About This Book

If you're preparing for the 70-315 certification exam for the first time, we've structured the topics in this book to build on one another. Therefore, the topics covered in later chapters often refer to discussions in earlier chapters.

In our opinion, many computer manuals and reference books are essentially a list of facts. Rather than simply listing raw facts about each topic on the exam, we've tried to paint an integrated landscape in which each exam fact becomes an obvious conclusion to the problems evolving out of earlier technology.

We suggest you read this book from front to back. You won't be wasting your time: Nothing we've written is a guess about an unknown exam. What might appear to be a detour into rambling discussions is based on our many years of working with less- experienced computer users. We've had to explain certain underlying information on such a regular basis that we've included those explanations here. Time and again, we've found that, by understanding the conceptual underpinnings of a topic, our audience members were better able to recall the resulting details.

After you've read the book, you can brush up on a topic by using the index or the table of contents to go straight to the topics and questions you want to reexamine. We've tried to use the headings and subheadings to provide outline information about each given topic. After you've been certified, we think you'll find this book useful as a tightly focused reference and an essential foundation of Web application development.

Chapter Formats

Each Exam Cram 2 chapter follows a regular structure, along with graphical cues about especially important or useful material. The structure of a typical chapter includes

• Opening hotlists ” Each chapter begins with a list of the terms you'll need to understand and a list of the concepts you'll need to master before you can be fully conversant with the chapter's subject matter. We follow the hotlists with a few introductory paragraphs, setting the stage for the rest of the chapter.

• Topical coverage ” After the opening hotlists, each chapter covers at least three topics related to the chapter's subject.

• Alerts ” Throughout the topical coverage section, we highlight material most likely to appear on the exam by using a special alert layout that looks like this:

  

  This is what an alert looks like. An alert stresses concepts, terms, software, or activities that will most likely appear in one or more certification exam questions. For that reason, we think any information found offset in alert format is worthy of extra attentiveness on your part.

  
  

  Even if material isn't flagged as an alert, all the content in this book is associated in some way with test-related material. What appears in the chapter content is critical knowledge.

• Notes ” This book is an overall examination of computers. As such, we dip into nearly every aspect of Web application development. Where a body of knowledge is deeper than the scope of the book, we use notes to indicate areas of concern or specialty training.

  

  Cramming for an exam will get you through a test, but it won't make you a competent IT professional. Although you can memorize just the facts you need to become certified, your daily work in the field will rapidly put you in water over your head if you don't know the underlying principles of application development.

  
  

• Tips ” We provide tips that will help you build a better foundation of knowledge or focus your attention on an important concept that will reappear later in the book. Tips are a helpful way to remind you of the context surrounding a particular area of a topic under discussion.

  

  You can visit www.examcram2.com to receive additional practice questions, get advice, and track the MCAD and MCSD for Microsoft .NET program.

  
  

• Practice questions ” This section presents a short list of test questions related to the specific chapter topic. Each question has a following explanation of both correct and incorrect answers. The practice questions highlight the areas we found to be most important on the exam.

• Need to know more? ” Every chapter ends with a section titled "Need to Know More?" This section provides pointers to resources we found to be helpful in offering further details on the chapter's subject matter. If you find a resource you like in this collection, use it, but don't feel compelled to use all these resources. We use this section to recommend resources we have used on a regular basis, so none of the recommendations will be a waste of your time or money. These resources might go out of print or be taken down (in the case of Web sites), so we've tried to reference widely accepted resources.

The bulk of the book follows this chapter structure, but we would like to point out a few other elements:

• Sample exams ” The sample exams, which appear in Chapter 17, "Practice Exam #1," and Chapter 19, "Practice Exam #2," are very close approximations of the types of questions you are likely to see on the current 70-315 exam.

• Answer keys ” Here you'll find the answers to the sample tests, with a following explanation of both the correct response and the incorrect responses.

• Glossary ” This is an extensive glossary of important terms used in this book.

• The Cram Sheet ” This appears as a tear-away sheet inside the front cover of this Exam Cram book. The Cram Sheet is a valuable tool that represents a collection of the most important facts we think you should memorize before taking the test. Remember, you can dump this information out of your head onto a piece of paper as soon as you enter the testing room. These are usually facts that require brute-force memorization: You need to remember this information only long enough to write it down when you walk into the test room. Be advised that you will be asked to surrender all personal belongings before you enter the exam room itself.

  You might want to look at the Cram Sheet in the parking lot or lobby of the testing center just before you walk into the testing center. The Cram Sheet is separated into headings, so you can review the appropriate parts just before each test.

• CD-ROM ” The CD-ROM that comes with this book contains the complete code listing of the various examples presented in the chapters. The CD also contains the PrepLogic Practice Tests, Preview Edition exam simulation software. The preview edition exhibits most of the full functionality of the Premium Edition but offers questions sufficient for only one practice exam. To get the complete set of practice questions and exam functionality, visit www.preplogic.com.

Thanks for choosing us as your personal trainers , and enjoy the book. We would wish you luck on the exam, but we know that if you read through all the chapters, you won't need luck ”you'll ace the test on the strength of real knowledge!