Sunny Ahuwanya's Blog

Mostly notes on .NET and C#

Want To Pass 70-562? Here’s How.

After studying for the past few months I took the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development exam today and passed with a score of 873.
This is certainly the broadest certification exam I’ve taken so far. I almost spent the entire allotted two and a half hours on the test.
I'm now MCTS .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Applications. This is really cool considering that as at today there are only about 271 certified people worldwide. Cool
I guess everyone else is waiting for the training kit to be released in April next year.

If you can't wait till April, here's how I studied:

Prerequisites:

Study Plan:

  • If you are not comfortable with ASP.NET AJAX, read Introducing Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX by Dino Esposito.
  • Read Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5, also by Dino Esposito. This is a very detailed book on ASP.NET. It covers a broad and practical range of ASP.NET topics.
  • Get a copy of MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-528). This is the training kit for the .NET 2.0 version of this exam. You’ll need it to study topics not covered in the books I mentioned earlier.
    • Study Chapters 4, 5, 10, 12 and 13.
    • Practice the “Practice tests” on the CD that comes with this kit especially questions from the mentioned chapters.
  • Purchase and practice the Measure-up practice tests, available at http://www.measureup.com/catalog/exam.aspx?vid=5&cid=MCTS&tid=139 . I cannot over-emphasize this step. It is important that you score a 100% twice on ALL the questions before attempting this exam. Do not take the exam if you have not seen and understood all questions and answers in the Measure-up practice tests. It’s a great indicator of your preparedness level.
  • Take a look at the 70-562 Preparation Guide and if there is any topic you do not instantly recognize, look it up in MSDN and learn it.

Tips:

  • Practice every topic from each book you study.
  • If there is anything you do not understand, Google it and master it.
  • Pay particular attention to features that are new with ASP.NET 3.5 such as the Listview control, IIS 7, WCF, Aspnet_merge.exe, Datapager control, etc.
  • Practice a lot of web.config configuration settings and command line tools like Aspnet_Compiler.exe, Aspnet_regiis.exe, etc.


Do not under-estimate this exam; it is difficult because it covers a very wide range of topics. The exam basically tests your ASP.NET 3.5 experience-level.
However, by the time you study and practice all the topics I’ve mentioned, you’ll be quite experienced.
Good luck!!