So, after giving Bryant a hard time on his blog about posting the beta codes for these two exams, we now find ourselves in a position where uptake from the normal channels is low. Bryant didn’t steal or expose any proprietary information BTW. Just used his smarts and capitalized on a mistake we made with the codes.
As a result of the low numbers of attendees, we are extending the beta period until May 4th for these exams. See my previous post for ASP.NET and ADO.NET with links to the prep guides. We require more people to take these two exams so we can evaluate the performance of the items and determine any problematic areas.
So, if you are well versed in ADO.NET and ASP.NET, even if you don’t want the certification, consider taking one of these exams and giving us your feedback. They are free!
And, in case you didn’t get the beta codes previously, you can register for these exams using;
70-561 – beta code = 561B1
70-562 – beta code = 562B1
Gerry
Thanks! I actually missed my appointment for the ADO.Net exam this morning for work related reasons so I was trying to figure out when I could take it in the next couple of days. Now I have a month!
Ahh, so you were one of the no shows. :-)
I used to do that myself before I started working here at MS. Now, I have no excuses.
Glad the extension allows you to take it.
Actually I just tried to change it and got:
"You have previously taken or scheduled this exam. Microsoft requires that beta exams are only taken or scheduled once."
Arg. Any way to get around this?
Taking this offline with Bryant.
Hello Gerry,
Do you know when WCF and WF Beta Exams results will be avaliable?
Just taken the exam before I was fully prepared.... and you now said exam period EXTENDED!!!!! Why don't say it one day earlier????
With public accessible register code and a looooong exam period. You are going to see illegal materials begin appear in the Internet before the end of beta, and some people take the exams near the end of the period will get extreme high scores.
Those who took the exam at the early dates will certainly become a victim to this special arrangement!!!!
How can we subscribe to beta exams ?
Oh good an extension. I am thankful for the beta exam code and I am registered for the exam in two weeks.
I have a quick question though, is there an upgrade prep guide as I already have the 70-528?
Any idea when we can expect to see the results of the other 3.5 exams? It's a long time from November till now.
Ohhh.. Just spent close to a full day to make it for this one :) Took the two in succession skipping lunch :D
If only I was able to read Gerry's mind ahead and see this coming :) That would have been a few more days worth of knowledge.
I definitely agree that the population should be sufficient to gauge the questions but seeing that this makes all the .NET 3.5 (including previous WCF, WF, WPF beta) extended, there might be the possibility that either not enough time is given for people to adopt to these OR just the beta period is too short.
I gain a lot from preparing a bit and taking these exams and somehow the thought of contributing in my own little way is very much worth the effort. But for a few of us (or could just be me) to find it hard to fit this into schedule (just to end up being extended) might be a hint that something could be wrong.
Tryin my best to advertise and talk people into this but I should ask Trika for say a "Skipped Lunch to take Beta Exam" cap :D
Hope the turn is better the second time around! :)
ASP.NET and ADO.NET Beta Exams Extended
I initially had some issues getting prometric to recognize the code, today, but persistence paid off and after submitting the exact same code three times (I really just did copy and paste) it let me in. Thanks for posting here as yours is one of the few MicroSoft blogs I subscribe to!
For Anthony and Martin.
Because the betas were extended, the results would obviously be affected. We cannot determine passing scores until the beta sessions are complete and we have had opportunity to evaluate the questions.
The exams are scheduled to go live on April 14 and you should start to see results around that time.
Paul, there is no "special arrangement".
The beta exams require a certain number of deliveries before we can ensure psychometrically valid data.
Opening it to the public does not mean that the content will be compromised fast enough for people to take advantage of it by the end of May. Unless you know something I don't. :-)
Forrest,
There isn't an upgrade prep guide in place yet. Just the prep guide that is present on the web page for the exams that are included in the links above.
Kris, if you mean get notification of beta exams, then all you have to do is be an MCP and read your MCP Flash and watch the announcement sections of the MCP sites.
That is the only place these are announced initially and there is no subscription process per se.
Michael, glad you got registered. Must be a ghost in the machine. :-)
Thanks for the kind words as well. It is greatly appreciated.
Hi Gerry:
I'm trying to register for these beta exams through the Prometric webpage, but I can find them in the list.
Please, would you be so kind to telll me how to proceed?
Thank you.
Joe.
Hi Joe,
All of our beta exams start with 71 instead of 70. The numbers change when we switch to live.
Search for 71-561 and 71-562.
Thanks a lot! Now I've found them :-)
> Unless you know something I don't. :-)
I still remember the MCSD to MCPD Upgrade betas. The beta period was as long as 5 weeks. I took all 4 upgrade betas in the first week when they were available since early Feb 2005.
I was suprised to find that the 30 questions in each MCTS related session were identical across all upgrade exams. That means I answered the 30 questions related to 526 / 528 two times and the questions related to 536 three times.
Just the same 30 questions in each session which are easy to remember when you can see it 2/3 times, and you gave ppl 5 weeks of time. (not to memtion some of the horrible stories I heard about some "dirty" test centres...)
I managed to fail 2 of them. I read from MCT newsgroup and leart that some honest MCTs need to take it 3 times to pass. Remember in the UPGRADE exams, you need to pass each individual session to pass the whole exam. I suspect 1 or 2 of the sessions needs a very high %age of correct answers to get through. Why? Please think about that.
I didn't re-take them, as I passed the non-upgrade MCPD betas. I don't know whether the questions in the live UPGRADE exams are still the same as what I saw in betas. It would be disappointing if Microsoft doesn't add new questions to the pool.
This reminds me of airlines offering tickets that cost 0 Euro.
To take the free exams, you still have to pay a $25 fee to the exam centre.
Paul,
The 30 questions you are referring to would be from 70-536 and yes they would be the same across all three upgrades as it forms part of the core requirement.
If someone can remember the questions after sitting 3 exams, they would have no trouble passing the exams from memorization anyway.
Each of the three sections are scored based on the actual exams they are taken from. No one is scored higher than the others. The simple fact is, you MUST pass each session to pass the entire upgrade exam.
The questions you see in a beta exam do not all make it to the live exam, nor will you see them all on one version of a live exam. It depends completely on the performance of the questions on the beta and the item selection process after the beta exam ends.
Andre,
Are you saying that your testing center is charging you $25 to take a beta exam?
If so, please use the contact form on this blog to send an email directly to me with the center's name and location so I can investigate this.
Beta exams are completely free and no test center should be charging any amount for taking one.
Dammit! I just took the ADO.NET exam today thinking it was the last day it was available. I should have known after doing the WCF/WPF/WF ones in the initial period instead of the extended period.
Oh well, the upside is that I won't be boring myself to tears trying to commit all the subtle details of working with DataSets to memory for the next month. :)
Actually, I do have a legitimate comment to make. I had a great deal of difficulty in getting a booking for this exam by the original April 4 deadline. It seems the local test centres were busier than usual and only a cancellation got me in. I thought it may have been due to the exams that were getting discontinued on March 31 but these are so old surely no one is still worried about passing them (MCSE on W2K, anyone?).
Hi Daniel,
I have heard of scheduling difficulties with the beta exams before and it is something that is directly related to how busy your local test centers get.
You would actually be surprised at how many people will either procrastinate on completing a certification, or will seize the opportunity to get or complete the older cert before it retires. The main reason I have found is because they want to take advantage of the upgrade exams.
I know I did that with NT 4 and I also did it with Windows 2000 to Windows 2003. I didn't go that route for my developer certs though.
Exames Beta de .Net 3.5 para MCTS/MCPD
When I read the comments I thought Anthony and Martin were referring to these "other 3.5 exams":
71-502 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Presentation Foundation
71-503 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation
71-504 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Workflow Foundation
Gary, that was my interpretation as well.
Oh ok. That April 14 date confused me. But, yeah, now that I think about it these would not go live by that date if they don't close until may. Forgive me.
Gary, not a problem.
I was confused by the November refernce at first myself and had to read the post a couple of times to make sure I was on track. :-)
I took 71-562 yesterday and, one more time, the exam center screen was flickering like hell (60 hertz or less).
Rant: Why every exam centers where I've been only have old flickering screen ?? This is a such a pain !!
I got a headache in about 15 min... I went to the end of the exam but I was so sick I completely skipped the review session.
So was this useless ??
Laurent,
I am sorry to hear that experience wasn't very good at the testing center.
Unfortunately we can't dictate to the testing centers what they must use for hardware. CRTs are very bad for that when the refresh are set too low or they can't handle higher rates.
It is a shame that you didn't get a chance to comment on the questions. If there are specifics that you can remember, you can use the contact form on this blog to send the comments directly to me.
The data that we collect, in terms of your answers to the questions, will still provide us with something to analyze along with the other candidates.
Hi,
Thanks, but I do not see any contact form ?
Gerry O'Brien said:
> Andre,
> Are you saying that your testing center is charging
> you $25 to take a beta exam?
I have told them about this. Apparently it can be completely free, but you get the lowest priority, they will book you only if there is no scheduling conflict with someone paying for their exam.
If you pay the fee I was talking about, you have the same priority as everyone and thus it's easier for you to find a convenient date/time.
Please use the contact form for this blog to contact me directly.
This is NOT appropriate behavior for the testing centers and I want to know which center it is so it can be investigated further.
Please do not post names etc. publicly on the blog, only mail directly to me using the contact form.
Gerry,
I forgot to mention in my previous post that aside from coming to the exam center less prepared only to know it would be extended for 1 more month (and can't take it again), one disadvantage for this is that those who are willing to devote their time to actually make comments on the exams would not be able to spend more time for it as compared to if they knew they could spread their schedule well over the longer period. Some of us are not SMEs (I for one am not) but I think coming to the exam more prepared would be to the advantage of the exams too. Hope this comment makes sense. :D
I just got a call from my testing center and apparently it has Saturday times listed on Prometric's site but they aren't open on any Saturday. Unfortunately I can't make any weekday test times right now so I am going to have to miss out on the Beta experience.
Sorry to threadcrap but this just seems to be par for the course from Prometric.
As you probably already saw from Gerry, we extended the dates of two beta exams and you are invited to
Luckily we managed 2 of us to get in on the 30th of April. Cram sessions now...
Hi Gerry,
it turns out that I've taken the exams in a situation similar to S. Y. Paul Lai. It was a "exam marathon". Due to lack of available seats in my city, I've booked 5 exams (the 2 betas included) for 2 days only to another city. Couldn't provide (due to test center's closing time) comments to any questions (finished the exams with the test center lady almost jumping in to the exam room). I can remember some issues, and I'll send them through the contact form.
But, as ryangaraygay said, it's a fantastic experience taking part of these betas, and being able to provide any kind of help in creating the live exam.
Keep the good work.
Regards,
Renato
If these exams' beta periods have been extended till May 14, what are the new launch dates expected to be?
The previously-expected launch dates were May 12 for 70-561, and May 21 for 70-562.
Hi Alice,
As a result of the extensions, the new live dates are forecast to be June 30, 2008 for both exams.
Three of our .NET 3.5 exams went live today.  70-502: Windows Presentation Foundation 70-503: Windows
If there is one thing you should know about Visual Studio 2008 certifications... it is that there are
As Gerry mentioned in his blog, WPF , WCF and WF exams went live on Monday last week. As you may already
Hey Gerry
Can the exam centres charge for work setting up the exam?
Hi Niall,
Prometric exam centers cannot charge candidates any fee for any reason to take a Microsoft beta exam.
If this is taking place, please notify me about it immediately.
Thanks
Well if I could find the email link I would send you an email.. You can get mine from Trika..
Why I cannot take exam in 4 May?
I scheduled to pass 70-561 exam on 2 May, but regional test center cannot accept it at me, because my country 1,2,3 May holidays.
I have tried to rescheduled the exam date for May, 4th, but register.prometric.com does not allow to me it to make. Why?
Are you plan to extend the beta period again? There is too little information about ADO.NET EF, Sync.
You can send me the particulars in a post. I moderate all posts so the information will not be displayed on the blog.
I disabled the email link because I was being bombarded with email everyday from people asking me questions that were already on the blog. It was too much to read while still trying to get work done.
Hi Michael,
The beta will not be extended beyond May 4th. The content on the exam is based on information that is currently available for EF and Sync so you will be able to find sufficient information publicly for this.
Also, May 4 is a Sunday and you testing center may not be open on that day which is why you cannot schedule it for May 4th.
May 4 is a Sunday, but my regional testing center will work in this day. (In my country this Sunday May 4 is working day!)
The problem in that, the site register.prometric.com does not allow me to schedule it for Math 4th.
When is 71-505 beta scheduled to be available?
Also, when will the PRO level exams for .NET 3.5 available in beta?
Hi Titus,
All of these exams won't be in beta form until the fall of 2008. I don't have exact dates at this time, sorry.
I really wanted to take both beta exams, but couldn't get a sit in my citi in any test center for since the last week.
I'm already MCPD for .NET 2.0, so I don't need to take these exams as I would wait for the PRO upgrade, but anyway, I would really like to have a preview of what is coming, and this beta would really help.
Is there, by any chance it will be extended once more?
Marcio
Hi Marcio,
I'm sorry but the beta will not be extended beyond May 4th.
I was scheduled to take 71-562 this Saturday, but wanted to reschedule to another state. However, Prometric does not give you that option, so I tried to cancel and re-sign up. However, Prometric doesn't give you that option either for beta exams.
What should I do?
Hi Larry,
You are correct that Prometric does not allow reschedule of beta exams. Once you have registered for a beta exam, you cannot register again.
At this point in time, where the exam ends on May 4, there isn't much you can do about it as the time lines are too close.
Can you still take it in the same location you originally scheduled it?
> You are correct that Prometric does not allow reschedule of beta exams.
No, it is possible to reschedule beta exams. I did this (changed the ADO beta form 2-May to 30-April and another test centre in a neighbouring city) on the web site without any problem.
The issue is that the web site does not allow to reschedule tests to another state or country. This can be very inconvenient for people living near a border - and is one of the web issues Prometric should address.
Do I have to take the exam by the 4 or register by the 4?
Thanks! by the way, I wish I saw this earlier.
Hi Luke,
You need to take the exam by the 4th. That is the last day it is available for a candidate to sit.
Martin,
Sorry, I thought you meant that you cancelled and then tried to schedule again. Yes, rescheduling is allowed although I wasn't aware there was an issue with changing it to another state.
Fine that Nialls issue has been resolved. But the answers leaves a question open:
Can a test centre charge people, who booked (and paid - even with a voucher or coupon) their appointment through the Prometric Web Page, an additional fee? I always thought they could not - the price from Prometric includes any test centre costs. And for me it worked that way. It would be very unpleasant to arrive at a centre just to be presented with another bill.
Gerry, could you please comment on this?
I'm glad you translated that because I had no idea what it said. :-)
That is perfectly understandable for a test center to misunderstand procedures when they are new and are just starting to deliver tests.
I'm glad they got the correct message and it has been resolved. Communication is or has gone out to all Prometric test centers, from Prometric, reminding the centers that there is to be no fee whatsoever charged to any candidate for a beta exam on Microsoft technologies.
HI Martin,
No Prometric center is to charge any fee for a Microsoft beta exam, at any time or for any reason. Prometric is making that understood at all of their test centers worldwide.
As far as voucher go, that would depend on the conditions of the voucher but my understanding is that the fee you pay on the website is all that is required.
If you are asked to pay another fee upon arrival at a test center, ask that the fee be justified and you be shown the Prometric rationale for the extra fee. Ask for a receipt and the Prometric contact details for that test center. Ask for the justification in writing with a signature.
If the fee is legitimate, they will provide all of this. If it is not, they will waive the fee. If you are charge for any reason, let me know by posting here, I moderate all posts so it won't be public, and I will look into it on an individual basis to ensure there isn't something that I am unaware of.
When are the results for these beta exams, 70-561 & 70-562 going to be out ?
When they are out, where can i check to see the results?
Thanks.
Hi Tarique,
I don't have definite dates for the results on these. They will be available when the exams go live and appear on your transcript, if you passed, or on the Prometric site for your history, plus, you will also receive an email indicating your results if you pass.
Sorry I can't offer any definite dates. The fact is, we need to review and evaluate the exam items and sometimes there may be issues that make results take longer, such as item rewrites etc.
I can only tell you that when you see the exam go live, the results will follow.
Any updates on when these exams will go live (and the beta exam results be available)?
I second what TitusT asked. That website claims it is "expected in June 2008". Well here it is, June 2008. Don't make me tap my foot like Larry Craig :^)
Personally I'm one who likes to learn from textbooks. How are we doing for the 70-56* Training Kits? The TK for 70-536 worked for me, despite its typoes. The 70-561 is also "expected in June 2008" but I haven't seen anything in Amazon or B&N. And I can't find any O'Reilly books dedicated to certification (although they do have an intriguing "ADO.NET 3.5 cookbook").
Hi David,
I hope your foot is tapping because the wait is not over. :-)
Although our schedules are typically decided well in advance and we stick to them as closely as possible, there are time when we take detours from the schedules for various reasons and this causes delays.
The reasons can be simple or complex, but non are wasteful. They are all designed to help ensure a better exam to market and with your help by taking the beta test, we are able to do that.
Now, as for the Training Kits, I'm not able to answer the release date question at this time, but I can check with the planners for these and see when they expect them to be released.
Remember that the books people deal with more issues than we do for exams. They have to work with authors, editors, publishers and retailers and that is a process that requires a lot of moving parts.
Authors don't start work on the titles until we give them a completed exam design so they ensure mapping to objectives.
Product release cycles hamper the ability to get access to RTM bits of software or delay refreshes of the content.
Edit passes and code rewrites are often necessary and cause delays.
I could go on but I won't, it will only bore you.
At any rate, hand type, tap the foot, and you'll have your results soon. :-)
I just found on your site a comment from <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/gerryo/archive/2008/05/21/visual-studio-2008-certification-live-meeting-reminder.aspx#8543979">Tarique</a>: the 70-561 & -562 exams are delayed "until August". That much at least helps me prepare my study schedule.
Hopefully <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-562.mspx">the prep guide website</a> will get in sync with this news, so the bookstores won't have to deal with angry nerds.
Hi Gerry, I took 70-562 Beta exam late May. Still waiting on the results, any news on when we might get the results?
Hi Chris,
I expect the results to be available in the August time frame. We are holding the item selection and scoring tomorrow and Friday for 561 an 562.
This could facilitate the results being available in July but I'm just being a little pessimistic and not setting expectations too soon. :-)
Exam result for 70-562 ASP.NET has been updated in Prometric site!
No results for 70-561 ADO.NET yet!
But wait, 561 comes before 562 numerically. :-)
Any idea when the results for 70-561 will be available?
Titus
All I can tell you at this point in time is that the results are in the hands of Prometric so it is out of my hands and influence at this time.
I suspect shortly but I don't have a specific date for you, sorry.
Yes, the results are there. I also received a email indicating the status. I passed and order the welcome kit.
I haven't received a email about the exam but the status of the exam in the prometric site is "Passed". WTF?
Anybody got results for 70-561 ADO.NET?
both 561 and 562 shown as "passed" in Prometric. Only 562 on MCP transcript now. I expect it will be updated in a few days.
Too good both passed. I was not well prepared for these 2 exams, as I no longer have the time I had to play with new toys.
The prometric website indicates that I have "passed" (must have been updated from "tested" during the past few hours) and it appears that while I was writing this my MCP transcript has been updated, too. I'm still waiting for an email and I'm not yet able to build my new logo or order a welcome kit...
As this kind of information seems to be propagated through batch updates, I guess we'll be receiving emails some time later today. Based on last week's experience (when we received ASP.NET 3.5 results) I'd expect the partner website to be updated within a few hours after that, too.
Today results for ADO.NET appeared (at least for me) - passed (same as 4 previous exams on .Net 3.5), thank you for betas, already saved me a lot of money :).
The status for my beta exam ASP.NET is still tested. Why?
Michael,
It could be simply that your record hasn't been updated yet. You can call Prometric to see if they have any information for you. If not, repost and I will dig a little deeper for you.
I posted question about any information about my ASP.NET exam via online form (prometic.com). But not receive answer.
I doubt that posting to a forum will provide you with a resolution. My suggestion was to call them on the phone or send them an email with the pertinent information.
Talking to them directly is the best option.
Garry, my english is not very well. I think that I will don't understand by phone.
What is prometric support email?
There are regional centers that allow you to contact someone in your native language.
http://prometric.com/ContactUs/default.htm
This site has a link at the bottom where you can choose the regional center for your location. It also has email information for contacting Prometric.
I cannot help you with this until you get in touch with Prometric first. They can resolve the issue unless there is a problem on Microsoft's end. At that time, I can step in and seek a resolution but you must contact them first to resolve this.
ps Gerry is spelled with an e not an a. :-)
Just checking to see if anyone has heard any news regarding the release of the TS training kits as I'm another one who like to train from the books, and this seems to be the only place I can find anything being said other than 'Expected June 2008' or 'Coming Soon'
Thanks in advance for any info
Mark
Hi delradie,
The best I can offer at this time is this post, http://blogs.msdn.com/gerryo/archive/2008/08/08/visual-studio-2008-certification-training-kits.aspx
If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here
Subscribe to this post's comments using RSS