«

Hey Everyone,

I'm looking at working towards a MCTS certification to help me better and
more quickly learn VB 2005 to write both web applications and windows apps.
I'd like to take 70-536, 70-526, and 70-528, and I was wondering if anyone
can give advice on books, learning material, etc to use for each exam. I
know only 70-536 plus either of the second or third exams would give me the
cert, but because I need to learn both web and windows apps, I figure taking
both exams won't hurt.

For someone who's just getting started with VB2005 but has experience with
programming, what's the time frame to work through the training material and
take the test? Just curious...

Thanks,

Alex

Hi Alex,

I have prior experience with VB6 and it took me about 1.5 months full-time
preparation for 536. I passed on the first attempt. I was attempting to not
just memorize the content, but to understand it more by programming the
examples and understanding the meaning of the text content. I used the
following resources:
* MS preparation texts
* MSDN
* Transcender tests

The way I went about it was that I went through the book first
cover-to-cover three times. When I was familiar with the book content, I went
over the test objectives at the MS site. I made a list of what the book did
not cover (believe me there is a lot that is not in there). Then I used MSDN
to learn this. I also did the same with the Transcender tests - whatever I
did not know from the tests, I used MSDN as source. At the end I had like
over 100 pages of material that was not covered in the book (536). I also
used the Understanding .NET book by David Chappell to help me understand the
meaning of the features in .NET.

For 528, it took me a smaller amount of time to prepare - perhaps mainly
because this was more actual programming stuff that you normally deal with
primarily. You do deal with the stuff in 536, but it is more stuff that "is
in the background" so-to-speak. One month. And the material in the book was a
lot more comprehensive, but I had to follow the same basic process as above.
Once again, I passed the first time.

Good luck on the tests - I did not appear for 526 yet, so I can't offer any
suggestions there. If you have any other questions, let me know.

Ashwin

"Alex" wrote:

> Hey Everyone,
>
> I'm looking at working towards a MCTS certification to help me better and
> more quickly learn VB 2005 to write both web applications and windows apps.
> I'd like to take 70-536, 70-526, and 70-528, and I was wondering if anyone
> can give advice on books, learning material, etc to use for each exam. I
> know only 70-536 plus either of the second or third exams would give me the
> cert, but because I need to learn both web and windows apps, I figure taking
> both exams won't hurt.
>
> For someone who's just getting started with VB2005 but has experience with
> programming, what's the time frame to work through the training material and
> take the test? Just curious...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alex
>
>
>

Ashwin,

When you say that you studied for 1.5 months full time do you mean that you
studied for 7+ hours every working day? I'm just about to start studying for
536 myself but I work full time and I was wondering how long it will take me
to get through the material.

Regards

Ashley

Hi Ashley,

Yes, that's what I meant by full time. Remember, my background was in VB
(and I had other OO experience, but not a lot in .NET - only a few months).

Realize that it doesn't mean that is what it'll take you - I wanted to be at
a certain level of comfort with the material before taking the exam the first
time. I waited until I was thoroughly comfortable with it.

Regards,

Ashwin

"Ash" wrote:

> Ashwin,
>
> When you say that you studied for 1.5 months full time do you mean that you
> studied for 7+ hours every working day? I'm just about to start studying for
> 536 myself but I work full time and I was wondering how long it will take me
> to get through the material.
>
> Regards
>
> Ashley