Annotated Skills Measured

These are taken from the Microsoft official exam preparation guides but I have annotated them with direct links to relevant topics in the MSDN documentation:

• Exam 70-536: Microsoft .NET Framework - Application Development Foundation
• Exam 70-562: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development
• Exam 70-561: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development
• Exam 70-505: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development
• Exam 70-503: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Application Development
• Exam 70-564: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications for .NET Framework 3.5
  I have not annotated this exam because the content is almost identical to 70-562. Although the 2.0-equivalent of this exam and the PRO Windows and Enterprise 3.5 exams cover architecture, tiers, modelling, testing, and so on, this exam really doesn't. If you can pass 70-562, you can pass 70-564.
• Exam 70-565: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications for .NET Framework 3.5

Downloads

Download extra slides, sample code, and other resources from my SkyDrive:

Books

When preparing for a Microsoft exam the MS Press Self-Paced Training Kits are a great starting point, but to get a high score or to really learn a technology here are some books that take you further:

• ADO.NET 70-561
  
  • Programming Entity Framework by Julia Lerman
    Clear and detailed, I think it is the best book to learn about the ADO.NET Entity Framework. An updated version covering EF4 will be released soon.
• ASP.NET 70-562
  
  • JavaScript: The Definitive Guide and JavaScript: The Good Parts: if you are unfamilar with JavaScript these will get you up-to-speed.
  • Professional ASP.NET 3.5 SP1 Edition: In C# and VB
    Excellent value for almost 2,000 pages of ASP.NET 3.5 content, but it is weak on AJAX and building custom controls so you'll need other materials too.
  • Advanced ASP.NET AJAX Server Controls for .NET Framework 3.5 (Microsoft .Net Development)
    A good way to learn both AJAX and how to create custom ASP.NET controls, so it works well with more general ASP.NET books to prepare for the ASP.NET 3.5 exam.
• Foundation 70-536
  
  • CLR Via C#: Applied .NET Framework 2.0 Programming by Jeffrey Richter
    Low-level answers to why .NET was designed as it is.
  • C# Programming Language: The Annotated Edition (Microsoft .Net Development)
    More detail than most programmers will ever know about how C# really works.
  • .NET Internationalization: The Developer's Guide to Building
    The most detailed book about globalization and localization issues.
  • Debugging Microsoft .NET 2.0 Applications
    Not just about debugging, it's about doing it right the first time, including using FxCop to find potential problems sooner rather than later.
• Windows Communication Foundation 70-503
  
  • WCF Webcasts by Michele Bustamente
• Workflow 70-504
  
  • Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 3.5
    Helped me get 90%+ on the exam with no existing knowledge
• Windows Forms 70-505
  • Windows Forms 2.0 Programming by Chris Sells

Links

• Windows Forms & Windows Presentation Foundation
  http://windowsclient.net/
• Web Development
  http://www.asp.net/
  http://www.codeplex.com/aspnet/
  http://silverlight.net/
  http://www.asp.net/mvc/ and Free MVC book chapter by Scott Gutherie
  How to Script / Automate IIS7 Configuration
• patterns & practices
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/default.aspx
• Corporate vice president of Microsoft's .NET Developer Division
  Subscribe to Scott Guthrie's blog for early information about Microsoft developer technologies
  • ScottGu's VS 2010 and .NET 4 series of blog posts and his presentation at Linked .NET Users Group
• Microsoft Developer Certifications
  Subscribe to Gerry O'Brien's blog for information about current and future developer certifications
• The Born to Learn blog has information about training and certifications
• Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4 Beta 2 available to download (Web Installer and ISOs)
• Microsoft PDC 2008 and 2009 videos
• Manning Publications with free chapters: ASP.NET AJAX in Action, jQuery in Action, C# In Depth, Microsoft Entity Framework in Action, Silverlight in Action
• Jeffrey Richter's MSDN Articles on BCL topics and CLR via C#, 3rd edition
• LINQ to SQL to Entity Framework conversion template
• Articles about specific .NET technologies
  • How to Add Line Numbers without deploying PDB Files.
  • .NET Security Blog (Assembly-Level Declarative Security articles) 
  • ASP.NET Resources,  articles about compilation and health monitoring features
  • Windows 7 Managed Code APIs
  • Threading
  • Making Your Application UAC Aware, Certified for Vista and the official MSDN documentation
  • Rock the iPhone with ASP.NET MVC
  • iDesign: design guidelines and sample code from Juval Lowry (WCF expert)
  • Brad Abram's Business Apps Example for Silverlight 3 RTM and .NET RIA Services
  • Learn about the new features in SP1 with the .NET Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit