WCF Beta Exam

I took the opportunity to sit the WCF Beta exam a few days ago and I must say, it was very hard. Being beta, I don't find out the results until about 8 weeks later, but I reckon I didn't fare too well.

I did book the test a little impulsively, however I saw the opportunity to do it, and only had a free day to do the test that was a few days later than when I booked it, so my preparation time was very small.

Having said that, I still think it was a hard exam. There were a wide variety of questions there and the preparation guide listed here doesn't really do the broad range of topics justice as there were still items/topic in the exam that were not listed in the prep guide.

If I do the exam when its released, then I think I'll prepare for the exam for around 2 months before sitting it again. Note that I have worked with WCF a reasonable amount and have also taken Juval Lowy's WCF Masterclass course but I would still allocate around 2 months prep time on top of that.

One of the things that did irritate me about the test (and its not specific to this test either) is when you are tested on your knowledge of things like enum values. One of the questions had code samples that differed only in the value of an enum being specified. Now admittedly, if I had worked a lot with the aspect of WCF, I would probably know it, however questions like these assume you dont have the services of a compiler at hand. Even if I didn't know it, practically, it would take a around 5 seconds to see this error when compiling and fix it, and still achieve a quality WCF implementation. I just don't see those types of questions of having any real practical value.

Anyway, if your thinking of sitting the WCF beta exam, or waiting for its proper release. Allocate a  decent amount of preparation time, as it is quite hard.

6 Comments

  • mmm,

    I think I should wait for the released exam, because I think preparing for a beta exam wastes too much time than preparing for a well known exam with its well known material.

    thanks for your reply, and good luck in your next Exam :D

  • I sat this one too
    and agree, there were a few curly questions on it.
    I was lucky enough to squeeze in a little more study time than you,
    but still found it pretty tough going in areas.
    I think i'm in with a chance, there were lots of little questions I stuffed up on after narrowing it down to two answers.
    It's kinda funny (and sometimes painfull) looking back through msdn after sitting such an exam as you can clearly see the paragraphs in articles the questions directly relate to!

  • I definitely don't want to game the beta exam so Microsoft has accurate data, but what was the most obscure or most unexpected topic on the beta exam that the preparation guide doesn't prepare you for? (Other than enum values, obviously) I'm sitting the exam next week and I'm trying to focus on the pieces of WCF I haven't used much yet.

    thanks

  • Hi Jeff,

    I think a lot was due to my lack of preparation, but I had a lot of questions around programming against claim based services. More than I expected at least and quite detailed.

  • Thanks Glav! That helps me focus my studying.

    At worst I'll see just how much more WCF there is than I've dealt with/studied :) I'm definitely excited about the exam.

  • where I will ger MCTS questions for WCF

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