Currently doing my MCSE - just to warn you there is a lot of crap out there that people are willing to sell you for a lot of money. I've passed my XP and 2003 Server (70-290) and so far the best method are books (home study) and a lot of effort and time. Don't get sucked in by 'the enrol on this course and be MCSE in 2 weeks or your money back'. If you read the T+C's there are a lot of catches and there are few people (I Know Anyway) who could retain the amount of info required to pass in that short space of time. I am averaging about an exam a month with about 25-30 hours study a week. I have no life but hey the salary will increase once I am MCSE. The Microsoft Training Kit books are good, they basically teach you what you need to know to pass the exam, syngress (syngress.com) do a great series but I have personally found the sybex books a waste of time. Too much info is not covered on the exam so you end up reading stuff you don't need hence wasting your time. Exams are 100 GBP each (in the UK) and can be booked through prometric.com. I hope you find this info useful.