It's official - I can program in C#

I finally went and took the first of three exams required to become a Microsoft Certified Software Developer (MCSD).  I opted for the 70-483 Programming in C# exam over the 70-480 Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, though I do plan to take that in the future.

Tips:

1. Study specifically for the exam
   The range of topics is quite large and it is likely there will be questions you are not familiar with.  Topics I was not familiar with:
   
   • Performance Counters
   • GAC tools
   • Specific Crypto Algorithms
2. Carefully read each question
   There can be subtle verbage that helps immediately rule out answers.
   Eg, You need to send large volumes of data securely using a hashing algorithm.  
   This would rule out any encryption algorithms.
3. Get comfortable with the query syntax of LINQ
   I never use the 'query syntax' (eg, from c in collection where ...) and just about every question involving LINQ used that form

Overall

The exam was 55 questions with a maximum allowed time of 120 minutes.  This was more than enough time to read and think about each question before answering.  I finished the exam in just under an hour and never felt time pressure.  At the end, I had mistakenly not answered one question and it informed me of this before letting me end the exam so don't worry about skipping questions.  I do recommend taking the time to read and understand each question which I can't stress enough.  Several times, the supplied code in the question gave away the answer, it just took a second to realize what was being asked.

Bonus

I didn't realize going into it, but by passing a single exam, you are considered a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and have special recognition in the Microsoft Community. I'm excited to start digging into what's included. More on this to come :)