Failing is good. At least I know what’s expected from me now. I can imagine the re-test being similar, but not the same, so memorizing parameters and stuff would mean nothing.

I started to study instead. Study meant even more advanced consulting, trying to get customers to do things I need to test, which is much harder than you can imagine, because customers often know what they want to have done… I also started to look at the MCM Videos. They were a great help in keeping track of what I’d revisited and what I still had to do. iPad with a video player, and long train rides was my rescue here 🙂 Also reading Paul Randals and Brent Ozars blogs took some time here. (Actually the entire sqlskills.com and brentozar.com are well worth a visit)

The last of April arrives in giant leaps. I took another long train ride, looking at videos and doing some SQL-stuff on the train. The two days (sat-sun) before the exam was well spent in a mix of lab/BOL and walking around in Berlin.

Exam day: Even though I was well prepared for the exam, slept well and expected 6.5 hrs of brain mashing activities, I was really empty when I got out. First feeling was that I completed all test parts this time. But then the second guessing started… I should have done that instead. Ahhh, I forgot to check that statement – or did I? – And the second waiting period started.

It took until July 4 before I got the mail this time. The title was something “Congratulations” and I had got the perfect start of my vacation. Croatia, you are going to be visited by a fresh MCM!