Sitting 70-536 on thurs.

mvastarelli

I figured after several months of procrasination (read: grad school) I would finally take the 70-536 before I head back to school.

Has anyone taken it? Is there anything I should look out for? I've been told it's the hardest of the MCTS tests.

sthomas

Good Luck!

JDMurray

mvastarelli wrote:

I figured after several months of procrasination (read: grad school) I would finally take the 70-536 before I head back to school.

My exact excuse too! I graduate later this year and then it's back to the certs for me.

I've been told it's the hardest of the MCTS tests.

That figures. I'll be interest in any review you could post of your experiences with studying for and taking 70-536.

Philippatos

I'll be interest in any review you could post of your experiences with studying for and taking 70-536.

Ditto, especially looking for clarification on this:
''When the exam begins, you can choose the programming language in which the code segments will appear. The available code languages for this exam are:
• Microsoft Visual Basic 2005
• Microsoft Visual C# 2005
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 ''

Seems to me tihs track goes contrary to the stated purpose of the MCTS designation. It's NOT focused on a specific technology. Otherwsie there would have been three of them, MCTS: VB 2005, MCTS: C# 2005 and MCTS: C++ 2005.

JDMurray

Philippatos wrote:

Seems to me tihs track goes contrary to the stated purpose of the MCTS designation. It's NOT focused on a specific technology. Otherwsie there would have been three of them, MCTS: VB 2005, MCTS: C# 2005 and MCTS: C++ 2005.

70-536 is testing for proper usage of the .NET Framework and not of language-specific (VB, C#, C++) features. If they divided the MCTS into specific language tracks as you illustrate, that WOULD be focusing on the specific language technologies of .NET. By making the exams independent of the language (i.e., allowing any exam to be taken in any language) Microsoft has made the exams less technology-specific.

Philippatos

So the TS in MCTS is meaningless. They've made MCTS job-role specific too. That's NOT what their "mission statement" said:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/newgen/default.mspx
''The Technology Series certifications:
• Typically consist of one to three exams.
• Are focused on a key Microsoft product or technology.
• Do not include job-role skills.
• Will be retired when mainstream product support for the particular technology expires.''

JDMurray

I don't think this is a big deal or will hurt anyone. Do you know of a specific case where this positioning of the MCTS will cause damages or hardship?

Philippatos

Well, if potential employers are confused over the new designations it's really no wonder; the people taking the tests are too.

I guess wanting my "new generation" designation to actually make some sense is just too much to ask.

No harm done to anyone other than the science of logic.

mvastarelli

Well, I passed with a 788. Not my best score, but a pass is a pass.

To clarify on the format, the test is 45 questions, and at the beginning you're given the option of which language the questions will be presented in (C#, C++, and VB).

The test was a relatively good mix. Pretty much every topic was touched upon, some with a little more emphasis than others (noticed a lot of questions regarding globalization and interop). Actually, looking at it retrospectively, I don't believe I got a single question regarding configuration management and installation services.

For study material I used the MS Press book. I was going to get the exam cram book (I prefer having more than one book), but the local bookstore didn't have it, and I wanted to take the test this week.

Now I'm off to prep for 70-526. I'd like to take it next week (school doesn't start until the 22nd), but realistically, I probably won't get to take it until may or june. If the general consensus is right, the worst is behind me now.

Webmaster

Congratulations!

For study material I used the MS Press book.

How good did you find it for preparing for the exam?

JDMurray

Hey, congratz on the pass! I hope that I do that well!

Did you notice a particular emphasis on security-related topics? Microsoft has chosen to integrate security directly into its MCTS and MCPD exams rather than have a separate exam for security topics. While taking 70-536 was this obvious to you?

mvastarelli

Webmaster wrote:

Congratulations!

For study material I used the MS Press book.

How good did you find it for preparing for the exam?

The book made for a fairly good reference. There are numerous errors that others have pointed out, but any decent programmer should pick up on them. As far as using it for a reference goes, I've been programming with .NET ever since beta 2, so I drew primarily from my background knowledge and used the book mainly to brush up on topics I wasn't familiar with (configuration, reflection, security, etc...).

A few observations.

First, this test assumes you've spent some time programming with .NET. If you're a new programmer, don't expect to be able to read this book and simply pass; it won't happen. Second, the book seems to gloss over most of the fundamentals, and saves most of the meat for the more advanced topics. This re-enforces my belief that this isn't a beginners book, nor is this test targeted towards beginners. Lastly, the book correlated surprisingly well with the exam. I got very few questions that weren't discussed in the book.

Bottom line, the book is worth its weight, but you'll probably want a second resource, and you MUST have some real-world experience.

jdmurray wrote:

Hey, congratz on the pass! I hope that I do that well!

Did you notice a particular emphasis on security-related topics? Microsoft has chosen to integrate security directly into its MCTS and MCPD exams rather than have a separate exam for security topics. While taking 70-536 was this obvious to you?

I saw quite a few security-related questions, however, I didn't walk away from the test with the impression that the test has an extra emphasis on security. I've noticed with MS tests I tend to remember the questions I struggled with, which gives me the impression that most people create a false illusion that the test carries an emphasis on a particular topic, when in reality the topics the user 'thinks' were emphasized were simply the topics they had the most trouble with. I remember getting a lot of questions on reflection/interop, which is also the topic I was the weakest with.

This is simply my observation.