MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-315): Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Visual C# and Visual Studio.NET (Paperback)

This book is focused on "Active Learning". The author invites you to get involved with the learning process and encourages you to explore the possibilities. At the beginning of the book, there is a section on "How To Use This Book". It explains the format of the book, the purpose of each part, and how to get the most out of it. For example, after each concept is introduced, the author provides a "Step By Step" example for you to see the concept in action. The reader is encouraged to work through the exercise and play with it until you understand it. At the end of a larger section that covers many concepts, the author provides you with a "Guided Practice". The reader is encouraged to try it on their own first but the author does provide a solution for when you get stuck. The author also provides a section summary called a "Review Break".

At the end of a chapter, there are exercises to work, essay review questions, and sample exam questions. All of these have answers and explanations separate from the questions themselves. The reader is encouraged to try them on their own first. In addition to all this, there are study tips, recommended reading for each chapter.

If the reader is doing all these things, you WILL learn the material. The book also includes a scaled down version of the 70-315 practice test from PrepLogic. Naturally you have the opportunity to buy the full scale version.

On the down side, the author assumes you have a basic knowledge of C#. Many of the concepts introduced in the first chapter will be lost on someone new to C# and .NET. I would strongly recommend you get a tutorial type book on C# before you get this book. I would recommend "Inside C#" by Tom Archer and "Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming" by Jeffery Richter. Both are excellent and will prepare you for what you need to know before working through this book.

-=} Randall {=-

This book actually made me write so much of code that my fingers hurt :-) but I feel good after doing so much of work because now I am very confident about the subject. If you are new like me, I would suggest that you also type code instead of using the code from the CD. Because of typing, I think that I was able to remember a lot of stuff in the exam even after such a rushed preparation. Also, before you take the exam, remember to revise the exam tips and notes.

These are some good point about this book:
- Lots of lots of code and really good examples

- Useful exam tips and notes
- More than 300 sample questions

These are some bad points about the book:
- Although there are more than 300 sample questions but only 58 of them are on the CD, all other questions are printed on book pages so remember not to mark them using pencil, or you will already know the answer the next time you try to revise them.
- They could have saved some pages by cutting on the size of final review section of the book. Instead, I would have liked a tear-off sheet listing all the exam tips at one place.

In short, if you are preparing for the 70-315 exam, I would say that this book *really* helps.

Let me give some background for those who plan on taking this test. I spent about 3 weeks studying using only this book. I worked through some but not all of the exercises and guided practices. After taking the practice exam at the end of each chapter, I went back and highlighted issues touched on for each question. I did the same for the review questions. All in all, I went through the book twice, the first time reading in depthly, the other skimming my highlights. When I took the practice exam at the end of the book, I missed 3 out of 75. I knew I was ready!

For taking this exam I didn't use anything else, no transcenders, no braindumps, no paid practice exams, just this book.

About 95% of the questions from the exam were covered in the book in detail, explained clearly and concisely. Even some of the questions closely reflected practice questions found in this book. The other 5% were Microsoft surprise questions. Even so, the book warns you and steers you toward some online resources to touch up of what I call "fringe" knowledge, stuff barely related to the material.

The only complaint I have about this book is that the PrepLogic practice exams on the supplementary CD totally suck. The questions are poorly written and in some cases highly ambiguous, and the explanation to the answers often don't make sense. I don't fault the author, it's not his fault this crap was attached to his brilliant effort.

For example, there was a question asking something like "page1.aspx handles rendering the header of a page to be rendered to the browser, and page2.aspx renders other features of the page. Which method do you call to link page2.aspx to page1.aspx?" Narrowing down to 2, possible choices are Server.Transfer() and Server.Execute(). The wording of the question makes it impossible to discern the answer. Unless you're into gazing deep into philosophical discussions on half empty/half full type type scenarios, this practice software will only serve to infuriate you and waste your time. Instead, I recommend taking advantage of the free online practice exams such as the ones found at MeasureUp or InformIT.

In conclusion, I strongly encourage you to use this book as your first exam study resource, especially if you're on a tight budget and don't have your company bank rolling your transcenders and other cheat tools. Hey, all being said, the PrepLogic CD makes a good coaster, and serves as a nice diverse alternative to the AOL and Earthlink ones you've already got on your coffee table.