Tag Archives: Certifications

MCPD Achieved!

Posted on by

Well, it’s been a long time coming but I finally passed the 70-554 upgrade exam.  This exam is the UPGRADE: MCSD Microsoft .NET Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer.  The last time that I attempted this, 1+ years ago, I failed it with a score of around mid-600’s where the passing score is 700.  Today was a different story.

The exam is broken up into two sections.  Here were my scores:

– 766 on TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 – Distributed Application Development (aka 70-529)
– 809 on PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework (aka 70-549)

So, I believe it just takes the lesser of the two, so I passed it with a 766 score!

Now, I get to relax a little bit after having spent a majority of the last 3 days (actually since Monday) reading two MS Press books:

– 70-529 Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Application Development
– 70-549 Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework

Here are some raw notes regarding some of the questions in the exam that I took right after getting back to my desk:

– 2 policy files?
– axd benefits?
– assert.inconclusive?
– sign, signandencrypt (several questions on message encryption)
– routing, passwordoption.includeaddress or includebody
– ws-addressing or ws-message
– networkcredentials used if usernametoken error
– lots of “evaluate” questions
– logging questions: event log vs db vs text vs axd
– wse attachment, use .Save(bytes) or use SoapContext?
– gacutil vs regasm vs copying if component/assembly can’t be found error
– question about performance spike with an asp.net counter for # of restarts, caused by unknown and disable recycling or caused by config recycling
– use sql server for session state vs moving the business logic to asmx on a “logical design review” question
– is trace filter enabled under wse config section or system.diagnostics?

Since, I’ll most likely be attempting the upgrade path to the MCPD .NET Framework 3.5, I need to hammer these topics that gave me the hardest time.