In this post I would be covering some Tips, Study material, Registration process and Discount options about this exam that is MCTS 70-562. This certification exam measures your ability to develop applications using ASP.NET in a development environment that uses Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. I started studying for this exam right after I passed the MCTS 70-536 Application Development Foundation. I passed the 70-536 with 884/1000.

The test had 50 questions in total covering different topics from User controls, Mobile controls, Debugging and troubleshooting, Server controls etc. With some detailed study and experience in the industry I managed to pass this with 1000/1000 yes that’s 100%.

Registering for the Exam:

You can register for this exam by following this link http://www.register.prometric.com/
After selecting the country you will be given registered test centers in Pakistan. If you don’t have an account create one and complete the registration form. If you don’t have the Credit Card its better to call the test center and they may help you in this regard.

Remember Passport is a must for candidates from Pakistan

Discount Vouchers:

Testing fee is 50USD but thanks to discount vouchers scheme I got 10% for first exam and for second got 20% discount. Microsoft offers promotions periodically for different exams, previously it was Second Shot offer running but at the time of writing you can benefit from the Discount Vouchers. You can get 15, 20, 25% discount depending upon your choice of exam, more at http://www.prometric.com/microsoft/careeroffer.htm

Study Materials

To prepare for this exam the best recommended book is MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-562): Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – ASP.NET.This book comprises of  16 chapters in total starting from Introduction to ASP.NET 3.5, Server controls, Performing validations, Site navigation, State management, ADO.NET, XML, LINQ, Services, Monitoring, Troubleshooting, ASP.NET mobile applications and finally Deploying, Configuring and Caching applications. Each chapter may consist of 2 or more lessons and after every lesson there are some practice questions available as well.

As a reference book I also studied Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 by Dino Esposito.

Audience Profile
Candidates for this exam use Microsoft Visual Studio in a team-based, medium-sized to large development environment. Candidates should have a minimum of two to three years of experience developing Web-based applications by using Microsoft ASP.NET. Candidates should also have a minimum of one year of experience with the following:

* Database access by using Microsoft ADO.NET classes in the Microsoft .NET Framework
* Web services
* State management
* ASP.NET configuration
* Monitoring Web applications
* Debugging
* Application and page life-cycle management
* Security aspects such as Forms Authentication and membership and roles
* ECMAScript (JavaScript, Microsoft JScript)
* Internet Information Server (IIS)

Candidates should be very familiar with Visual Studio 2005 or later and the .NET Framework classes that are related to ASP.NET and ADO.NET. In addition, candidates should have a good grasp of ASP.NET AJAX.

Skills Measured

Skills Being MeasuredThis exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. Configuring and Deploying Web Applications (10 percent)

• Configure providers. May include but is not limited to: personalization, membership, data sources, site map, resource, security

• Configure authentication, authorization, and impersonation. May include but is not limited to: Forms Authentication, Windows Authentication

• Configure projects, solutions, and reference assemblies. May include but is not limited to: local assemblies, shared assemblies (GAC), Web application projects, solutions

• Configure session state by using Microsoft SQL Server, State Server, or InProc. May include but is not limited to: setting the timeout; cookieless sessions

• Publish Web applications. May include but is not limited to: FTP, File System, or HTTP from Visual Studio

• Configure application pools.

• Compile an application by using Visual Studio or command-line tools. May include but is not limited to: aspnet_compiler.exe, Just-In-Time (JIT) compiling, aspnet_merge.exe

Consuming and Creating Server Controls (20 percent)

• Implement data-bound controls. May include but is not limited to: DataGrid, DataList, Repeater, ListView, GridView, FormView, DetailsView, TreeView, DataPager

• Load user controls dynamically.

• Create and consume custom controls. May include but is not limited to: registering controls on a page, creating templated controls

• Implement client-side validation and server-side validation. May include but is not limited to: RequiredFieldValidator, CompareValidator, RegularExpressionValidator, CustomValidator, RangeValidator

• Consume standard controls. May include but is not limited to: Button, TextBox, DropDownList, RadioButton, CheckBox, HyperLink, Wizard, MultiView

Working with Data and Services (17 percent)

• Read and write XML data. May include but is not limited to: XmlDocument, XPathNavigator, XPathNodeIterator, XPathDocument, XmlReader, XmlWriter, XmlDataDocument, XmlNamespaceManager

• Manipulate data by using DataSet and DataReader objects.

• Call a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service or a Web service from an ASP.NET Web page. May include but is not limited to: App_WebReferences; configuration

• Implement a DataSource control. May include but is not limited to: LinqDataSource, ObjectDataSource, XmlDataSource, SqlDataSource

• Bind controls to data by using data binding syntax.

Troubleshooting and Debugging Web Applications (16 percent)

• Configure debugging and custom errors. May include but is not limited to: ,

• Set up an environment to perform remote debugging.

• Debug unhandled exceptions when using ASP.NET AJAX. May include but is not limited to: client-side Sys.Debug methods; attaching a debugger to Windows Internet Explorer

• Implement tracing of a Web application. May include but is not limited to: Trace.axd, Trace=True on @Page directive,

• Debug deployment issues. May include but is not limited to: aspnet_regiis.exe; creating an IIS Web application; setting the .NET Framework version

• Monitor Web applications. May include but is not limited to: health monitoring by using WebEvent, performance counters

Working with ASP.NET AJAX and Client-Side Scripting (15 percent)

• Implement Web Forms by using ASP.NET AJAX. May include but is not limited to: EnablePartialRendering, Triggers, ChildrenAsTriggers, Scripts, Services, UpdateProgress, Timer, ScriptManagerProxy

• Interact with the ASP.NET AJAX client-side library. May include but is not limited to: JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects; handling ASP.NET AJAX events

• Consume services from client scripts.

• Create and register client script. May include but is not limited to: inline, included .js file, embedded JavaScript resource, created from server code

Targeting Mobile Devices (5 percent)

• Access device capabilities. May include but is not limited to: working with emulators

• Control device-specific rendering. May include but is not limited to: DeviceSpecific control; device filters; control templates

• Add mobile Web controls to a Web page. May include but is not limited to: StyleSheet controls; List controls; Container controls

• Implement control adapters. May include but is not limited to: App_Browsers; rendering by using ChtmlTextWriter or XhtmlTextWriter

Programming Web Applications (17 percent)

• Customize the layout and appearance of a Web page. May include but is not limited to: CSS, Themes and Skins, Master Pages, and Web Parts, App_Themes, StyleSheetTheme

• Work with ASP.NET intrinsic objects. May include but is not limited to: Request, Server, Application, Session, Response, HttpContext

• Implement globalization and accessibility. May include but is not limited to: resource files, culture settings, RegionInfo, App_GlobalResources, App_LocalResources, TabIndex, AlternateText , GenerateEmptyAlternateText, AccessKey, Label.AssociatedControlID

• Implement business objects and utility classes. May include but is not limited to: App_Code , external assemblies

• Implement session state, view state, control state, cookies, cache, or application state.

• Handle events and control page flow. May include but is not limited to: page events, control events, application events, and session events, cross-page posting; Response.Redirect, Server.Transfer, IsPostBack, setting AutoEventWireup

• Implement the Generic Handler.

I was planning to share my experience with my MCTS exam for quite sometime and wasn’t getting the time but today seems to be the day.

I scheduled my exam with US Education Foundation Islamabad at 3:15 pm on 31st August 2009, left office at 2:45 hired a cab and reached the center. Not to mention I was having a fast, pretty scared, confused and was praying to ALLAH to help me out. At first step I was deprived of my belongings like mobile, wallet, USB drive and were placed in a locker. Then had a short cross questioning session to prove my identity to the person responsible to start the test actually for me. I sat before the computer screen the test loaded and I saw many seen questions, that brought a big smile on my face and eventually I passed it.

I had my mind set to take the exam before 21st but unfortunately no dates are available in local centers before 1st October (Update: cleared it on 6th October 2009 with 100%).

Note: Candidates from Pakistan need to have a valid passport as their primary ID to appear in exams.

Please read this post as well

You can register yourself with Prometric any time http://www.prometric.com/default.htm

Some Resources:

JRE (required for test engines)
70-536 Resources
70-562 Resources

Hi All

By the grace of ALLAH I passed the subject exam with a score of 884, min required was 700. Next target is of taking ASP.NET 3.5 after Eid-Ul-Fitr insha ALLAH.

Just to tell u  ppl I can now use this

For ASP.NET 3.5 I am consulting the 70-562 training kit, Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Step by Step, Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5. Yes I will also consult the unavoidable brain dumps or sample questions as much as I can after studying the books first.