MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-515): Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Mcts 70-515 Exam Exam Prep) Reviews
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-515): Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Mcts 70-515 Exam Exam Prep)
Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-515—and on the job. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce and apply what you’ve learned through real-world case scenarios and practice exercises. This official Microsoft study guide is designed to help you make the most of your study time. Maximize your performance on the exam by learning to:
Program a new application; add and configure server controls Manage data input, user state, and security Implement data source controls and data-bound controls Use AJAX-enabled forms and scripts Create and consume XML Web services and WFC services Design for accessibility, globalization, and mobility Debu
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Training Kit is Incomplete and Not Aligned with Exam Questions,
When I first got this book, I believed it was a good resource because it was published by Microsoft Press and was likely being reviewed my Microsoft to be accurate as a ‘Training Kit’ for their MCTS Certification Exam.
After reading the book, I am disappointed in Microsoft Press. This book is not properly aligned with the creators of the MCTS Exam Questions to ensure it is a true Self-Study Guide covering all required material to help with passing the Exam.
This book does not adequately prepare you for the MCTS Certification Exam and lacks coverage of all material. As another has mentioned in a review of this book, the book does not cover all content required and includes chapters of material not on the exam (like the AJAX .NET Toolkit). One example of required material that is missing is the ‘QueryExtender’ that is not even mentioned. jQuery material is also minimal for what is required.
I’m posting this review in hope to provide feedback to Microsoft to help improve their Training Kits for future exams.
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|Excellent exam prep, even when upgrading,
Having completed the Microsoft ASP.NET exam for .NET 3.5, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this book so that I could take the latest version of the exam. I was pleased to find that I could read this book (either via the Kindle edition, the PDF that comes with the book, or via the O’Reilly download) on my Kindle. Bear in mind, however, that the supplemental content that you can download from O’Reilly or Amazon (via O’Reilly) doe snot contain the practice exams. Those exams are only available withthe printed version on the CD – at least, as of the writing of this review.
This revision of the book is phenomenal. Looking back on the prior edition for the .NET 3.5 ASP.NET certification exam, I recall feeling that the book left me prepared, but not completely. With that version, I recall several questions that left me guessing the correct answer and wondering why I’d not seen any reference to the topics in the book. In this revision, all those areas missing in the prior edition are addressed very specifically. Moreover, there was only one question on the exam that made me feel a topic area was not addressed – a significant improvement, though this is probably largely the result of the new topics added to this exam.
In terms of content, this study guide hits every entry on the exam checklist in quite a bit of detail. The organization makes a reat deal of sense, with entries organized by topic, not simply control type or frequent use. There are minimal forward references (a drastic improvement over some of the books from the .NET 3.5 study guide series), providing a complete understanding of each topic in one section. One point I will make is that the information density of the text and examples is quite high. So high, in fact, that you should not skim the content of think that you can afford to miss a paragraph without mising an important point on the exam. The examples and text work well together to give very comprehensive coverage to every topic. You’ll notice quite a few segments of text from the previous book, especially in areas where there was no change between ASP.NET 3.5 and ASP.NET 4.0, making this version a comfortable upgrade from the prior (if you read it).
The practice exam provided on the CD is typical of test kit exams. In fact, the only changes are to some of the questions to target special features of .NET 4.0. As is typical, there are some questions that are incorrect or poorly worded, but there are relatively few of them. The test exam provides a very nice preparation for the real exam, encouraging additional reading or brief reviews (e.g. the ASP.NET page lifecycle) where the book may potentially come up short (though in my experience, the book itself was quite sufficient).
In summary, this book is an excellent preparation guide for the Microsoft 70-515 exam. The content has been updated and reorganized from the previous version to address the new exam topics adn features for ASP.NET 4.0. I highly recommend this for anybody that would like to upgrade their skills, stay current, or simply find out about ASP.NET 4.0, MVC, and everything in-between.
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|Not a bad book topics not equally covered,
I took the test once prior to the book coming out, studying on my own based on the information microsoft learning provides about what will be covered. I did not pass so I decided to wait for the book to come out. I have not read everything in the book yet and while I do believe it may be helpful I am disappointed in the fact that all the topics on the exam are not given equal weight in the book. My particular concern is with jQuery as I know that was a bit of a trip up for me when taking the exam and only one section of one chapter touches on jQuery. If you look at the begining of the book it lays out what sections of the exam are covered by different sections of the book when you look at how many pages are associated with specific topics the page number disparity is obvious.
Developing Web Forms Pages – 19% of the exam 161 pages
Developing and Using Web Forms Controls – 18% of the exam 183 pages
Implementing Client-Side Scripting and AJAX – 16% of the exam 91 pages
Configuring and Extending a Web Application – 15% of the exam 204 pages
Displaying and Manipulating Data – 19% of the exam 198 pages
Developing a Web Application by Using ASP.NET MVC 2 – 13% of the exam 45 pages
Admitadly some sections of the book cover multiple sections of the test so this is not a 1-1 page count this is just page count based off the test section to book section table listed at the front of the book.
To me it appears that the book very much underserves those who need to learn the Client-Side Scripting aspect or the MVC aspect of the test.
I am not unhappy with this product as I believe I will be well served but I may still need to purchase another book to get my jQuery skills up to par. If you are looking at purchasing this book to give you at least minimal coverage of all the topics on the exam than this is a good book. If you need it for some very specific skillsets you might be best served by checking the sample Kindle version and verifying by the table of contents that what you need will be thouroughly covered.
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