Shortcut upgrades from MCSD or MCAD to MCPD

For MCSDs, there is a shortcut to attaining MCPD (Enterprise Developer) by clearing the following exams -

1. 70-553 - Upgrade MCSD to MCPD Enterprise Applications Developer - Part 1
2. 70-554 - Upgrade MCSD to MCPD Enterprise Applications Developer - Part 2

For MCADs, there is a shortcut to attaining MCPD (Web/Windows Developer) by clearing just 1 of the following exams -

1. 70-551 - Upgrade MCAD to MCPD Web Developer OR
2. 70-552 - Upgrade MCAD to MCPD Windows Developer

Exam 70-536 (.NET 2.0 Foundation) Study Guide

Following are all the existing sources directly targeted towards studying for the 70-536 exam –

I Free sources –
1) Study guides with MSDN links –
· Prepare for the 70-536 Certification Exam
· 70-536: Microsoft Certification Study Guide
2) Study guides with some content [& MSDN links] –
· Cram Session Study Guide for 70-536
· C# Online Microsoft Exam 70-536 Study Guide
· .NET Framework 2.0 Foundation Wikibook
3) Online Microsoft sources –
· Preparation Guide for Exam 70-536
· .NET Framework 2.0 Programming in Visual Studio
· Webcasts on Modern Software Development Using C#
· .NET Framework Programming Virtual Lab
· MSDN TV [Filter by .NET Framework]
· .NET Framework 2.0 SDK
· Visual C# 2005 Express Edition

II Paid sources –
1) Books –
· MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536)
· MCTS 70-536 Exam Prep(Exam Cram 2)
2) ELearning – 2956E =
· Collection 5160: Core development (16-hour series) &
· Collection 5161: Advanced development (14-hour series)
3) Sample Exams –
· TestKing
· Transcender
· MeasureUp
· SelfTest

III Other sources – (relevant to, but not targeting this exam)
1) Free Magazine - MSDN Magazine
2) Books -
. CLR via C# Second Edition
. Programming Microsoft® Visual C#® 2005

New generation of Microsoft Certification (MCPD) exams released worldwide!

The wait is over! Following are the 2 exams relevant to the main MCPD track (MCPD Enterprise Applications Developer) that have been released -

• .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation (Exam 70-536)
• Web Applications (Exam 70-528)

Also, for those of you who are after instant gratification; completing just these 2 released exams will automatically earn you a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification in Web Applications.

The .NET 2.0 Foundation exam (70-536) will also count as credit towards all other MCTS certifications.

I have already posted a study guide for the web applications exam (70-528) in a previous blog entry and updated the same entry with some additional free content that has become available.

Will also post a study guide for the .NET 2.0 Foundation exam (70-536) very shortly.