microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsd - How I got my MCSD.NET

Author

How I got my MCSD.NET

bi-ker

2003-09-01, 9:24 pm

Hi, I have been around for a long time, some might even
say I qualify for old farthood. I have always been
passionate about Microsoft technology and have been an
MSDN Universal Subscriber since 1996. I had played
with .Net but mostly my work involved legacy technology.

Back in early April I decided to go for .NET certification.
I received my gold card in early June. It seems like years
ago now and so much has happened since then, but I thought
that I would pen some of my experiences for the benefit of
like minded old farts who may be considering certification.

I have always been strongly motivated by saving money
where ever possible and by managing my time to the best
advantage. I set myself the task of passing one exam every
week for five weeks. I did not want to go on any courses
simply because for me they would be both a waste of time
and money, as a consultant I quite often prepare and give
course though.

I purchased a few books, but in many was I regret doing
so. These books typically had a few practice exams in the
back. I then looked at purchasing practice exams. I
decided not to purchase Transcender because they were too
expensive, but a friend lent me a laptop with one
Transcender exam on it. Mainly I used the MeasureUp
practice exams recommended on the MS site and purchased
just 30 days use. I found these exams did not work very
well in timed mode over the internet, so I did not use
them this way. In the live exams I found that there was no
real time pressure as there is in some professional exams
such as those developed by Actuarial Societies.

I devised a study technique aimed at gaining the necessary
knowledge in the shortest amount of time and retaining it
for the long haul. I not only wanted the gold card, I also
wanted to be technically stronger than anyone else I
should ever have to deal with. My technique was to run a
small batch of exam questions, answer them, and then refer
to the Microsoft preparation guides. I would then study
everything in and around the area touched on by a
question. I did a lot of reading from MSDN. I would not
move on until I could tick a box saying that I had covered
that part of the guide and confined it to long term
memory. Sometimes I would build a few example .NET
applications as part of this learning process.

I would then move on to a new batch of questions not
including any I had taken before. Eventually I would
complete all questions. At this point I would redo all of
the questions I got wrong. Invariably I would get them all
and at this point the practice exam was of no further use.

Like many people who have reported to this NG I failed 70-
300 on the first attempt. The MeasureUP practice test was
still in beta and limited to 50 questions. At home I could
remember every question and there simply could not been so
many I got wrong. I figured that in one of the case
studies I had made the wrong choice of technology and this
had compromised quite a few questions from that case.

The following week I sat again but I decided to take
advantage of a voucher and switched testing agencies. To
my amazement I found that every single case study was
different. I am therefore skeptical that it is possible to
buy the exact questions and answers from a cheats web site
as suggested by some who frequent this NG.

A hint on 70-300, expect to see at least one question on
Object Relational Modeling. I found the Microsoft Self-
Paced Training Kit to be far too theoretical on ORM but I
found an article in MSDN that took me through it in a
practical way. I also practiced using VISIO.

Since qualifying I did some high level consulting work for
an organization and set up a Win Forms application that
runs from a Web Site and uses Web Services to interact
with a middle tier. This is something that I learned along
the way. It is possible to create a URL that points to
a .NET executable; the browser only downloads the software
when the source is newer than the one in its cache. It is
also possible to load assemblies from within the
application from a URL. Thus you get the benefits of Win
Form applications without having to worry about client
installation.

bi-ker.

Kline Sphere

2003-09-01, 9:24 pm

"bi-ker" <burke10@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:02e401c370e7$9f84c260$a60
1280a@phx.gbl...
> Hi, I have been around for a long time, some might even
> say I qualify for old farthood. I have always been
> passionate about Microsoft technology and have been an
> MSDN Universal Subscriber since 1996. I had played
> with .Net but mostly my work involved legacy technology.
....
> bi-ker.
>

Thankyou bi-ker my friend for a very interesting post. I particularly like
the bit about old farthood since I always thought I was the old old fart
around here, he he he.

Kline Sphere

2003-09-02, 6:24 am

>I was the old old fart
>around here, he he he.

That you are, Troll.

More than likely [still] no Job, no life and no friends (except Mr
Left & Mr Right hand) - how sad.

Davin Mickelson

2003-09-02, 12:30 pm

Hi, bi-ker.

I fear I'll soon be considered an old fart in the IT industry. I'm 35. The
secret is maintaining your skill set on the leading edge of technology (like
you are doing).

Your comment about getting all new test cases for your retest of 70-300 had
nothing to do with the test center. The MS Cert team created a large pool of
case studies and you get a random set of them when you take the exam. Sadly,
the case studies you can purchase from cheat/dump web sites often cover a
large percentage of the case studies. These sites would not exist if stupid
people did not buy them, and there is no shortage of stupid people. I hate
cheaters and those who support them.

Your study plan sounds comprehensive and targeted. I bet it took a lot of
free time to follow it.
,
Thank you for your ideas and your insight.

Davin Mickelson
MCSD(VS6), MCSD.NET, MCSA

"bi-ker" <burke10@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:02e401c370e7$9f84c260$a60
1280a@phx.gbl...
> Hi, I have been around for a long time, some might even
> say I qualify for old farthood. I have always been
> passionate about Microsoft technology and have been an
> MSDN Universal Subscriber since 1996. I had played
> with .Net but mostly my work involved legacy technology.
>
> Back in early April I decided to go for .NET certification.
> I received my gold card in early June. It seems like years
> ago now and so much has happened since then, but I thought
> that I would pen some of my experiences for the benefit of
> like minded old farts who may be considering certification.
>
> I have always been strongly motivated by saving money
> where ever possible and by managing my time to the best
> advantage. I set myself the task of passing one exam every
> week for five weeks. I did not want to go on any courses
> simply because for me they would be both a waste of time
> and money, as a consultant I quite often prepare and give
> course though.
>
> I purchased a few books, but in many was I regret doing
> so. These books typically had a few practice exams in the
> back. I then looked at purchasing practice exams. I
> decided not to purchase Transcender because they were too
> expensive, but a friend lent me a laptop with one
> Transcender exam on it. Mainly I used the MeasureUp
> practice exams recommended on the MS site and purchased
> just 30 days use. I found these exams did not work very
> well in timed mode over the internet, so I did not use
> them this way. In the live exams I found that there was no
> real time pressure as there is in some professional exams
> such as those developed by Actuarial Societies.
>
> I devised a study technique aimed at gaining the necessary
> knowledge in the shortest amount of time and retaining it
> for the long haul. I not only wanted the gold card, I also
> wanted to be technically stronger than anyone else I
> should ever have to deal with. My technique was to run a
> small batch of exam questions, answer them, and then refer
> to the Microsoft preparation guides. I would then study
> everything in and around the area touched on by a
> question. I did a lot of reading from MSDN. I would not
> move on until I could tick a box saying that I had covered
> that part of the guide and confined it to long term
> memory. Sometimes I would build a few example .NET
> applications as part of this learning process.
>
> I would then move on to a new batch of questions not
> including any I had taken before. Eventually I would
> complete all questions. At this point I would redo all of
> the questions I got wrong. Invariably I would get them all
> and at this point the practice exam was of no further use.
>
> Like many people who have reported to this NG I failed 70-
> 300 on the first attempt. The MeasureUP practice test was
> still in beta and limited to 50 questions. At home I could
> remember every question and there simply could not been so
> many I got wrong. I figured that in one of the case
> studies I had made the wrong choice of technology and this
> had compromised quite a few questions from that case.
>
> The following week I sat again but I decided to take
> advantage of a voucher and switched testing agencies. To
> my amazement I found that every single case study was
> different. I am therefore skeptical that it is possible to
> buy the exact questions and answers from a cheats web site
> as suggested by some who frequent this NG.
>
> A hint on 70-300, expect to see at least one question on
> Object Relational Modeling. I found the Microsoft Self-
> Paced Training Kit to be far too theoretical on ORM but I
> found an article in MSDN that took me through it in a
> practical way. I also practiced using VISIO.
>
> Since qualifying I did some high level consulting work for
> an organization and set up a Win Forms application that
> runs from a Web Site and uses Web Services to interact
> with a middle tier. This is something that I learned along
> the way. It is possible to create a URL that points to
> a .NET executable; the browser only downloads the software
> when the source is newer than the one in its cache. It is
> also possible to load assemblies from within the
> application from a URL. Thus you get the benefits of Win
> Form applications without having to worry about client
> installation.
>
> bi-ker.
>

bi-ker

2003-09-03, 4:26 am

>-----Original Message-----
>>I was the old old fart
>>around here, he he he.
>
>That you are, Troll.
>
>More than likely [still] no Job, no life and no friends
(except Mr
>Left & Mr Right hand) - how sad.
>.
>

Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor Kline!
BTW I am not the Troll. Good luck with your struggles and
remember: "be yourself no matter what they say" - Sting.

bi-ker

2003-09-03, 4:26 am

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi, bi-ker.
>
....
>
Your comment about getting all new test cases for your
retest of 70-300 had nothing to do with the test center.
The MS Cert team created a large pool of case studies and
you get a random set of them when you take the exam.
....
Good comment Davin, but I just ran some numbers. Suppose
there are 15 cases in total and I have already seen three
of them. I now draw out three at random, what is the
probability that I will not draw one that I have already
seen?

Surprisingly this is less than 50%. When I draw the first
one I have 80% chance of drawing a fresh one, 78.5% for
the second, and 77% for the third. Multiply these three
numbers and you get 48%. Thus in the absence of further
information we would have to conclude that the pool is
about 15 cases. Even if someone buys all 15 from a cheat
site, remembering all of these without compacting the
knowledge through understanding is not as easy as it
sounds.
>
>Your study plan sounds comprehensive and targeted. I bet
it took a lot of free time to follow it.

About that time I finished up a two year contract so in
fact I did have a little more time on my hands, but I
certainly did not work full time on it. I have three sons
and there is so much I need to teach them. These days I am
putting a lot of time into marketing my Company, as well
as delivering projects and troubleshooting. I am finding a
lot of Companies that were planning new J2EE projects are
switching to .NET. They like things like Content
Management Server that LINUX - J2EE etc. do not provide.

Regards

Peter Burke, M.SC.(Math), MBA, Associate Securities
Institute, Madarin (bi-ker is my legal Chinese name),
MCSD.NET.

Kline Sphere

2003-09-03, 9:25 am

The post was to the 'thing' that is pretending to be me by using my
alias and not to you. Unless, that is, you are the Troll who is
pretending to be me, in which case you spend too much time talking to
yourself!

On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 00:35:57 -0700, "bi-ker" <burke10@attglobal.net>
wrote:

>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>>I was the old old fart
>>>around here, he he he.
>>
>>That you are, Troll.
>>
>>More than likely [still] no Job, no life and no friends
>(except Mr
>>Left & Mr Right hand) - how sad.
>>.
>>
>
>Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor Kline!
>BTW I am not the Troll. Good luck with your struggles and
>remember: "be yourself no matter what they say" - Sting.

Kyle

2003-09-04, 5:24 am

$$$ BE FUNNY MAKE MONEY $$$

>-----Original Message-----
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>>I was the old old fart
>>>around here, he he he.
>>
>>That you are, Troll.
>>
>>More than likely [still] no Job, no life and no friends
>(except Mr
>>Left & Mr Right hand) - how sad.
>>.
>>
>
>Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor Kline!
>BTW I am not the Troll. Good luck with your struggles
and
>remember: "be yourself no matter what they say" - Sting.
>.
>

Grok

2003-09-04, 4:24 pm

Complain to his news server admin:

Server used for this query: [ whois.arin.net ]

142.231.112.2 is [ cyclone.BC.net ]
OrgName: BCnet
OrgID: BC
Address: 515 West Hastings Street
City: Vancouver
StateProv: British Columbia
PostalCode: V6B 5K3
Country: CA
NetRange: 142.231.0.0 - 142.231.255.255
CIDR: 142.231.0.0/16
NetName: BCNET3
NetHandle: NET-142-231-0-0-1
Parent: NET-142-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
NameServer: JADE.BC.NET
NameServer: HUB.UBC.CA
NameServer: CHEDDAR.UCS.UBC.CA
Comment:
RegDate: 1993-02-09
Updated: 1996-04-03
TechHandle: MH239-ARIN
TechName: Hrybyk Mike
TechPhone: 1-604-822-1348
TechEmail: staff@bc.net

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 13:31:11 +0100, Kline Sphere <™> wrote:

>The post was to the 'thing' that is pretending to be me by using my
>alias and not to you. Unless, that is, you are the Troll who is
>pretending to be me, in which case you spend too much time talking to
>yourself!
>
>On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 00:35:57 -0700, "bi-ker" <burke10@attglobal.net>
>wrote:
>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>I was the old old fart
>>>>around here, he he he.
>>>
>>>That you are, Troll.
>>>
>>>More than likely [still] no Job, no life and no friends
>>(except Mr
>>>Left & Mr Right hand) - how sad.
>>>.
>>>
>>
>>Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor Kline!
>>BTW I am not the Troll. Good luck with your struggles and
>>remember: "be yourself no matter what they say" - Sting.

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