Onward, Through the Fog

Onward, Through the Fog!

After you have assessed your readiness, undertaken the right background studies, obtained the hands-on experience that will help you understand the products and technologies at work, and reviewed the many sources of information to help you prepare for a test, you will be ready to take a round of practice tests. When your scores come back positive enough to get you through the exam, you are ready to go after the real thing. If you follow our assessment regime , you will know not only what you need to study, but also when you are ready to set a test date at Prometric (www.2test.com) or VUE (www.vue.com). Good luck!

Chapter 1. Microsoft Certification Exams

Terms you'll need to understand:

Adaptive tests
Build-list-and-reorder question format
Case study
Create-a-tree question format
Drag-and-connect question format
Fixed-length tests
Multiple-choice question format
Select-and-place question format
Short-form tests
Simulations

Techniques you'll need to master:

Assessing your exam-readiness
Answering Microsoft's varying question types
Altering your test strategy depending on the exam format
Practicing (to make perfect)
Making the best use of the testing software
Budgeting your time
Guessing (as a last resort)

Taking an exam is not something most people anticipate eagerly, no matter how well prepared they might be. In most cases, familiarity helps offset test anxiety. In plain English, this means you probably will not be as nervous when you take your 4th or 5th Microsoft certification exam as you will be when you take your 1st one.

Whether it is your 1st exam or your 10th, understanding the details of taking the new exam (how much time to spend on questions, the environment you will be in, and so on) and the new exam software will help you concentrate on the material rather than on the setting. Likewise, mastering a few basic exam-taking skills should help you recognize (and perhaps even outfox) some of the tricks and snares you are bound to find in some exam questions.

This chapter explains the exam environment and software and describes some proven exam-taking strategies you can use to your advantage.

Assessing Exam-Readiness

I strongly recommend that you read through and take the Self-Assessment included with this book (it appears after the Introduction). This will help you compare your knowledge base to the requirements for obtaining a Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) or Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) for Microsoft .NET certification, and it will help you identify parts of your background or experience that need improvement, enhancement, or further learning. If you get the right set of basics under your belt, obtaining Microsoft certification will be that much easier.

After you have gone through the Self-Assessment, you can remedy topical areas in which your background or experience is lacking. You can also tackle subject matter for individual tests at the same time, so you can continue making progress while you are catching up in some areas.

After you have worked through an Exam Cram 2, read the supplementary materials, and taken the practice test, you will have a clear idea of when you should be ready to take the real exam. Although I strongly recommend that you keep practicing until your scores top the 75% mark, 80% is a better goal because it gives you some margin for error when you are in an actual, stressful exam situation. Keep taking practice tests and studying the materials until you attain that score. You'll find more pointers on how to study and prepare in the Self-Assessment. But now, we'll discuss taking the exam itself.

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