One of advantages of using Visual Studio .NET is ease of deploying an application. There are many deployment options available in .NET and you must have a clear understanding of using these deployment options. You will get many scenario-based questions in which your understanding of deployment options will be checked.

There will be a few questions that stress more on optimizing code/deployment to increase performance.

Configuring a Windows application is also one of areas that will be tested and you need to have an understanding about configuration options available. MSDN provides an article that gives useful information about configuration options.

Security is one of key considerations of any application. Microsoft has taken a great initiative to give many options to secure .NET application. You must ensure that you have a thorough understanding about security policy and also about tools available in .NET to secure application.

Tips and Pitfalls for MCSD 70-316 Exam Roadmaps to skills development and career opportunities that Microsoft .NET platform provides for developers and recommended learning pathways through Official Microsoft Learning Products and Microsoft Press books are available now. In addition to your hands-on experience working with product, you may want to take advantage of tools and training on Get Started with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Development page to help you prepare.

Dos and Don'ts during exam and while preparing for it

Dynamic control creation is important to know. Microsoft is focusing more on user-driven content than static content with .NET. Make sure you understand how to create .NET satellite assemblies and localized components. A portion of this has to do with what operating system name and version you have, but there are specific steps you can take to package and deploy your application properly. Focus your data studies on what works optimally with SQL Server.

Brush up on stored procedures if you're a little rusty. Understand different types of SQL Server authentication as well as different types of authentication offered by Windows operating systems. Sure you can pick out code errors when given examples. Specifically, know how to resolve looping errors, import errors, and general syntax errors.

Make sure you understand Windows Installer technology and how it relates to applications written in Visual Studio .NET. If you're not a developer who's focused on enterprise-based applications, you may not have a lot of exposure to localization and globalization of software. This is one area where Microsoft believes a certified developer should have a significant background.

Make sure you understand how security works in .NET. Understand which accounts have privileges to run which sections of code. Although it may be a little bit of work, study .NET policy extensions and how they fit into operating systems your company is running. We must not forget legacy environments.

Make sure you brush up on ActiveX controls from Visual Studio 6.0. Know how to instantiate control and work with it in new environment. It is especially important to understand how legacy components interact with .NET development environment.

Learn how to use DataSet object to generate XML and vice versa. You should know how to create schemas and validate data, as well as create strongly typed datasets. Overall, you are expected to have a thorough understanding of XML as in .NET to succeed in MCSD 70-316 exam. Conclusion With Microsoft targeting all its future applications on .NET and companies adopting Microsoft new initiative, it is quite obvious that .NET is going to pave its way for future and will be Microsoft's weapon for its future vision. .NET is a major leap of Microsoft with intranet in mind. Getting knowledge of .NET and eventually MCSD .NET certification will certainly help you in maintaining consistency with future releases of Microsoft. Useful Resources Books

Following good books are available at time of writing this document, which are written specifically from MCP exam point of view.

·MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Windows-Based Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic.NET and Microsoft Visual C#.NET, Second Edition by Matthew A. Stoecker/Microsoft

·MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-316): Developing and Implementing Windows-Based Applications with Visual C# and Visual Studio .NET by Amit Kalani ·MCAD/MCSD EXAM (70-316) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, WITH HANDS ON LABS, Developping WINDOWS APPLICATIONS WITH Visual C# [eBook: Adobe Reader] by Mike Wright

Other than these, following are some good books on subject:

·Programming C#, Third Edition by Jesse Liberty

·Windows Forms Programming in C# by Chris Sells ·Professional C#, Second Edition by Simon Robinson, K. Scott Allen, Ollie Cornes, Jay Glynn, Zach Greenvoss, Burton Harvey, Christian Nagel, Morgan Skinner, Karli Watson ·Microsoft Visual C# .NET Language Reference by Microsoft Corporation ·Inside C#, Second Edition by Tom Archer, Andrew Whitechapel

·C# and .NET Platform, Second Edition by Andrew Troelsen

When you are ready to prepare for MCSD 70-316 exam, here's where you should start.

Instructor-led Courses for this exam include:

ØCourse 2389: Programming with Microsoft ADO .NET ØCourse 2555: Developing Microsoft .NET Applications for Windows (Visual C# .NET) Microsoft Online Resources

·TechNet: Designed for IT professionals, this site includes How-to's, best practices, downloads, technical chats, and much more. ·MSDN: The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) is a reference for developers, featuring code samples, technical articles, newsgroups, chats, and more. ·Training & Certification Newsgroups: A newsgroup exists for every Microsoft certification. By participating in ongoing dialogue, you take advantage of a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with and ask questions of others, including more than 750 Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) worldwide.

Apart from that, there are other useful sites as follows:

·www.Gotdotnmet.com ·www.codeproject.com ·www.csharpcorner.com ·www.developer.com ·www.mcpmag.com

Exam Simulators Whizlabs, market leader in IT Certification Exam Preparation, provides MCSD .NET 70-316 Exam Simulator. The simulator is quite useful and effective in fine-tuning your preparation within a limited timeframe. Certification Forums Certification forums are a very good resource to align you preparation with your peers. Whizlabs MCSD .NET Certification Forum facilitates such a platform for you to succeed in 70-316 exam and enhance your learning experience.

What kinds are there?

There are many online and offline personality tests. One can just do a local search on Google to explore your options. Three I like, have experience with, and recommend include:

Myers-Briggs Personality Tests: based on Carl Jung's theories yet made understandable to us regular people-- this test comes from a view that there are 4 main ways people differ in thinking and interacting. These 4 areas can than be combined for a total of 16 personality types.

The Enneagram Psychospiritual Typology: this tests breaks down personalities into 9 general categories with understanding that there are many sub-types and differing distinctions possible.

The Max Luscher Color Test: (Warning: although tempting-- This is NOT a novelty test-- NEVER use it as such!!!) Dr. Luscher believed that colors carry deep psyco-emotional responses when viewed. Based on order preference for 8 colors a tremendous amount of information can be given about a person's current state.

Where Can we get them?

Many coaches, therapists, pastors, counselors have access to and certifications (when needed) to administer these tests. There are also online versions of these tests for quick general typing that can be helpful.

I recommend taking test in conjunction with someone else who will go over it with you.

If you do choose to go it alone and take a simplified version online, be aware as you read results that it was only deciphering who you are and how you are most likely to respond at that given point in time. Utilize results always with an outlook on how you can better inter-relate to other people.

If you would like to talk more about some of these tests -- Feel free to contact me. Until next time--- all best, Kate