Transcender

One thing I wanted to mention about Transcender. They have great customer service! We actually purchased the software from a friend of mine who had bought it and never used it. We wanted to make sure he could transfer his license to me, so he went to their web site and right there was a method of transferring a license. A few clicks later and I was the new owner. They even let me download the software so I didn't have to wait for the CDs. Maybe it was a common request they got so they added that feature. Great job!

Let's try this again...

Yes, it's been over 7 months since my last post. No, I haven't taken any of the tests yet. Things have been very busy at work and it just fell off my radar screen. It's back on in a big way now. My company is trying to keep our Microsoft Gold Partnership and we need 2 MCADs on staff. We have a small group of developers who work on facilities management software for clients and I am not part of their group. I work for the internal IT department. But we are helping them out with the process (I am preparing their software for Veritest, which is not a fun thing to do). They are sending 2 developers for one of those 7 day bootcamps where they teach the test and have you take it immediately so you don't forget anything. I volunteered privately to my boss that I would also attempt to get my MCAD by the end of the year as a backup.

I bought Transcender's self test software (well, my company did) and it is really nice. I had tried the software that came w/ the MSFT Press book and hated it, so I had a low opinion of self test software. But Transcender is very nice. I got the entire MCSD package with Flash Cards. I ran through each of the 3 MCAD tests (ASP.NET, SQL and XML Web Services) and did the best on SQL. So I chose that as my first test. I bought Que's Exam Cram book for Exam 70-229 (ISBN: 0789731061).

Since I tend to procrastinate, I thought the best idea would be to schedule the test as a deadline. Otherwise, I would just study and never feel "ready". So I scheduled it for October 14 at 9:00 am. Wow, that's close.

My new schedule will be taking the SQL test in October, then the ASP.NET test 4 weeks later, then the Web Services (which I need to study the most) 6 weeks later. That will make me finish right before I go on vacation.

I'll try to post my progress.