A subtle way that training providers make a lot more is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. This sounds impressive, but let's just examine it more closely:

Obviously it's not free - you're still coughing up for it - the price has simply been included in the whole thing. Students who enter their exams one by one, funding them one at a time are much better placed to get through first time. They are aware of their spending and revise more thoroughly to be up to the task.

Why should you pay your training company up-front for examinations? Find the best deal you can when you're ready, rather than pay marked up fees - and take it closer to home - instead of miles away at the college's beck and call. Paying upfront for exams (plus interest - if you're financing your study) is a false economy. Why fill a company's coffers with additional funds simply to help their cash-flow! Many will hope you will never make it to exams - so they don't need to pay for them. Don't forget, with 'Exam Guarantees' from most places - they control when and how often you can do your re-takes. They'll only allow a re-take once completely satisfied.

The cost of exams was 112 pounds or thereabouts twelve months or so ago through Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra to get 'an Exam Guarantee', when any student knows that the responsible approach is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.

Commencing with the idea that we have to choose the area of most interest first and foremost, before we're able to chew over which educational program meets that requirement, how can we choose the correct route? What chances do most of us have of understanding the tasks faced daily in an IT career if we've never been there? Often we haven't met someone who does that actual job anyway. Usually, the way to come at this predicament properly flows from a full chat, covering some important points:

- Your personality can play a starring role - what gives you a 'kick', and what are the activities that put a frown on your face.

- What sort of time-frame do you want for the training process?

- What are your thoughts on salary vs the travel required?

- Getting to grips with what typical job areas and sectors are - and what makes them different.

- How much effort you're prepared to put into getting qualified.

The bottom line is, your only chance of understanding everything necessary is from a meeting with an advisor or professional who knows the industry well enough to be able to guide you.

A typical blunder that students everywhere can make is to choose a career based on a course, and take their eye off the desired end-result. Colleges are brimming over with students who chose a course based on what sounded good - rather than what would get them the job they want. You could be training for only a year and end up doing the actual job for 10-20 years. Don't make the error of opting for what may seem to be a very 'interesting' program and then put 10-20 years into a job you don't like!

It's essential to keep your focus on where you want to get to, and create a learning-plan from that - don't do it the other way round. Keep on track and ensure that you're training for a job you'll still be enjoying many years from now. Seek out help from an industry professional who appreciates the market you're interested in, and is able to give you 'A typical day in the life of' synopsis of what duties you'll be performing on a day-to-day basis. It's good sense to ensure you're on the right track long before you jump into the study-program. There's little reason in starting your training and then realise you've made a huge mistake.

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