for Business Needs
- Planning for Hardware
- Planning for Software
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Installation – 24%
- Understanding Installation Concepts
- Understanding Server Roles
- Understanding Security
- Understanding the Software Installation Process
Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router – 12%
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router Configuration Concepts
- Configuring the E-mail Router
Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook – 20%
- Installing the Outlook Client
- Supporting the Outlook Client
Redeployment and Upgrading – 16%
- Understanding the Redeployment Process
- Understanding the Upgrade Process
Uninstalling and Repairing – 10%
- Uninstalling Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- Repairing Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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Comments
hey have they cleared the wrong questions they have asked at the 4.0 apps test. do give us a feed as i plan to take the test shortly. thx
Raj,
Sorry, but I haven’t heard much about the Application exam lately. If I had to guess, they would’ve addressed a few of the incoherent questions but overall the exam would remain intact.
Best of luck to you!
I am very frustrated by the CRM applications exam. I took it the first time with minimal studying because I had a second chance voucher. I scored a 62%, so then I studied the areas where I thought I was weak and scored a 64%. I waited a month and spent a solid week studying until I could get all the study guide questions correct with ease, and then I also got a 100% correct on the Applications assessment exam on the Microsoft learning web site (it was tricky because the web site is screwed up and you have to select “review the questions” in order to answer them otherwise it kicks you out), I then took the exam a 3rd time and took my time, went through all the questions a second time and was not sure on only 5 of my answers but I thought I had pretty good guesses. I got a 64% again!! I was absolutely shocked. Something is definately wrong with the way this exam is written, or some of the answers are wrong. Given how many mistakes are in the course materials, I believe some mistakes also exist in the test.
Hi Guys,
I cleared the MS CRM4 applications certification today. Scored overall 96% . CRM concepts 94%, Sales-100%, marketing-87%, service management – 100%, Service Scheduling- 100%.
I bought all the volumes of application from microsoft and literally burnt the mid night oil. What I observed is that you need to have hands on the application which comes with experience. The questions which I came across were exactly the same issues/requirements which I come across in my daily implementation scenarios. I never found any question out of the league, everything made sense except a few spelling errors may be.
My feedback upon the certification is that you need to gain some experience upon the application, just theoritical knowledge wont give you any yield else it’ll just be a circle of arrears. Trust me…
Regards
Prince
Yeah Christian, I can vouch for the Installation exam being passable, and commentors on my blog have managed to pass the Customization exam with room to spare, but I haven’t heard of anyone passing the Applications Exam. Folks sound pretty upset about that one!