Three of our .NET 3.5 exams went live today.
70-502: Windows Presentation Foundation
70-503: Windows Communication Foundation
70-504: Windows Workflow Foundation
That means the scoring for the beta exam is complete and those who took the beta exams should start to see the results sometime this week. For those of who will pass it, my congratulations. For those who will not, at least the exam was free, and you now know what to expect for the live version.
For those who took the betas, thank you very much for your feedback and comments. They went a long way to help us release a better exam that will be relevant and contain questions that will test appropriate knowledge.
On a similar note, remember that the beta exams for ASP.NET and ADO.NET were extended. See my previous post on that subject. If you haven't taken a beta exam before, I suggest you try one. They count towards your certification if you pass and they are free.
Gerry
PingBack from http://microsoftnews.askpcdoc.com/?p=2404
Link: WCF, WPF, WF exams live today
Hi,
I have mentioned this to someone before but I don't think I got an answer - why are these under the category of .Net 3.5 when they are infact part of .Net 3.0?
Regards
Ben
Hi Ben,
these exams also cover the new features which were added to wpf/wf/wcf in .NET 3.5.
Mathias
Mathias is correct. Although WPF, WCF and WF were introduced in .NET 3.0, the release in that version was in the form of extensions to Visual Studio 2005. We do not typically release exams for extension products or off the normal product lifecycle.
The decision was to wait and release the exams along with the Visual Studio 2008 product release, which meant the version would be 3.5.
Hi Gerry,
Thanks for the heads up!
What is the quickest way to find out the results?
When viewing testing history on Prometric the status of the exam is still listed as "Tested". Will this change to pass or fail when results are received?
Or will our MCP transcript be updated first.
Cheers.
-Iain
Hi Iain,
Yes, the result will change to indicate pass or fail and your transcript should be updated around the same time.
Finally! The results of the beta exams are starting to show up.
Prometric has updated results for 70-502. Hopefully, they will update 70-503 and 70-504 soon!
Yeap, my 70-502 just updated. Too bad I failed. :(
Is there a consolation prize? :)
Hey Gerry,
Any ideas/guesses around when SQL 2008 exams will be going in to beta?
Bryant, sorry to hear about that. I can't even judge the exam as I haven't taken it yet myself. I'm interested in looking at the stats for it though to see how many passed and failed.
My suspicions are that it was a hard exam for a new technology and not many have sufficient experience with WPF yet.
The only consolation I can offer is that you helped make the exam better with your feedback. :-)
Hi Peter,
The only two exams that are at a stage where beta can be scheduled are 70-432(DBA) and 70-448(BI), both MCTS exams.
You should see those in beta around late June or early July.
I took the WPF Beta Exam in February. My results are not up yet on Prometric. When should I start worrying?
Prometric has updated results for 71-503 WCF.
It seems like they are taking about two days for each exam. By this rate, we should be seeing results for 71-504 Windows WF by early next week.
Prometric has published results for 71-504 Win WF too!
Hi Jacob, no reasons to worry.
Keep an eye on the results, ensuring you refresh the page.
If it doesn't show uo by the middle of next week, remind me and I will check into it for you.
For those of us who failed (and the lucky few who passed), I'm curious as to something - are we going to get a score report to give us some kind of relative idea of where we had trouble? (I know that when I take beta exams for Sun, I receive a score report in the mail a week or two after the pass/fail is available online, which gives me some idea of where I had trouble.)
WF result is there, but WCF is still in 'Tested' state.
While I can see my MCTS WF in the online transcript I can't download or order the certificate. Could you please look into this or shall I contact the regional service centre?
As Gerry mentioned in his blog, WPF , WCF and WF exams went live on Monday last week. As you may already
Does passing a beta exam earn Charter Member Certification?
If so is this recognised on transcripts/downloadable certificates?
Thanks.
Iain
Hi Gerry
Recently I bought the material for 70-536 and started with it. I wish to go till MCPD for .NET 3.5.
But I am not very clear with the path. The corrosponding links on Microsoft site are still not active.
Will there be Enterprise Application Developer for 3.5? How many exams I need to clear for that? ...
Where will I get a clear picture about this?
Also I am from India-Bangalore, I dint hear about the 3.5 exams here. Are they really available all over or yet not launched..?
Thank you very much.
Mahesh.
Martin,
Yes, please contact your regional service center for resolution on ordering the certificate. I suspect it's just a simple lag in the system for getting all things in place for you transcript and the authorization to order the certificate.
Hi Mahesh,
There will be an Enterprise Application Developer for 3.5, yes. The links are not active on the site yet because the exams are not complete yet. Once we have the content in place, those links will go live and you will be able to see the requirements.
You have plenty of time so you can concentrate on the MCTS first. 70-536 is a good start.
The .NET 3.5 exam announcements typically are made in the MCP Flash when they go live. You should be able to access 70-502, 70-503 and 70-504 now. The remainder of the exams are not finished yet so you will not be able to register for them.
Iain,
I'm sorry to say that we do not have a Charter Member program in place for .NET 3.5 so, the answer is that it won't count.
Hi Ted,
You will not receive a breakdown typical of what you see with Live exams for the betas.
Mahesh
The Certification pages for .NET 3.5 exams were updated late last week. Trika's blog has details.
Are there any benefits of Charter Member program other than the Certificate with 'Charter Member' status?
Hi Titus,
None that I am aware of, other than having that distinction on your certificate.
Only 2 exam results available for me. The remaining one (502) is still 'tested'. What's the problem here?
Usually, exams with delayed results are those I am well prepared and have most confidence to pass. I will assume that my score is higher than 1000 after the normalization, so that Microsoft cannot process my exam record normally.
Thanks Gerry, Thanks Titus
That was very helpful.
That is just exactly what happened Paul. You scored so high, we have to figure out how to transfer the remaining credits over to future exams. :-)
They don't all get updated at similar intervals but I suspect that you should see it soon.
If not by the end of this week, then let me know and I will check into it for you.
It is 2008-04-25 14:00 Friday in my location. The exam record for 071-502 is still 'Tested'. 503 and 504 are already on my transcript. The difference between them is that 503 and 504 were taken in one test center, while 502 was taken in another test center.
Lai, Sheung Yin Paul
I have contacted Prometric about the delays in results and they are working diligently to get these records updated.
Please be patient.
I took the exams 503 and 502 ( december/07 and january/08 ) but both exams are as "Tested" in the prometric website yet.
do you have any information about the delay with some of the results?
Thanks,
Felipe Ferreira
Felipe,
please see my post immediately above your post.
Prometric are working on getting the results posted. Please be patient.
i'm sorry but this is getting ridiculous.i know that waiting 6-8 weeks for the results is part of the deal with beta exams. for me however it's already been a month past this period (i took the wpf beta on 24th of january); when microsoft finally released the results, now it's prometric 'working diligently' on getting them out to people, as if they had milions of candidates to deal with. if the delay is not on Microsoft's side, the people at prometric should be pressed far beyond a simple declaration that they are 'working on it'.you know/remember that betas count towards certifications, which means they also count towards MS partnership programs; therefore, obtaining the results as fast as possible is not only about being able to pat yourself on the back if you get a 'pass',it's about being able to plan your certification paths effectively, and, for your company, to plan future relationship with Microsoft.
The delayed one is now shown as 'Passed' in Prometric, but the transcript has not updated yet.
My MCTS WCF has finally appeared on the transcript.
But it is still not possible to order or download the certificates. I phoned the help desk, they said they need to configure something (?) and it may take a few days. That was two weeks ago. Did anybody here manage to order one of these new certificates?
I just read emails regarding my results today, passed WF but received another one saying I failed.
There seems to be no indication however what exams I failed and since I took WPF and WCF too I had to idea which one the email refers to. Of course I checked my prometric history and there I knew failed both. If I'm right and it's not impossible to have the exam number/ID or name in the failure notification too, it would be helpful especially for those signing up for exam thru testing centers and not accessing their prometric accounts directly.
Congratulations on the betas, hope to see more improvements and keep up the good work.
Hi Ryan,
I wasn't aware that there was no indication on the email as to which exam it was referring to.
I will do some investigation into that and see what the issues are.
Thanks for the heads-up.
The Welcome Kits and Certificates for these exams are still not available to be ordered from the MCP site. I understand that the kits or shipped from a 3rd party service provider. Any idea how long it takes for these to be available for ordering?
Thanks
These should be available by now. Please contact your regional service center to have them address this issue.
They are shipped from a 3rd party provider yes, but they should be available within a couple of days of the exam going live.
I saw "Preparation Guide for Exam 70-505" on Microsoft Learning.
Under Microsoft Press books it shows **MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-526): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Windows-Based Client Development**
- Its just a time gap arrangement before MS Press comes with a book for 70-505? (By when the books are expected?)
or
- MS Press never plans a book for 70-505? (70-526 will always be the book for 70-505 exam)
I was just checking the MCP site to order the Welcome Kits and Certificates for these exams, but they are not available. Noting the comment by Titus, and your response to that, I actually contacted my Regional Support Center last week about this. And they said that actions would be taken to correct the matter.
But until now, there is still no sign of them at the MCP site. Is this a general issue? Or am I just one of the few that is experiencing this delay?
Thanks in advance,
Regards,
Meile
Hmmm, disturbing for sure.
Let me dig into it internally and check with those who own that.
After many attempts at getting the relevant information from MCP Support, I finally got a response stating that the kits will be available by May 19th.
But the kits are still not available for ordering. Could you please alert the concerned people internally?
Titus
I am working on this internally to identify the issue and get it rectified.
Still not sure what the issue is at this time though.
Hang tight.
HI THERE
I FINISHED MY MCPS IN XP AND SERVER2003, NEARLY 2MONTHS AGO, BUT STILL I DINT RECEIVED THE CERTIFICATES. CAN YOU PLEASE CHECK MY STATUS
HI THERE,
I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not but, we do not send the welcome kits automatically anymore. You must sign into your MCP account on the MCP site and order your welcome kits.
If you are having problems with the order or you have placed the order and have not received your kit yet, please contact your regional service center for assistance. These service centers are in place to help you with your issues.
Because I cannot determine your location, I am unable to provide you with the correct contact information for your service center at this time, but the necessary phone numbers are on the MCP site.
Let me know if you are still having issues after working with your service center or ordering your welcome kits.
Thanks for your efforts!
Finally, I was able to order the Welcom Kits today!
Gerry,
The .NET 3.5 Kits show up as Charter Member Kits in the MCP site.
Is it by mistake?
Or, did something change recently (earlier you said that there is no charter program for these)?
Apparently somebody decided to let these certs allow charter member but my understanding is that moving forward, the Charter Member status may not continue to be available.
I received my welcome kit last week. The kit did not have the breakup sheet of the strength areas (you know the one that says in which areas I am strong and which areas needs improvement).
I took the TFS 2005 beta last year and did receive this break up with the kit.
I just wanted to check whether you no longer provide this for beta exams or whether it is just a shiping issue.
I believe we are no longer providing that breakdown with beta exams.
I will do a little research internally to see if that is the case, but the last discussion we had indicated these reports would no longer be provided.
I believe it is mostly around the alignment of the areas tested and the rescoring.
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