45 replies to this topic

[Kavi]

Hi Shadowman,

Just started reading the book for exam 70-536 (.NET Framework 2.0 Apllication Development Foundation). As you suggested I also went to the MSDN (for which you have already provided the link in other topic discussion). I was going through the Value Type topic link

http://msdn2.microso...y/3...bws(vs.80).aspx

the example in this topic was bit difficult for me to understand. so do i need to read something else before looking into it?

I have already read 2 lessons from 1st chapter.

hi,

Need your suggestion regarding the MSDN exam objective link


http://www.proprofs.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11932

I have visited few topic links. and it goes more in detail of specific topic. sometimes things which are not covered in book. so my question is that, is these links are just for reference or it is covering topics which comes in exam and not there in book. what  i mean is that is this mandatory from exam point of you according to your experience.

hope u understand the concern.

thanks

[Shadowman]

Hi Kavi,

The link you are referring to contains all of the objectives for the 70-536 certification exam linked to the MSDN library.

What I did was copy all the objectives that Microsoft lists for the exam from this Web site: Preparation Guide for Exam 70-536. Then I made links for each objective to the MSDN library.

All of the objectives from the above Web site that I have linked can be covered in the 70-536 exam and should be studied.

As you stated, you will find that the Microsoft Training Kit for 70-536 does not cover all of the objectives for the exam (To my knowledge, there is currently no single book published that does cover every objective in the exam). You may find about 60-75% of the objectives covered in the training kit, and the remaining objectives are not covered in the training kit.

That is why it is good to use the Objectives Pasted in a Word Document to take notes. This will ensure that you don't miss covering any objectives.

That is also why it is good to use the two posts I made that link the objectives to the MSDN library:

• 70-536 Objectives with Links to the MSDN Library - Part 1
• 70-536 Objectives with Links to the MSDN Library - Part 2

If you use the Microsoft Training Kit and the objectives linked to the MSDN library to study, it should be enough information to cover everything for the exam. However, make sure you realize that the links I made to the MSDN library are the starting point for each objective. You should also dig deeper into each objective to make sure you look at the methods and properties of each class. It will be difficult to remember every single method and property for every class, but you should at least look at them to try to familiarize yourself with them. Trying them out by creating some small practice programs should help.

It is a lot to cover, but at least this exam is still good for the new 2008 certification path.

Good luck

[Kavi]

Hi Shadowman,

Just started reading the book for exam 70-536 (.NET Framework 2.0 Apllication Development Foundation). As you suggested I also went to the MSDN (for which you have already provided the link in other topic discussion). I was going through the Value Type topic link

http://msdn2.microso...y/3...bws(vs.80).aspx

the example in this topic was bit difficult for me to understand. so do i need to read something else before looking into it?

I have already read 2 lessons from 1st chapter.

hi,

can u throw some light on suggested Practice (Given at the end of each chapeter) in training kit book?

Thanks

[Shadowman]

Near the end of each lesson in the training kit is a lab. I suggest doing the labs. When doing the labs, do not just copy the code from the CD. Make sure you type the code by hand. When you are finished with a lab, you may want to experiment more with it by trying out different things. You can set different properties or practice with different methods that are related to the particular lab you are working on. That will help you get familiar with the proper syntax as well as what each property and method does.

At the end of each chapter in the training kit is a "Suggested Practices" section. There are usually about three practices. You do not have to do every single one of them, but the more you do, the more comfortable you will be with each particular objective.

The MSDN library has a lot of sample code. You can practice with that and change things around to get the feel of everything. This is just another option.

However, keep in mind that typing out code that has already been written will help a little but is no substitute for coming up with your own code. If you are reading about a particular objective, and you get an idea to try something out, then give it a try. For example, if you are reading about streams, then maybe you want to try to read from and write to a file to see if you can do it. There are different ways to do this and some are more efficient than others. So you may want to consider using the stopwatch class to see which code is faster. You may have to put the read and/or writes in a loop to perform them say 1000 times so that the operation will take a few seconds instead of a few milliseconds. So, as you are reading the book, if you come up with an idea, then practice with it. This should not be something big but just something small to practice with the particular class or whatever you are studying at the time.

So, I listed four different ways you can practice, the labs, Suggested Practices at the end of each chapter, the MSDN library, and coming up with ideas to practice your own code. Doing everything may consume too much time. So, pick the options that interest you the most or that you think will give you the most benefit and work with that. As a minimum, you should practice with the labs. There are a lot of labs in the book to give you practice with many of the objectives.

[proprofsque]

Hi Shadowman,

Just started reading the book for exam 70-536 (.NET Framework 2.0 Apllication Development Foundation). As you suggested I also went to the MSDN (for which you have already provided the link in other topic discussion). I was going through the Value Type topic link

http://msdn2.microso...y/3...bws(vs.80).aspx

the example in this topic was bit difficult for me to understand. so do i need to read something else before looking into it?

I have already read 2 lessons from 1st chapter.

You are right - the example is quite complicated. It is a complete implementation of a complex number type using Struct. The example uses operator overloading which is explained nicely in chapter 19 of "Visual C# Step-by-Step".

This particular example requires some knowledge of complex numbers and some trignometry, neither of which are required for the exam, but you can google it if you are curious. Otherwise, don't worry too much about the math details.

Vijay Jagdale

Edited by proprofsque, 10 April 2008 - 09:48 AM.

[Kavi]

You are right - the example is quite complicated. It is a complete implementation of a complex number type using Struct. The example uses operator overloading which is explained nicely in chapter 19 of "Visual C# Step-by-Step".

This particular example requires some knowledge of complex numbers and some trignometry, neither of which are required for the exam, but you can google it if you are curious. Otherwise, don't worry too much about the math details.

Vijay Jagdale

Hi ,


What is MSDN Ramp up and what it is for? Need more detail about it. when we should start it. After completion on reading the training kit or this is before that?

[Kavi]

Near the end of each lesson in the training kit is a lab. I suggest doing the labs. When doing the labs, do not just copy the code from the CD. Make sure you type the code by hand. When you are finished with a lab, you may want to experiment more with it by trying out different things. You can set different properties or practice with different methods that are related to the particular lab you are working on. That will help you get familiar with the proper syntax as well as what each property and method does.

At the end of each chapter in the training kit is a "Suggested Practices" section. There are usually about three practices. You do not have to do every single one of them, but the more you do, the more comfortable you will be with each particular objective.

The MSDN library has a lot of sample code. You can practice with that and change things around to get the feel of everything. This is just another option.

However, keep in mind that typing out code that has already been written will help a little but is no substitute for coming up with your own code. If you are reading about a particular objective, and you get an idea to try something out, then give it a try. For example, if you are reading about streams, then maybe you want to try to read from and write to a file to see if you can do it. There are different ways to do this and some are more efficient than others. So you may want to consider using the stopwatch class to see which code is faster. You may have to put the read and/or writes in a loop to perform them say 1000 times so that the operation will take a few seconds instead of a few milliseconds. So, as you are reading the book, if you come up with an idea, then practice with it. This should not be something big but just something small to practice with the particular class or whatever you are studying at the time.

So, I listed four different ways you can practice, the labs, Suggested Practices at the end of each chapter, the MSDN library, and coming up with ideas to practice your own code. Doing everything may consume too much time. So, pick the options that interest you the most or that you think will give you the most benefit and work with that. As a minimum, you should practice with the labs. There are a lot of labs in the book to give you practice with many of the objectives.

Hi,

What is MSDN Ramp up and what it is for? Need more detail about it. when we should start it. After completion on reading the training kit or before that?

[Shadowman]

Hi,

What is MSDN Ramp up and what it is for? Need more detail about it. when we should start it. After completion on reading the training kit or before that?

Here is a post I made about MSDN Ramp Up. That will give you a little information as well as a link to the site.

Basically, if you make it all the way through MSDN Ramp Up, then you can get discounts on Microsoft training for the 70-536, a discount on the training kit, as well as 50% off on the actual exam. However, read what I have to say below before you try to work through MSDN Ramp Up.

If you know either Visual Basic or C#, then you can start right away. The first two sets of assessments are on the language, Visual Basic or C#, and on basic programming in general. The first two assessments may be difficult for the beginner. I found them easy and passed through them without reading their material.

However, I did find some major problems with MSDN Ramp Up. I do not think anyone at Microsoft did any type of quality assessments on it.

• It gives you the option to select your language, Visual Basic or C#, but whichever language you select, the assessments you get will be in the opposite language. For example, if you select C# as the language you want for MSDN Ramp Up, it gives you the assessments in Visual Basic. If you choose Visual Basic, your assessments will be in C#. I think this was a mistake they have that you can say is cross-wired. So, if you sign up, just select the opposite language that you want.
• When you get to the assessment that is more in-line with the 70-536 exam, you will find it is very difficult to pass. Although, the assessment does not indicate what the actual answers are, I do have evidence that several of the answers are incorrectly marked correct. So, even if you are correct in answering the question as it should be, you may still get it wrong. Since there are mistakes in the questions, there is no way to determine which one you need to select to get it correct.
• The training they give before you take the assessment is extremely basic compared to the actual assessments. This is either because MSDN Ramp Up is not a money maker for Microsoft and they just wanted to get something up there real fast without actually doing a good job of it, or they just don't want many people to pass it.
• Many of the questions in MSDN Ramp Up are more difficult than the 70-536 exam. In a way, this is good because you can learn a lot from it if you store the questions in a Word document and do your own research on them in the MSDN libraries or elsewhere. However, if you are a beginner, it can be extremely difficult to figure everything out.

Personally, I liked the difficulty of the questions because if there was something I never came across before, I could learn from it. The problem is, if several of the answers in the assessment are incorrect, which is the case here, then even if you answer the questions correctly, you still may not pass the assessment. If you have a lot of time to waste, then you can keep trying to take the assessments many times and eventually, you may pass.

In conclusion, I would not recommend trying to get through MSDN Ramp Up unless Microsoft fixes all the problems with it. It will just be a waste of your time.

[Kavi]

Here is a post I made about MSDN Ramp Up. That will give you a little information as well as a link to the site.

Basically, if you make it all the way through MSDN Ramp Up, then you can get discounts on Microsoft training for the 70-536, a discount on the training kit, as well as 50% off on the actual exam. However, read what I have to say below before you try to work through MSDN Ramp Up.

If you know either Visual Basic or C#, then you can start right away. The first two sets of assessments are on the language, Visual Basic or C#, and on basic programming in general. The first two assessments may be difficult for the beginner. I found them easy and passed through them without reading their material.

However, I did find some major problems with MSDN Ramp Up. I do not think anyone at Microsoft did any type of quality assessments on it.

• It gives you the option to select your language, Visual Basic or C#, but whichever language you select, the assessments you get will be in the opposite language. For example, if you select C# as the language you want for MSDN Ramp Up, it gives you the assessments in Visual Basic. If you choose Visual Basic, your assessments will be in C#. I think this was a mistake they have that you can say is cross-wired. So, if you sign up, just select the opposite language that you want.
• When you get to the assessment that is more in-line with the 70-536 exam, you will find it is very difficult to pass. Although, the assessment does not indicate what the actual answers are, I do have evidence that several of the answers are incorrectly marked correct. So, even if you are correct in answering the question as it should be, you may still get it wrong. Since there are mistakes in the questions, there is no way to determine which one you need to select to get it correct.
• The training they give before you take the assessment is extremely basic compared to the actual assessments. This is either because MSDN Ramp Up is not a money maker for Microsoft and they just wanted to get something up there real fast without actually doing a good job of it, or they just don't want many people to pass it.
• Many of the questions in MSDN Ramp Up are more difficult than the 70-536 exam. In a way, this is good because you can learn a lot from it if you store the questions in a Word document and do your own research on them in the MSDN libraries or elsewhere. However, if you are a beginner, it can be extremely difficult to figure everything out.

Personally, I liked the difficulty of the questions because if there was something I never came across before, I could learn from it. The problem is, if several of the answers in the assessment are incorrect, which is the case here, then even if you answer the questions correctly, you still may not pass the assessment. If you have a lot of time to waste, then you can keep trying to take the assessments many times and eventually, you may pass.

In conclusion, I would not recommend trying to get through MSDN Ramp Up unless Microsoft fixes all the problems with it. It will just be a waste of your time.

Thanks so much for detail answer.  I am actually looking for some practice material (kind of microsoft has given with Training Kit) for each main 7 topic. So that i want to check whatever I have read, I have understood or not. Kind of brain drumps.

I just finshed the threading. I some time really feel that going through the MSDN is sometimes taking lot of time(almost 4-5 times than the book reading). and its difficult to remember the method, properties for all classe. but still i went through all once.

I want to check my understaning of that. so is there any way to check my knowledge?

[SwampDonkey]

Hi fellow studiers

I'm new to this forum and have been reading the advice from Shadowman, thanks dude!
You're the most helpful guy I've found regarding Microsoft exams!

Anyway, I've just started reading the training kit and MSDN and have a strict study plan of 15 hours per week, thats all I can spare with 2 kids! Rough plan of taking 70-536 in about 3 months, but thats only if I feel ready.

Now my question. Please forgive if this has been raised before but what do people think of the test software out there? i.e. MeasureUp, Trancender etc.
I was thinking of getting UCertify as its fairly cheap and looks ok (you can download a demo).
Anyone have any experience of them?

Thanks

[Shadowman]

I want to check my understaning of that. so is there any way to check my knowledge?

To test your knowledge, you can try the practice tests that come with the training kit and/or the practice test here at Proprofs.

Probably the best way to test your knowledge is to actually write out code on your own. Just write a mini program for the specific objective your are trying to work on. If you can get it to work on your own, then play around with the code by working with different methods and properties for the particular class you are using. This is probably the best way you can make sure you understand everything.

[Shadowman]

Now my question. Please forgive if this has been raised before but what do people think of the test software out there? i.e. MeasureUp, Trancender etc.
I was thinking of getting UCertify as its fairly cheap and looks ok (you can download a demo).
Anyone have any experience of them?

  SwampDonkey

The training kit comes with MeasureUp practice tests. I'm not sure if they sell adiditional questions on their Website.
Proprofs does have a practice exam also that you can try out.
I have not tried any other practice exam material. Although, I have heard good things about Trancencder on other exams.

For UCertify, you may want to do a search here: http://www.certguard.com/Search.asp on their domain and read about them before buying anything from them.

Maybe other people have experience with other test engines and can give you some information.

You may also want to try out the CBTNuggets video. That may get you more prepared for the exam than taking practice tests.

Good luck

[SwampDonkey]

Thanks for responses guys, good advice taken.
Is the exam hard to finish in time? 45 questions in 2 hours is about 2.6 minutes each...

[Shadowman]

Is the exam hard to finish in time? 45 questions in 2 hours is about 2.6 minutes each...

The questions can be fairly long, and you will have a lot of code in the the answers which you have to try to match up to make sure you see the differences. So, that can be time consuming. I was able to finish everything on time, but I felt rushed in doing it. You probably won't have much time for review. However, I don't consider myself as the fastest reader. So, I'm sure for the people that can read quickly, they probably won't feel as rushed.

[vulfie]

Well, I went in and was greeted with a 45 question exam that I was required to complete within 2 hours, and I came home certified

The questions were pretty much well distributed over all objectives.



Good luck for anyone else working on this exam. Now, it's time for me to move on to 70-526

Wow, thanks much for the great report on what taking the exam was like.  I'm just now beginning my studies on the 70-536 and hope to be ready to take the exam before Christmas 2008.  Your report and supplementary study notes are exceptionally helpful.  

Thanks,

Vulfie

[vulfie]

Hi fellow studiers

I'm new to this forum and have been reading the advice from Shadowman, thanks dude!
You're the most helpful guy I've found regarding Microsoft exams!

Anyway, I've just started reading the training kit and MSDN and have a strict study plan of 15 hours per week, thats all I can spare with 2 kids! Rough plan of taking 70-536 in about 3 months, but thats only if I feel ready.

Now my question. Please forgive if this has been raised before but what do people think of the test software out there? i.e. MeasureUp, Trancender etc.
I was thinking of getting UCertify as its fairly cheap and looks ok (you can download a demo).
Anyone have any experience of them?

Thanks

Just an fyi, many MANY people who wrote reviews at Amazon.com on the 70-536 training kit Transcender comments at Amazon mentioned that the Transcender test software was excellent and really helped them prepare for the test.

Vulfie

[becrack]

i still have not started on the 70-235, biztalk 2006 , 70-536 is next so thanx for that piece of doc, it might be useful.

[habuivan]

Thanks so much for the note .

[crackle]

hello shadowman

your posting was so useful. i am fresher on dot net domain; i have programming experience with C,C++ do u recommend tests for freshers like me!!!! suggestions plz

[hasham]

Hey All/ Shadowman

I must say that this post is very useful and motivating.

I was thinking of giving the 70-536 for a while and will do it some time sooner.

Thanks