Product Description

Get in-depth training and practice with the skills measured by the core exams for Microsoft Certified Professional Developer: Web Developer certification--all in one box! Covering Exams 70-536, 70-528, and 70-547, these three training kits include exam prep and practice tests to help you maximize your performance. You get official Microsoft study guides, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. They come packed with the tools and features that exam candidates want most--including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and customizable testing options. They also provide labs and exercises for skills and expertise you can apply to the job.

Work at your own pace through the lessons and hands-on exercises. Focusing on designing and developing Web-based applications, these official study guides cover topics such as Microsoft .NET Framework fundamentals; creating, configuring, deploying, and supporting applications; designing and developing the user interface; threading, instrumentation, and reflection; using Microsoft ASP.NET state management; and authentication, authorization, and user security.

Then assess yourself by using more than 900 practice and review questions on the CD, featuring multiple, customizable testing options to meet your specific needs. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives or chapters. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers--including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get a 90-day evaluation version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional and an exam discount voucher--making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230446 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 2880 pages

From the Publisher
Key Book Benefits:

-Excellent value: three official study guides--covering the core requirements for MCPD: Web Developer--all in one box
-Comprehensive exam prep study guide written by exam-certified authors
-In-depth coverage of exam objectives and sub-objectives--plus instructive case studies and troubleshooting scenarios to enhance your performance on the job
-900+ practice and review questions
-Test engine that enables customized testing, pre-assessment and post-assessment, and automated scoring and feedback
-Complete objective-by-objective review section, plus a handy exam-mapping grid
-Code samples on CD
-90-day evaluation version of Visual Studio 2005 Professional
-15 percent exam discount voucher from Microsoft (limited-time offer)
-Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, Second Edition, eBook
-Entire study guide in searchable eBook format

About the Author
Glenn Johnson is a teacher and professional consultant. He is the author of Programming Microsoft ADO.NET 2.0 Applications: Advanced Topics.

Tony Northrup, MCSE, CISSP, and Microsoft MVP, is a professional consultant and writer with dozens of books to his credit. He is coauthor of the Self-Paced Training Kits for Exams 70-270 and 70-272, among other titles.

Bill Ryan is an MVP for Windows Embedded and a frequent speaker at industry events including Microsoft Code Camps and .NET User's Groups.

Shawn Wildermuth, MVP for Microsoft Visual C#, has more than twenty years' experience building data-driven software. He regularly contributes articles to several magazines and Web sites, including MSDN, Windows IT Pro, and MSDN Online.

Chris Williams, Bruce Johnson, Brian Lanham, and Mike Snell of GrandMasters, an IT consulting firm, specialize in content development, exam development, and customized technical support.

Customer Reviews

Boring book, but what else are you going to get?
Unfortunately, there really isn't much material out there that covers the MCPD certifications. In fact, based on my brief search, this was the only book that covered it. So it was either get this book or just go off the list of material posted on the Microsoft website. The book does provide three 15% off vouchers and a program of test questions. And for that, it gets the +2 stars.

After that, the material is pretty weak. It's written as-is (kinda ben stein-ish) and the code is confusing to read. I often times have to look at the MSDN equivalent material to get a better understanding of what the author was really trying to say and/or code. But again, what are you going to do? The list that microsoft presents on their certifications page is too vague, you need direction.

You're going to definately need more material to look through outside of what's in the book, but it's a good place to build from. So far I have just taken 1 out of the 3 tests, but I passed on my first time. If you were to use the book as a guide, shouldn't be a problem to do the same.

Good test prep, but otherwise sparse content
Reading these books, I find them to be good resources for preparing for the exams, but I know that they will not become the trusted dog-eared references that I would have hoped them to be. Useful content is sparse; a lot of text seems to be wrapped up in the presentation of the material and it leaves it a little verbose. Furthermore, the books are badly edited and I find myself distracted by the flagrant mistakes that one can find every couple of pages. The mistakes do not seem to be so bad, however, that one cannot easily discover the error and compensate; they are also seldom technical in origin, though the (more often) grammatical mistakes or the (occasional) omitted negation *could* lead one to misconstrue the meaning of a particular passage.

I have been exceptionally upset on the occasion when I discovered an obvious case of text pasted from another section of the book that had not been properly modified for the new context, and so, badly referred to the old context. This is just careless.

Aside from this, the material is otherwise very clear and very simply put.

Not good certification books
I bought the 3 pack of books. I knew each book inside and out, could ace their practice exams. These are NOT good certification books. Most of the questions on the exam are not covered in these books. Maybe it is deliberate that Microsoft wants experience to be how you know the answers because you certainly will be ill prepared if you rely on the contents of these Microsoft Press books to test how prepared you are. I did pass 528 and 536 and I'd say maybe 5 or 6 questions between the two books were related to the reading material and the rest were just things I already knew. The 528 book was probably the best of the 3 with 537 being pretty weak and 547 being horribly inadequate.