[RESOLVED] Study Materials For MS Exam's

[DeanMc]

I have sent a few CV's out to companies for a junior programming job. The feedback I am getting back is that the only way someone will employ me is if I have proof of concept, IE formal certs or diploma's

I have decided the best way to go is some MS certifications. I know they have been discussed at length and im pretty sure of what ones I want to go for so I was wondering does anyone know which materials are best to study for these exams? Or which place is the best for sample papers.

Thanks.

[RobDog888]

Yes passing some certs will efinately help get your foot in the door. Have you looked at the traning materials suggested by MS on the cert site?

[DeanMc]

Yeah, they seem to be keen for me to get the MS press books but honestly those things are as dry as a bone. I think I might just order some test papers and go from there.

[DeanMc]

Ok so I plumped for some practice exams and boy are they hard!!!! I have millions of studying to do!

[RobDog888]

One of the biggest things you can do is practice. Do projects that cover the exam topics they specify. Its a million times more fun and you will remember and learn much better.

[Hack]

Ok so I plumped for some practice exams and boy are they hard!!!! I have millions of studying to do!

I use Transcender's practice exams and in many respects, I think their practice tests are more difficult than Microsoft's real test - which makes it nice.

[gep13]

Hey,

I actually find that the books from MS Press are actually very good, and they cover all the topics that are required to pass the exams.

Some of the books come with practice exams from MeasureUp, which as Hack has mentioned are pitched at a slightly higher level than the exams themselves.

Out of interest, which exams are you thinking about taking?

Gary

[DeanMc]

70 - 536 The foundation one.

How did you study Gep, did you just cram or did you write stuff out or what, I'm trying to get some studying tips.

[gep13]

Ah, 70-536, that was a fun exam

Bascially, my studying went like this...

1) Read this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MCTS-Self-Pa...6020855&sr=8-1
2) At the end of each chapter, I did all the hands on labs that it provided, and did the questions that appeared at the end of each lesson
3) Once I got to the chapter on Code Access Security, I went, ***, and gave up for a couple of months
4) Started reading the book from scratch, this time writing notes as I went. Ended up having separate word documents for different things, like Notes, What's New in the .Net 2.0 Framework, Exam Tips, that sort of thing, and I also ended up typing up the Lesson Summary at the end of each Lesson, and I used this as a brief recap of everything that I had read
5) Kept on doing the labs, and the sample questions, then once I had read the book completely, I started doing the practice exams that came with it. These didn't go very well to start with, but the good thing about them, is that it tells you where you are going wrong, and the relevant sections in the book to go back and read
6) So that started an iterative loop of going back and reading up sections in the book, and doing another sample exam. There are enough questions in there, that you don't end up just doing the same one's over and over
7) Then I booked the exam. I found that once I had it booked, it sort of focused the mind, and help me study more.
8) Day of the exam came round, and I did two practice exams before I went, both of which I failed, so the confidence wasn't high, but I ended up passing with quite a good result actually

Other factors included the fact that I was developing at work, so I was actually applying some of the techniques that I was reading about, which was a bonus.

One thing I would say is that if you haven't looked at things like threading, Code Access Security, and Interop, then these sections of the book, and exam, will seem quite hard to start with, and to be honest, the sections in the book are quite dry, but stick with it, it will make sense eventually.

If you haven't already, sign up to the My Learning Section of the MSDN Website. Tell it that you are sitting that exam, and it will suggest white papers and articles that you should read, and you can mark them off as you read them, so effectively you have a study plan going.

Other things that might help:

1) If you do get the book, take a look here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923018/en-us
And mark up the known issues with the book. There are a couple sections that if you don't correct them, you can end of learning the wrong thing.
2) Take a look here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/...p-session.aspx
It is a link to an exam cramming web session that I attended that I thought was quite good. Basically it breaks down the exam into the different parts, and says how each section it weighted etc.

Think that is about all I have just now, but if you have any questions just ask. I have done 70-536, 70-528, 70-547, 70-526, and 70-548. I am then going to do 70-529 and 70-549, which gets me Enterprise Applications Developer for .Net 2.0, and when I get round to it, I will do the upgrade exam to take that up to .Net 3.5.

I take it you are going down the .Net 3.5 route straight away?

Hope that helps!!

Gary

[chris128]

I've only ever actually taken one (which I passed ) but I have started studying for a couple and the way I do it is to just read the official MS book and as Gep says, make notes as you go along so that you are actually taking it in. Its very easy to read a book and not actually retain any of the information, so I find that writing your own notes with key points and written a way that you can understand is the best thing to do - then you can revise from those notes a few days before the exam rather than having to read entire chapters again.

[DeanMc]

Great advice guys. Thanks

I might pick up one of those books so, yeah im going to do 3.5 straight away as it is the framework I would be more familiar with anyway.

[DeanMc]

Gep, I meant to ask, do you find the exams useful career wise?

[gep13]

Great advice guys. Thanks

I might pick up one of those books so, yeah im going to do 3.5 straight away as it is the framework I would be more familiar with anyway.

Hey,

That makes sense.

Gary

[gep13]

Gep, I meant to ask, do you find the exams useful career wise?

Hey,

Yes, but maybe not for the reason that you are hoping.

I started doing the exam for the company that I currently work for. It is something that I had wanted to do for a while, but they gave me the push to do it, basically they pay for it The reason that they pushed for it is because they wanted to achieve a Gold Partnership with Microsoft, and having certified developers in the building is a good way to help on this route.

Gary

[DeanMc]

Ah I see,

Well I know that there is issues with brain dumping that has devalued the actual cert but I think the cert will at least prove to me that I know it which in turn would give me more confidence.

[gep13]

Hey,

Yeah, the issue of brain dumping is definitely there, but there isn't much you can do about that, until it all gets sorted out.

I am happy in the knowledge that I didn't use anything like that for passing the exam, what's the point, you are only cheating yourself really!!!

Hope things go well with the exams, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Gary

P.S. Have you registered with Prometric yet? Or which test provider are you going with?

[DeanMc]

I believe they are the crowd I have to do it with. I haven't registered with them yet as I need to learn a bit more first. I never knew there was a caspol.exe never mind what it does!

[gep13]

Ha ha.

You'll get there!!!

[DeanMc]

Hopefully, well I have taken your advice and got that book, It also gave me a discount for the 3.5 winform book so I bought that too given that I will need it eventually!

[gep13]

Woo Hoo!!!

As I said before though, the chapters on Code Access Security, it particularly dry, but the labs are very good! So well worth it!!

Gary

P.S. Woo Hoo 1000 posts by DeanMc!!!

[DeanMc]

Oh yeah!, I hadn't noticed, nearly a frenzied member so if I remember correctly! Well those books are winging there way to me now! Man there should be more info on these exams in a clearer manner! It took me a week or so just to decide on which ones where needed!

[gep13]

Hey,

They are trying to make it clearer, they are currently changing the format of the new exams, and the certification website is/was waiting on an overhaul.

I find this guy's blog has the most up to date information:

http://blogs.msdn.com/gerryo/default.aspx

From what I understand he pretty much runs the certification stuff.

Gary

[DeanMc]

Good site, I've got it bookmarked now, I take it that the next batch of exams (.net 4.0) wont interfere with my 3.5 exams for a little while yet?

[gep13]

Hey,

No, they shouldn't interfere at all.

There should be an upgrade path from 3.5 to 4.0 though, so you can always do that when you come round to it.

VS 2010 isn't released until next year anyway, so plenty of time to worry about that later.

Gary

[chris128]

Depends how long it takes you to study

[gep13]

Ha ha, good point!!

I was assuming that Dean was a clever cookie

[DeanMc]

Very true and to be honest it is taking ages, im hoping these new books will help!

[DeanMc]

Ha ha, good point!!

I was assuming that Dean was a clever cookie

Was! I'd like to think I still am.

[gep13]

Ha ha, good point!!

I was assuming that Dean is a clever cookie

My bad!!

[DeanMc]

Ha ha, you fine, OK I'l resolve this puppy until further notice. Thanks for your help guys!

[Cander]

I have been tying to gear up to finally get certified. I tried the Transcender demo test for C# Windows development. It was only 10 questions but it did show me a couple areas I need to work on. Got a 60%. The question where you have to drag and drop design abstract and virtual properties into their proper classes was what really got me. I almost had it right. If almost means totally backwards.

[gep13]

Hey,

Out of interest, what route are you planning to take Cander? .Net 2.0, 3.5, or wait for 4.0?

Gary

[Cander]

I am going to wait till 4.0. Gives me plenty of study time.

[gep13]

I like your thinking!!

[DeanMc]

I was going to do that after I seen them but given that most jobs are only starting to list 3.5 here over 2.0 I think il do 3.5 first.

[Cander]

Plus it would be extra money to take the upgrade tests anyway. So with the new version on the horizon, why rush and waste money? Even though my company will reimburse me if I pass.

[DeanMc]

I don't suppose they will reimburse me too?

[Cander]

Probably not.

[gep13]

Hey,

The exams don't work out to be that expensive. About £80 a go. If you buy the books, which you have, they normally come with a 15% discount voucher for the exam.

Gary