What's your certification study plan?

Question

I am keen to hear how those of you intending to take the MCTS SharePoint 2010 exams plan to study for them. Or, even if certification isn't your thing but you really want to ramp up your SharePoint 2010 knowledge how do you make the best use of your study time. Since no 'exam cram' type books or any books for that matter exists yet how do we really learn the material? Having said that I'm weary of just reading MSDN and blogs because I don't think it is an effective way of studying. I guess pratical experience is needed that encompasses all of the exam objectives, but what exactly am I building?

Answer 1

Here is my study plan for 70-573, you can read this in my blog as well

1. Book

Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Building Solutions for SharePoint 2010 by Sahil Malik

http://apress.com/book/view/1430228652

Sahil is an expert and MVP in SharePoint 2010.He certainly know his field and the book is well written. More importantly Sahil has got very good sense of humor in delivering the knowledge.

2.A development machine

It is of great importance to have a dev machine , you cannot learn a new technology by just reading a book nor by watching some training videos. You need get your hands dirty with SharePoint a lot.

3.Training videos

Since I have one year subscription with learndev , I use them as my learning resources. It is quite cheap , only cost US $99 for a year subscription and you will get not only the SharePoint training but the whole training library .The videos are from Appdev . Appdev training is of high quality.

http://www.appdev.com/

http://www.learndevnow.com/

You can also get the videos from Microsoft SharePoint site. They are pretty good too. But bear in mind , by just watching these videos you will not learn much , you need to build a SharePoint 2010 machine and play with it .Try to write the sample code yourself and not just copy and paste.

4 . Write blogs about your learning. This will motive you in your long journey with SharePoint learning.

5 . Do check out the patterns & practices SharePoint Guidance on codeplex.

http://spg.codeplex.com/

6.Thanks for Becky Bertram,who kindly put up all the exam requirements with links to MSDN

http://blog.beckybertram.com/Lists/Exam%2070573%20Study%20Guide/AllItems.aspx

You could find more SharePoint stuff on my blog http://ybbest.wordpress.com/

Answer 2

The SharePoint 2010 examination details are available on the Microsoft Learning website, include full descriptions of Skill Measured during the exams. Many of these materials are covered in TechNet articles so a lot of the theory can already be built up, and with working knowledge and experience of 2007, quite a few of the exam requirements can be studied up on.

Have a look at this for the 2010 Config exam: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-668&locale=en-us#tab2

Answer 3

The above 2 answers have already given you enough links. I would make my choice as below:

• If I am already working on MOSS 2007 and if I am not yet certified on MOSS 2007, then I will opt to take up MOSS 2007 certification. And later plan for SP2010 certification.

• If I am new to SharePoint world and I have started with SP 2010 version, then I will explore it further by setting up a Server (or use Information Worker VHD). I would go through the 2010 Config Exam points, do self-learning, practise them and more essential go through the Best Practices articles. In this case, I may also have to look for Migration Approaches from 2007 to 2010.

The 2nd path does involve lots of effort - since there are lots and lots of things to understand in SharePoint world.

Answer 4

There might not be any books specifically written to study for the exams but there are a couple of SharePoint 2010 development books out already as can be seen on Amazon, and many more expected soon.

For the developer exams I'd recommend having a look at the SharePoint Developer Center. There are a bunch of good modules that covers a good chunk of the skills measured for the TS Application Development exam. Each module has a video and a hands on lab to give you real experience building each component.

The SharePoint team blog also has a good list of other SharePoint 2010 resources such as the IT Professional hosted virtual hands-on-labs and IT Professional Advanced Training that you can use to get started. Practical experience does always help so I'd suggest working through the skills listed for each exam and trying to build elements you are not sure of is a good way to learn each subject.