What are the sort of things you'd expect the top of the range training organisations accredited by Microsoft to offer a student in the United Kingdom at present? Clearly, the very best Gold Partner Microsoft authorised training routes, providing a portfolio of courses to take you into different areas of the IT industry. Maybe you'd choose to have a chat about jobs with a person who's got industry experience - and should you be confused, then have some guidance on which area of the industry would be best, based on your personality and ability level. Be assured that your course is designed to your current skills and aptitude. Select a company that will make sure that the course is designed for the job you want to get.

Usually, trainers will provide a big box of books. Learning like this is dull and repetitive and isn't the best way to go about remembering. Recent studies into the way we learn shows that long term memory is improved when we involve as many senses as possible, and we get practically involved in what we're studying.

Learning is now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM's, where everything is taught on your PC. Using video-streaming, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how something is done, with some practice time to follow - in a virtual lab environment. Every company that you look at must be able to demonstrate some samples of the materials provided for study. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a wide selection of interactive elements.

You'll find that many companies will only provide just online versions of their training packages; sometimes you can get away with this - but, imagine the problems when you don't have access to the internet or you get intermittent problems and speed issues. A safer solution is the provision of physical CD or DVD discs that removes the issue entirely.

Commencing from the viewpoint that it's necessary to home-in on the market that sounds most inviting first and foremost, before we can even contemplate what training course fulfils our needs, how are we supposed to find the right path? Since having no solid background in Information Technology, how should we possibly be expected to understand what anyone doing a particular job actually does? Arriving at a well-informed answer really only appears from a systematic analysis across many shifting areas:

* Our personalities play a major role - what gets you 'up and running', and what tasks put a frown on your face.

* Why it seems right moving into computing - maybe you'd like to achieve a life-long goal like working for yourself for instance.

* What salary and timescale needs that guide you?

* Learning what the main career types and markets are - plus how they're different to each other.

* The level of commitment and effort you'll spend on the training program.

The best way to avoid the barrage of jargon, and find the most viable option for your success, have an informal chat with an advisor with years of experience; an individual who can impart the commercial reality while explaining each qualification.

Think about the points below in detail if you believe that old marketing ploy of an 'Exam Guarantee' sounds great value:

Clearly it isn't free - you're still being charged for it - the cost has just been rolled into the whole training package. It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Going for exams in order and funding them as you go puts you in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt - you revise thoroughly and are conscious of what you've spent.

Shouldn't you be looking to go for the best offer at the time, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance to a training college, and to take it closer to home - instead of miles away at the college's beck and call? Big margins are secured by a number of companies that incorporate exam fees into the cost of the course. For various reasons, many students don't take their exams but no refunds are given. Astoundingly enough, there are companies around who rely on that fact - as that's how they make a lot of their profit. Re-takes of previously unsuccessful exams through organisations who offer an 'Exam Guarantee' are always heavily controlled. You'll be required to sit pre-tests till you've proven conclusively that you can pass.

On average, exams cost 112 pounds or thereabouts twelve months or so ago when taken at UK VUE or Prometric centres. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra to get 'an Exam Guarantee', when it's obvious that what's really needed is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.

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