Advice on 70-536

Hello,

I am booked in to take the 70-536 at the end of June. I currently work as a dotnet c# developer and have decided to get certified.

In studying for this exam, the sheer scale of the topics at first feels daunting, in day to day life we only seem to encounter a small part of it.

I would like to know from anyone who has taken this exam what level of detail you studied to?Understanding the concepts and being able to name the underlying classes for something like threading is one thing - but the course material covers every property and method in all of the classes ! Is it just to be a huge memory exercise of endless lists of members and properties ? Obviously in reality we have promts in the studio environment and navigate to stuff that way.

I wish to study without just cramming questions answers (that feels like cheating!) although I will take a practise exam or two in the next few weeks.

One problem is that by the time you have gotten to the end of the course material you loose the begining . . .

Any advice from vets of this microsoft campaign would be greatly appreciated !

Thanks

Nevu

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Comments

tjcasser

Going out of order with the topics....

First, you're not going to want to just 'cram' questions and answers - that doesn't just feel like cheating, but is cheating, if I'm understanding correctly what you were potentially referring to. (And if not, I apologize for my assumption.)

I think that 536 is a fair exam, in both how much they're expecting you to recall and how much material there actually is. It seems like a lot, and it really looks worse than it feels. While it looks like you're expected to memorize the entire list of properties and methods, you're in actuality only required to know the most commonly used ones (the lists in the self-paced study materials are definitely shorter than the ones online), most of which also have fairly logical names. The questions don't go into anything esoteric, and you're not going to be required to write code to accomplish the exam, so it tends to be a broader view than it is deep of the .NET framework.

Most importantly of all - breathe.

Nevu

Hi tjcasser,

Thanks for your reply. I was refering to the cramming questions thing as something I most definately do not want to do. I am spending a lot of time studying and wish to pass with a feeling of satisfaction and a better understanding of the whole framework.

Thanks for the info on the exam I am glad you think that 536 is a fair exam, I am hoping that the broader than deep view will get me through.

Still breathing . .

cheers

Nevu[/b]

JDMurray

Nevu wrote:

Thanks for the info on the exam I am glad you think that 536 is a fair exam, I am hoping that the broader than deep view will get me through.

Good for you, Nevu. Regard studying for 70-536 as an opportunity to better learn C# and the .NET Framework. IMO, this is the primary reason that programmers should go for any programming certification they can.

chouputra

I just took the exam and passed it. My advice to you is to take some time reading the MS Press book and try to understand the concept rather than memorizing. If you are a .Net programmer like me, it should take only be a few days of reading to have sufficient knowledge to pass the exam.

Nevu

Congratulations Chouputra,

Well done on passing.

I am working through the MS press book and reading the Apress Pro C# and the dot net 2.0 Platform book which explains stuff very well as a background to the course specific material.

ryanoc73

tjcasser wrote:

Going out of order with the topics....

First, you're not going to want to just 'cram' questions and answers - that doesn't just feel like cheating, but is cheating

How would you clarify cramming questions and answers? This is a test with questions and answers, so why would we not do some cramming? I want to and did learn the concepts, but I also did practice questions until I consistently got high scores.

Is this looked down upon?

Ryan

Steve Dix

I'm currently working as a C# developer. As a result I chose to sit the 526 first as it was the first MCP exam that I had taken and it was quite a close match to my everyday job. I passed the exam so I decided to sit the 536 to complete the MCTS.

I was amazed at firstly how much was actually in the Framework and also how little of it I was using in my job. Since starting the revision I've been able to apply a lot of what I've learnt to the job i'm doing - should make the exam easier too.

Sitting the exam in a couple of weeks - I'll report back with how I got on!

Nevu

Well, I finaly had the exam yesterday and passed. Can't pretend this has not been a tiring experience but thanks to anyone who has offered advice.

Probably move onto the 70-528 soon although with all the stories about jobs being offshored or outsourced I might be better off with a woodworking or plumbers course instead !!

NeVu

ryanoc73

I might be better off with a woodworking or plumbers course instead !!

No way! if you love programming, people will want you. Its not just a job, its an art.

DeepCode

Nevu wrote:

....Probably move onto the 70-528 soon ......NeVu

Congrats - and I do agree the process is painful. I just started studying for the 528 last week and it looks nowhere as daunting as the 536. I thought the chapters will NEVER end in 536!. AnywayI decided to go from lurker to member.

JDMurray

DeepCode wrote:

Nevu wrote:

....Probably move onto the 70-528 soon ......NeVu

Congrats - and I do agree the process is painful. I just started studying for the 528 last week and it looks nowhere as daunting as the 536. I thought the chapters will NEVER end in 536!. AnywayI decided to go from lurker to member.

Welcome aboard, DeepCode! Please post as much you like in the MS developers forum. We need the activity.

dugaldcurtis

I am just getting started on studying for the 70-536. I was just wondering whether code snippets in the exam are in VB or in C#, or if there is a choice? I feel comfortable in c#, but am guessing the exam would (where code is used) be in VB?

JDMurray

When the exam begins, you choose the programming language in which the code examples will appear (C#, C++, or Visual Basic 2005). It is strange that this fact doesn't seem to be mentioned on the new Exam 70-536 page, but it does state it on the page for Exam 70-526.

marktech2008

After barely passing on my second try; and feeling quite bitter about it; I'll pass on some advice.

If you liken the experience to college-level, I'll say this:

1. The actual test is like a 300 level class.
2. After buying three software test packages; the only one that was worth was Transcender. It was a 300-level testing simulation
3. MeasureUp's software I would put at the 200 level.
4. The Microsoft Press book and its testing software is as the 100 level.

I still recommend buying items 2 through 4 since I would not have learned the material sufficiently without it. And even then a lot of questions are reduced to intelligent guessing because some nuance is added in for flavor.

I've heard that Cisco tests, etc., are sooo much harder than MS tests. I'd take the Pepsi challenge on that one. There is no way networking tests can be more complicated/intricate than the current version of 70-536. Now maybe last year 70-536 was much easier; I wouldn't know since I didn't take it last year.

Yep, sorry to say that the Microsoft Press book is good only for introducing you to the topics. There is so much detail missing from the Microsoft Press book that you need for the test!

Good Luck

JDMurray

marktech2008, thanks so much for your comments!

It's good to read your comparison of Transcender and MeasureUp. Most people that buy practice exams will buy only one, so your recommendation is important.

I also agree that the 70-536 book from MS-Press is only an introduction to the exam topics. But even a .NET programmer with two years of experience will not likely to have worked with all of the technologies covered by the 70-536 exam. So I think it's important for anyone taking any MS programming exam to actually write small projects using the .NET features listed in each exam objective, and pay close attention to instance method names, parameter data types, and proper/improper use of language features. It's the best way to learn that material regardless of the language.

Thanks for your input and congrats on your pass!

Shahg

I got a mail from microsoft about their free second shot attempt, and then i decided to register for exam to get a feel about real exam:D
- I've never worked on microsoft technolgies and i'm basically a C-Unix Programmer, so 536 was a bit tough for me. and i didn't found ample time to practice a lot (via microsoft press practice questions)
And now i do have a few concerns about the exam.
1) MS press book isn't enough for preparing. I was wondering about some questions, that i haven't seen in the book, i re verified it after taking the exam but couldn't found those topics in the book.
2) I couldn't understand the result in my marksheet, like its quite different from the exam study objectives mentioned in microsoft website, covering only a portion of that. Secondly according to my result, i've around 50-60% marks in most of the exam objectives but still manages to pass.

Anyway i'm more than happy, like i was thinking about attempting the exam agian but some how luck favoured and now i'm thinking about taking the next exam. a little confused about 526 & 528. Can anybody tells me which one is easier to learn for somebody like me who is not a .net developer ???

JDMurray

Congratulations on your pass! You did well for someone who is not a .NET developer.

The Windows Desktop Applications exam is probably easier than the Web or Distributed Applications exams. You won't have any networking or session control issues to deal with. But you will need to memorize the details of a lot of WinForm controls.