MCPD 2.0 - time effort, couple of questions

PixelTrawler

Hi

For you guys that have done ms exams before, whats a good strategy for gaining the MCPD web developer?


I was thinking one exam every 2 months - also what kind of work effort is required. Would i be looking at an hour or 2 a day to cover everything with that time spacing.

Last question. Im starting with exam 70-536 - i have the official book, and i have a test system from Self Test software - is this enough to cover the exam?

thanks for your help

Ginger

Hi

An exam every 2 months can be done if you are working in the subject matter daily and have the nerve to pace yourself through the books and do some extra work/reading where its needed.

First thing I would do is the following. Get yourself a baseline on your ability. You can do this first by going www.measureup.com and doing a practice exam. If you score quite high, do a second one and take the average. If you are working with a Microsoft Partner check out this post to see how you can get free exams.

If you are scoring in the region of 90%+ you should book the exam for the next month (first get your Second Shot voucher! how to here) and brush up on the topics that you are missing on. Also read the exam landing page and check the exam matrix to make sure you have covered all your topics.

If you are scoring low (under 70%), dont worry. Just do a bit of reading but come back to the exams every so often purely because a lot of people fail the exams due to them misreading the question. So what I recommend is that you read the answers first, then read the question. You will eliminate 2 answers quickly enough after that its a 50/50 between right and wrong. MS exams are notorious for requiring a good level of reading comprehension. Sometimes you will spend a while looking at the difference between 2 answers (could be order of parameters, datatypes etc) and find it.

Make sure you keep a track of your scores regularly to see if you are progressing. I usually say once a week if you are trying to see improvement. Also if you are doing this method, you shouldnt be looking at the answers You can also use the exams to teach you if you dont understand what they are asking. Do this is tutorial/non exam mode.

Also have a quick look at this post which has the corrections for the MS Press Training kits for the most common exams.

Also see the following post in relation to the 70-536 exam. There is also one I did for 70-528 which might help.

Please check out the first MS exam thread if this is your first one and also Exam Demos thread so you can see what the exam question types are like.

Hope this helps

PixelTrawler

Hi Ginger,

That more then helps. Fantastic amount of information there.

I've been working now for about 4 years with asp.net (building small scale internal work apps) but Im just getting to the point where I want a formal set of exam certs on the cv to backup my experience and also its hard to tell "how good you are" so its a good benchmark. Im hoping having worked for so long with it, two months would do it.

Im in the same job 7 years in total so next year I wouldnt mind a change too as it can get a little stale.

Wouldnt mind having the three exams done by late spring next year and be in a better position to start looking around.

Thanks for the tips and links

Edit: Excellent post Ginger, loads of good stuff there.

Ginger

No probs.

If you are running into to problems make a new thread and I will do my best to help.

I have the 3 MCPDs on 2005 at the moment. The 70-536 is quite dry, good exam to have under your belt tho as you can decide to change to the 3.5 track if you wish.

The MCTS is the How of the technology and the MCPD is the Why of the technology. In other words, in the MCTS you will get how do you do X and Y tasks, whereas the MCPD is you have to make a decision between X and Y tech based on a scenaio, why do you choose the particular tech or paradigm.

Anyways best of luck with them and let us know how you get on.

PixelTrawler

Regex Codes and questions? Do I need to worry about these much. The book even suggests not bar the few examples it covers

Ginger

As per NDA cant tell you much more than what is on the landing page...

Basic knowledge of the Regex class is about it.. you dont as far as I am aware need to know much about actual regex strings.

niall.k.shanaha

Hi,
The measureUp free exam offer listed by Ginger has expired on Aug 31st... just missed it..

Niall

PixelTrawler

Ginger

What do you make of bootcamps. Theres one coming up that I might be able to get work to fund, however what do employers make of them.

At the end of the day, do they care how the cert was gained (not that they'd know I guess) or is there a perception these certs were just gained by craming and nothing would be really retained

(after all part of why im doing it is to learn, and I have a feeling you wont actually remember much from a bootcamp, on the other hand if I got the certs quickly it wouldnt be bad either maybe)

Ginger

Sorry was offsite.

Anyways, oh well the exam voucher thing is over, they will probably be back again in Jan I guess..

As for bootcamps, it depends. Some are good accelerated learning options for those people who are already fairly well versed in the material and just need some coaching to get themselves into the mindset for the exam

BUT... (isnt there always)

A lot of bootcamps are just human braindumping either with braindumps or highly focessed learning techniques... ie you need to know this method of this class in this context type thing.

The problem is always finding a reputable bootcamp. So just watch that.

A couple of people I know did them and found them very tough.. very very tough. Its hard going, you know how much these camps cost and the thought of failing (and that money being for nothing) is enough to drive people on.

As for whether an employer will mind how you achieved it. Not really. As long as you know your stuff at the end of the day.

Couple of my team were at TechEd this year and did three or more exams each in 2 days and passed them (one lad getting his MCPD Windows just on a whim and deciding the exams are cheap what have I to loose!).

So doing a lot of exams in a short number of days is nothing new. I did 2 on 1 day for my MCSD. I plan to do a couple at PDC this year too. If you know the material well enough, its just a case of reaching that passing mark.

There is no difference between 700 and 1000 at the end of the day, it never shows on your transcript.

PixelTrawler

All I know so far is its 5k and takes place over 14 days.... waiting to hear more about it. A friend did an MCSE bootcamp a few years ago and was dead after it. Also remembered nothing, he was a zombie towards the end.

Also not sure if my employer will sign off on that much... maybe the old fashioned way is best... (failure would not be good if they did splash out!)

Good to know it doesnt bother employers either way...

adeery

niall.k.shanaha wrote: »

Hi,
The measureUp free exam offer listed by Ginger has expired on Aug 31st... just missed it..

Niall

The Second Shot promotion is extended to at least to December 31st 2008:
Follow these three easy steps:

1. Register for the Second Shot offer, and take the Microsoft Certification exam by December 31, 2008.

2.  If you do not pass the exam, you get a free offer of a retake exam until June 30, 2009.

3.  If you do pass your first exam, you get a 25 percent discount on a different exam. You have until February 28, 2009 to take the discounted exam. (Note that you do not receive a free retake offer on this discounted exam if you do not pass it on the first try.)

I currently work for a training company that is a public VUE and Prometric Testing Center. If there any questions that you have in relation to exams or the training courses available just ask. I will not give prices or training company names though.