microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsd

Author

Getting Started

Enforge

2003-12-16, 4:27 pm

Hey all,

Have been coding VB and ASP applications for almost 6
years. Have been doing ASP.NET and VB.NET applications now
for almost a year, full-time.

I am thinking about getting the certs. I make good money
but I feel like having a certification to go along with all
of my experience would allow me to waltz into almost any
job I wanted. There are a lot of 'terms' in .NET that I
don't know, and lots of features I do not use (I even avoid
using controls in ASP.NET because I think they are evil and
problematic, heh).

Was wondering what the best approach for obtaining a cert
would be. Part of me thinks I can walk in and take the test
and pass, part of me is afraid it would all just be
memorization of Microsoft buzz-word terms and I would fail.

I've also read that the MS books are horrible, so I went
out and bought the Que books to get started (I am starting
with the C# book for web app development).

How long do you think this process will take me, if I spend
a couple hours a night, a few nights a week reading?

How many questions are on the exam(s)? Are they all
multiple choice? Can you somewhat make guesses at some of
the answers if you are good with multiple choice tests, or
is it really tricky? Can I afford to skim anything in the
reading if I think I am a little familiar with it?

Finally, is there any particular order to get this all
done? I was planning to aim for the MCAD first and then add
the two other test to get the MCSD. Which exam should be
first, ASP.NET?

Thanks, sorry for all the questions. Wish they had a nice
little FAQ site NOT hosted and monitored by MS.

Peace

TheGrudge

2003-12-16, 10:24 pm

Enforge,
Just to give you a little background. I have been using .net winforms
and asp.net since beta1 (Jan 2001). I had the same attitude about just
walking in and taking the tests. I'm glad I didn't listen to myself. It
isn't that there are buzz words. You and I both know that the .net framework
is huge. And I doubt anybody has used all parts of it. The 315/316 tests
that I took covered topics that I had to study on because I simply didn't
use them. If you feel confident with your skills I would get the Exam Cram
books by Kalani/Que. That is what I used. They are for people who basically
have 80%-90% of the fundamentals covered. It has an overview of the topics
on the test. For an example of items in the book that you may not have used:

GAC/Versioning,Package & Deployment, Security, Testing & Debugging
(Tracing).

I'm sure you have ADO.Net covered since you've been using it for a year, but
like I said there are parts that you probably haven't used. If I were you I
would get Kalani's full books or his ExamCram books. I'm currently studying
for 320 and from what I can tell it seems like it will be the most
difficult.

HTH

"Enforge" <hlee@enforge.com> wrote in message
news:01f801c3c418$154bbc50$a50
1280a@phx.gbl...
> Hey all,
>
> Have been coding VB and ASP applications for almost 6
> years. Have been doing ASP.NET and VB.NET applications now
> for almost a year, full-time.
>
> I am thinking about getting the certs. I make good money
> but I feel like having a certification to go along with all
> of my experience would allow me to waltz into almost any
> job I wanted. There are a lot of 'terms' in .NET that I
> don't know, and lots of features I do not use (I even avoid
> using controls in ASP.NET because I think they are evil and
> problematic, heh).
>
> Was wondering what the best approach for obtaining a cert
> would be. Part of me thinks I can walk in and take the test
> and pass, part of me is afraid it would all just be
> memorization of Microsoft buzz-word terms and I would fail.
>
> I've also read that the MS books are horrible, so I went
> out and bought the Que books to get started (I am starting
> with the C# book for web app development).
>
> How long do you think this process will take me, if I spend
> a couple hours a night, a few nights a week reading?
>
> How many questions are on the exam(s)? Are they all
> multiple choice? Can you somewhat make guesses at some of
> the answers if you are good with multiple choice tests, or
> is it really tricky? Can I afford to skim anything in the
> reading if I think I am a little familiar with it?
>
> Finally, is there any particular order to get this all
> done? I was planning to aim for the MCAD first and then add
> the two other test to get the MCSD. Which exam should be
> first, ASP.NET?
>
> Thanks, sorry for all the questions. Wish they had a nice
> little FAQ site NOT hosted and monitored by MS.
>
> Peace

Kline Sphere

2003-12-17, 5:23 am

>I am thinking about getting the certs. I make good money
>but I feel like having a certification to go along with all
>of my experience would allow me to waltz into almost any
>job I wanted.

Ha, Ha, good one!

Do the certs and see for yourself. Personally, it's nice to have them,
although anyone can get them, which means you still don't stand out
from the crowd.

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