It's Official - I Can Develop ASP.NET MVC Web Applications

Recently, I finally decided to go down and take the 70-486 Developing ASP.NET MVC Web Applications exam which is the second of three exams required to become a Microsoft Certified Software Developer (MCSD).

This exam was actually easier (for me, at least) than the 70-483 Programming in C# exam. If you have worked on an MVC project for 2+ years, this should be a piece of cake.

Tips:

1. Carefully read each question
   For questions which were fill-in-the-blanks, often the answer would be obvious without needing to read the question (can answer purely based on syntax). However, there were cases where an answer to a given question would be revealed in sample code for another question.
2. First Chance Exceptions
   I think this was the only topic I really did not have much experience with. Make sure you know what First Chance Exceptions are and how they work!
3. Configuration File Security
   Make sure you understand how to secure parts of your configuration file (like connection strings).

Overall

If you have a few years experience working with MVC, this test will be a no-brainer. I was able to finish the exam in 45 minutes and for many of the questions, the answer was trivially obvious (based on syntax) or something that you really should know. I felt the breadth of topics was waaaay smaller than for the Programming in C# exam so studying was fairly easy. In this case, I am fairly confident that even without studying, I would have passed this exam with no problems.

Being the second of three exams, passing did not increase my standing as far as Certification Titles. With the first exam, I became an MCP. This exam, I remain an MCP. With the next exam (70-487 Developing Microsoft Azure and Web Services) I will achieve the Microsoft Certified Software Developer (MCSD) Title.

Happy Coding!