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Home > Archive > microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsd > May 2003 > Best practice tests & books
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| Author |
Best practice tests & books
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| Justin Dutoit 2003-05-25, 6:23 pm |
| I'd like a bunch of people to pitch in- which of the practice tests (Self
Test, MeasureUp, Transcender) is the best? And which books, eg Official
Self-Paced Training Kit, Wrox Books, others?
Thanks
Justin Dutoit
P.S. I'm doing MeasureUp's practice test for 70-305- does anyone else think
it's too hard? Much harder than the 50 Q practice test that came with the
70-305 Training Kit....
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| Kline Sphere 2003-05-26, 5:23 am |
| >I'd like a bunch of people to pitch in- which of the practice tests (Self
>Test, MeasureUp, Transcender) is the best? And which books, eg Official
>Self-Paced Training Kit, Wrox Books, others?
Self-Paced Training Kit are rubbish.
Wrox books are excellent.
Don't know or care about transcender or measureup. Why on earth does
anyone want to waste money on 'practice exams'. Given the [lack of]
complexity of the microsoft multi-choice exams, if anyone feels they
need extensive 'practicing', should seriously consider a change of
profession.
> others
msdn with the exam(s) prep guide. All you need assuming you have real
world experience.
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| Hi Kline,
Are they quite easy then? I'd be quite happy if I knew that the exams
are relatively easy, most exams are failed because someone misread a
question or didn't understand the jargon even though they know the relevant
information, that always pi55es me off about being self taught, I got a book
on COM programming in VB6 once as I thought I'd look into it, just to
realise that I had been programming COM objects for at least a year, that
stupidity is jut down to me though I suppose but I'm sure you can understand
what I mean by that.
Nick.
"Kline Sphere" <T> wrote in message
news:amp3dvo78fmbnhf5cd5dgg0k2
2k89i44h6@4ax.com...
> >I'd like a bunch of people to pitch in- which of the practice tests (Self
> >Test, MeasureUp, Transcender) is the best? And which books, eg Official
> >Self-Paced Training Kit, Wrox Books, others?
>
> Self-Paced Training Kit are rubbish.
>
> Wrox books are excellent.
>
> Don't know or care about transcender or measureup. Why on earth does
> anyone want to waste money on 'practice exams'. Given the [lack of]
> complexity of the microsoft multi-choice exams, if anyone feels they
> need extensive 'practicing', should seriously consider a change of
> profession.
>
> > others
>
> msdn with the exam(s) prep guide. All you need assuming you have real
> world experience.
| |
| Kline Sphere 2003-05-26, 11:23 am |
| Software engineering whether it be performed on microsoft platforms or
on Solaris, Linux, AS400 (or any think else), is a complex process.
Nowhere in the exams is the tester expected to understand the software
development process. 70-100 & 70-300 do cover this, but only to a very
basic level and certainly not to a level that would be expected in the
day to day operations of any IT department.
The multi-choice format of these exams, is in my view, is rather
pointless. A mark can be gained despite the fact that the tester may
know nothing about that question and has simply been able to deduce
the correct answer from given answers.
So yes, I believe they are quite easy. If someone has real world
experience, armed with the mcsd, prep guide & access to the product,
they should have no problems in passing the exams. For anyone who does
not have the experience, the exams and studying will be far harder
(one would assume!). I would imagine if I were attempt a foxpro exam,
I would struggle as my 'real world experience is limited.
The other problem is that the answers to the questions can be found on
any one of million websites throughout the world. Nothing really can
be done about this, certainly when the sites are in China, Korea and
any other third world country needing some US dollars.
>most exams are failed because someone misread a
>question or didn't understand the jargon even though they know the relevant
>information
The world of software engineering is full of 'jargon'. Believe it or
not, 'jargon' is an attempt to reduce the possibility of
misunderstanding and reduce complexity. Like many area's within
software development the use of 'jargon' (or buzz words) are used
inappropriately and has the opposite affect
If someone misread the question or does not understand the 'jargon',
whose fault is that? Would you expect someone to be able to pass the
70-320 exam but not be able to explain the role of the gac or when
implementing a web server would be appropriate or not?
BTW, there is nothing wrong with being self taught. However, there is
far more to developing software than can be taught in any book. A lot
comes from understanding the software development process, which
increases as experienced is gained. It is quite sad when you interview
someone who cannot explain what a software process is, let alone give
you any idea on how you would determine which type of process model to
use for a given type of solution.
On Mon, 26 May 2003 15:29:25 +0100, "NP" <spam@spamspamspamspam.com>
wrote:
>Hi Kline,
>
> Are they quite easy then? I'd be quite happy if I knew that the exams
>are relatively easy, most exams are failed because someone misread a
>question or didn't understand the jargon even though they know the relevant
>information, that always pi55es me off about being self taught, I got a book
>on COM programming in VB6 once as I thought I'd look into it, just to
>realise that I had been programming COM objects for at least a year, that
>stupidity is jut down to me though I suppose but I'm sure you can understand
>what I mean by that.
>
>Nick.
>
>
>"Kline Sphere" <T> wrote in message
> news:amp3dvo78fmbnhf5cd5dgg0k2
2k89i44h6@4ax.com...
>> >I'd like a bunch of people to pitch in- which of the practice tests (Self
>> >Test, MeasureUp, Transcender) is the best? And which books, eg Official
>> >Self-Paced Training Kit, Wrox Books, others?
>>
>> Self-Paced Training Kit are rubbish.
>>
>> Wrox books are excellent.
>>
>> Don't know or care about transcender or measureup. Why on earth does
>> anyone want to waste money on 'practice exams'. Given the [lack of]
>> complexity of the microsoft multi-choice exams, if anyone feels they
>> need extensive 'practicing', should seriously consider a change of
>> profession.
>>
>> > others
>>
>> msdn with the exam(s) prep guide. All you need assuming you have real
>> world experience.
>
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