So I have to get a certification to progress in my job, and it needs to involve Microsoft .NET. OK. So I’m working through the MCPD (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer) .NET web development training kit, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. In theory it’s all I need prepare for the 3 exams for the MCPD, 70-536, 70-528, 70-547.
Thoughts so far:
- C# is surprisingly well-designed. Especially compared to say, PHP, which was only designed after the fact.
- I LOVE LOVE LOVE the elegant high tech tool metaphor gracing the cover.
- I love books instead of training, especially “online training”. But I need to map out a schedule and stick to it or it will get lost amid many other things.
So here, I went through the books and with Perl’s help, added up the estimates for each section, adding a 10 minute review on each chapter.
70-536 Foundations
ch 1: Framework Fundamentals (total: 2:20)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 40 minutes
- lesson 3: 40 minutes
- lesson 4: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 2: Input (total: 1:15)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 10 minutes
- lesson 4: 15 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 3: Searching (total: 1:25)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 4: Collections and Generics (total: 1:55)
- lesson 1: 15 minutes
- lesson 2: 10 minutes
- lesson 3: 30 minutes
- lesson 4: 30 minutes
- lesson 5: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 5: Serialization (total: 2:05)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 40 minutes
- lesson 3: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 6: Graphics (total: 2:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- lesson 3: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 7: Threading (total: 1:50)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 40 minutes
- lesson 3: 40 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 8: Application Domains and Services (total: 1:40)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 25 minutes
- lesson 3: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 9: Installing and Configuring Applications (total: 1:35)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 25 minutes
- lesson 3: 15 minutes
- lesson 4: 25 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 10: Instrumentation (total: 1:30)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 20 minutes
- lesson 4: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 11: Application Security (total: 2:40)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 45 minutes
- lesson 3: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 12: User and Data Security (total: 3:40)
- lesson 1: 90 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- lesson 3: 90 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 13: Interoperation (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 14: Reflection (total: 1:35)
- lesson 1: 15 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 25 minutes
- lesson 4: 15 minutes
- lesson 5: 10 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 15: Mail (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 16: Globalization (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 40 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
70-528 Web-Based
ch 1: Introducing the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site (total: 2:20)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- lesson 3: 20 minutes
- lesson 4: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 2: Adding and Configuring Server Controls (total: 1:40)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 3: Exploring Specialized Server Controls (total: 2:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 4: Using ADO.NET and XML with ASP.NET (total: 3:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- lesson 3: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 5: Creating Custom Web Controls (total: 2:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 6: Input Validation and Site Navigation (total: 2:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 7: ASP.NET State Management (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 8: Programming the Web Application (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 9: Customizing and Personalizing a Web Application (total: 3:10)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 45 minutes
- lesson 3: 90 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 10: Globalization and Accessibility (total: 1:20)
- lesson 1: 40 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 11: Implementing Authentication and Authorization (total: 1:40)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 12: Creating ASP.NET Mobile Web Apps (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 13: Monitoring, Deploying and Caching Apps (total: 2:00)
- lesson 1: 40 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- lesson 3: 40 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
70-547 Designing
ch 1: Application Requirements and Design (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 40 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 2: Decompose Specifications for Developers (total: 1:25)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 35 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 3: Design Evaluation (total: 0:30)
- lesson 1: 10 minutes
- lesson 2: 10 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 4: Creating a User Interface (total: 2:25)
- lesson 1: 90 minutes
- lesson 2: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 5: Creating and Choosing Controls (total: 2:25)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 90 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 6: Data Validation (total: 2:25)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 90 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 7: Delivering Multimedia (total: 0:55)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 8: Component Design (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 20 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 9: Component Development (total: 1:00)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 10 minutes
- lesson 3: 10 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 10: Reusable Software Components (total: 1:40)
- lesson 1: 90 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 11: Application Logic Layer (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 30 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 12: Logging and Monitoring (total: 1:25)
- lesson 1: 40 minutes
- lesson 2: 35 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 13: Application Configuration (total: 1:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 14: Define and Evaluate a Testing Strategy (total: 1:05)
- lesson 1: 30 minutes
- lesson 2: 25 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 15: Creating Development Tests (total: 1:50)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 20 minutes
- lesson 3: 20 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 16: Deploying an Application (total: 2:25)
- lesson 1: 45 minutes
- lesson 2: 45 minutes
- lesson 3: 45 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
ch 17: Supporting an Application (total: 2:10)
- lesson 1: 60 minutes
- lesson 2: 60 minutes
- review: 10 minutes
Totals:
70-536 Foundations: 26:30 70-528 Web: 23:10 70-547 Designing: 23:30
Hmmm… to do all the labs takes me longer than the estimates here, especially if I run into any trouble.
Another essential: There are 4 pages of errata, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935218/
I passed the first exam (70-536) on Wednesday. It was only 40 questions (it said some of them were “beta” questions they are testing and would not contribute to the score).
I read the book, did the labs (but not the extra practice suggestions), and used the practice tests that came with the training kit to prepare. I was glad that the practice tests gave me an idea of which of the 7 subject areas I needed to improve.
This was my first Microsoft exam so I didn’t know quite what to expect. A few small surprises:
the real questions were not any better quality than the practice questions. There were several that were unclear. There was one where none of the code samples in the answer strictly matched the description in the question, and another where I was pretty sure all the answers were broken (but I may have just been ignorant).
I did well on the real exam in areas where I knew I was weak, and did less well on areas on which I was strong in the practice tests. Huh.
The questions requiring more than one answer on the real exam had the number of answers (“pick two answers”) clearly spelled out. That made them (seem) easier than the ones on the practice test where I would sometimes click two obvious ones and forget a third or something.
There were some differences in emphasis. My real exam, if I remember correctly, didn’t have any questions about regular expressions, though the practice tests covered them heavily. Too bad that was one of my strong suits.
But anyway, I passed. On to the 70-528 course.
Errata for the 70-528 book: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930739
Errata for 70-547: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941491