Born to Thrive

The next couple posts will be about Microsoft exam for MCTS ASP.NET 3.5 Developer as that's the exam I'm currently studying to. In this post I will write about other people's experience with the exam, and what and how I'm studying to this exam, but in my next posts I will try to present some of the topics covered by the exam and I will try to compare that with my working experience with .NET Web Development.
This exam will be my 8th Microsoft exam and I have already passed MCTS and MCPD ASP.NET 2.0 so there isn't much new stuff for me that I would have to study or practice. Nevertheless before every exam I always try to find what people who already have taken the exam say about it and what are their opinions. I usually look for information what books are good to study, a list of objectives with links to MSDN, etc. I have gathered links to few blogs and forums where people express their experience with the exam:
Want to pass
Passed
Passed my first exam
70-562 my experience
Good tips
But I always like websites, like below, that have exam study guide with all exam objectives as links to MSDN library so if you need to learn about specific topic, check some examples or validate if what you know about the given topic is enough, there is no better way than going to MSDN library and reading information on that topic(although sometimes some books can convey the knowledge about a topic in the form that will be easier to understand or will include more examples):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
If you look at those topics, you'll see how much information is covered by the exam. Fortunately, if you have a working experience and if you have taken previous ASP.NET exams, you will see that it's not really that much to learn.
My strategy to this exam is to read those books:
Professional ASP.NET 3.5
Introducing Ajax
Professional Linq
ASP.NET 2.0 -Advanced Topics
ASP.NET 2.0 - Core Reference
ADO.NET 2.0 - Core Reference
Programming WCF
Learning WCF - Hands-on Guide
It's a lot of books but some of them I got when studying for 70-528, 70-547 and 70-503 exams. I also usually get Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit books but this time because I have so many other books, it would not yield high benefits. I might have done it if I didn't have 20% off voucher (each book comes with 15% off voucher). Personally, I prefer reading books rather than searching through MSDN but if I had to study to this exam without the books I bought for previous exams, I would probably buy Programming ASP.NET 3.5 and study all objectives from Part 1 to Part 7. I haven't done it yet as I'm still reading my books (I usually read them 10 times to make sure I remember and understand all the topcis from the book) but before the exam I will definitely look up a few topics to make sure I haven't missed anything.
As I mentioned, in my next few posts I will share some things from my working experience with ASP.NET, Ajax and WCF that should be helpful to other developers and those who want to take the exam. Precisely, some of those things will come from the tips that people who have taken the exam shared, some of those things will include information that I have learned at work and I have not found in any of the books I have mentioned, and some of the things will include material that are in those books but not many developers know about or use. I hope everyone will find it interesting and useful whether you are studying to the exam or you were just born to thrive to be a better .NET Web developer.