After 18 days of studying, I managed to pass the exam and was ecstatic about it. Since this is my first certification ever and being away from the classroom for exactly a year now, I didn't know what to expect as far as the exam format. All I know was I have to take it and I need as much information that I can since there's a lot of topics covered in the exam. My goal within the past 18 days was written in details so that I can keep myself on track as far as studying is concerned. I aimed at reading at least a chapter a day but read as much as 3 during the weekends since I have the whole day. I partially worked on the small exercises so I can have a hands-on of what's going on.
The next step now is to take the 2.0 version of the
MCTS 70-528 which will earn me the
MCTS: .NET 2.0 Web Applications certification or go with the 3.5 route on which I need to take the
MCTS 70-562. The problem is since the certification was just launched last year, there's no real study materials available yet for it and the last time I checked, the book won't be available until April 2009 which is way too far. It's either I wait until then or take the 2.0 and get the certification for it, then upgrade to 3.5 when the time comes. 3.5 has a new set of certifications to complete in order to earn your MCPD, so I will have to make a decision between waiting altogether so I can just on to 3.5 instead of 2.0. But I realize that since I'm already in the "study" mode, why even bother waiting? I really want to just get the certifications over with so I can focus on studying for the GMAT which I have postponed just to study for this. I will resume studying for the certification perhaps after the new year.