One month ago I passed the TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4. In this blog, I want to help all those who want to prepare or are already preparing themselves toward taking this certification exam, by giving some useful learning tips that may help you prepare better.
Here is my list of tips:
- Plan and prepare in advance, don’t hurry
The first and most important is to start planning and preparing for the exam much before you really get into the “hot” time when you will get surrounded with book(s), examples, resources and everything else that you may use as a study material for the exam. Before I started preparing intensively, I started planning to go for Microsoft Certification exams much earlier. Actually, I started planning for this exam somewhere in April 2011. The very first things I did were reading other experiences, had already started working with ASP.NET 4.0 and I used every moment to gain new experience with the new stuff in ASP.NET 4.
- Experience is very important
Experience with latest versions of .NET Framework (3.5 and 4.0), ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio.NET 2010 is very important for the exam. There are things you will be asked for that are used to explicitly examine your knowledge of .NET Framework 4 and VS.NET 2010. The best you can learn all these things is by experience. However, if you have good experience with previous .NET Framework versions, you will need to have basic experience with .NET Framework 4 to help you for the exam.
- Start reading the book / e-book “MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-515): Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4” at least 1 month in advance, 3 months is recommended
I must say that I found the book to be the best resource for preparing this exam. The book covers all the chapters and exam objectives you need to know and follow to pass the exam. Moreover, the book is pretty nice structured and is easy to read and follow. [Book review]
- Follow the tips in the MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit Book
Another good thing I have noticed are the TIPS that are included in the Self-Paced Training Kit Book. I have found these tips very useful and sometimes they help you focus on something which is really important or unimportant for the exam.
- Check the Overview, Skills Measured, Preparation Materials at Exam 70-515 Microsoft Learning Page
Read all the sections carefully.
- If you are not experienced with ASP.NET MVC, Learn the basic stuff (how it works), routing and other important concepts
After reading the book, I found that it is pretty much enough to know the basics of ASP.NET MVC, Routing, Areas and other main stuff for the ASP.NET MVC Framework. Unlike with the ASP.NET WebForms part where you may get very detailed questions for some very specific stuff, if you know the basics for ASP.NET MVC and have really grasped how these stuff works, I felt its enough to answer the MVC based questions correctly. Still, this can’t be 100% valid because you may never know what type of questions you may get.
- Practice a lot
Besides the experience, learning materials and everything else you may use to help you prepare better for the exam, it is very recommended that you practice things while learning, especially these things that you find new to you or you haven’t had chance to work with in any of your previous projects. I see most of the developers practice the JavaScript / jQuery part most of the time since this is the first exam (comparing MCTS exams for prior .NET Framework versions) where you have jQuery included. This is nice, but you may find jQuery things very tricky if you are not very experienced with it. So, practice it!
- Visit exam-related course in an training centre or classroom training
If you think all the previous advices can’t help you to get prepared for taking this exam, then you will probably need to visit training for this exam, which may take several days to few months (if going at training centre) to complete. There should be MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) who will teach you about all topics related to this exam and you will have enough time to get prepared. I don’t know about the prices in training centres for such courses in your country, however I think the courses are pretty good for the standard prices they offer.
I hope these tips will help you get better prepared for the exam.
Some Useful Links and Resources:
- Microsoft Learning Site
- Objectives List with Available Resources for each by Niall Merrigan
- Book Review: MCTS 70-515 Self-Paced Training Kit
If you have any questions, use the comments bellow.
I must say that for all those who are interested about Web Development, preparing this exam will be very interesting and fun.
Good Luck!