1. From your start screen, tap Settings.
  2. Scroll down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and tap it.
  3. Tap Add Account…then tap Microsoft Exchange 
  4. Fill in your email address and credentials. You may need to leave the domain blank and enter your Username in UPN format, especially if you are an Office 365 customer. If you have more than one Exchange account, also fill in a useful description
  5. Click Next and your iPad will verify your information.
  6. Click the back button to get back to the settings.
  7. Turn on Contacts and Calendars. Tap Mail Days to Sync. The default here is 3 Days, but you will probably want to change that to no limit to get all the mail in your inbox. 
  8. Then go back, and tap Mail Folders to Push. By default the iPad will only grab your Inbox. I like to get the sent items too, since I often find folks ask me to resend things to them. 
  9. Launch the mail client and let it sync.

With your iPad synchronizing to Exchange, you will have your email, contacts, and calendars, and be able to send and receive just like any other ActiveSync device.  The virtual keyboard that comes with iOS may be enough for casual mailing, but like many others, you may want a more physical keyboard for heavy use.