UPDATE: In comments, someone posted this link: http://www.midnightmonkey.co.uk/blog/blogging/?page_id=5.  It looks good to me too.

I passed the MOSS technical exam today, entitled "Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Application Development".  I found the exam to be pretty rigorous and that it matched up quite well with Microsoft’s preparation guide.

I’ve been working with MOSS on a daily basis and nothing beats actual hands-on experience for all of these exams.

That said, I took note of what I was studying as I studied.  I believe that all of these resources are helpful, particularly as a means of reinforcing that hands-on experience.

Many of those links led to more links and I tended to follow them up to about 3 levels deep.

I wouldn’t say that everything I read directly applied to the exam, but I don’t regret reading any of it and even if some bits were not directly relevant. It’s all good stuff to know and I strongly recommend the material for all aspiring well-rounded MOSS developers.

I passed the "Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET" exam today in the great state of NJ at the venerable offices of SolarTech in Hasbrouck Heights.

I put this exam up there with BizTalk in terms of difficulty.  You can’t fake your way through it.

To study, I used the the MCAD/MCSD Self Paced Training kit book entitled Developing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET.

Microsoft guidelines (here) are exactly correct IMO.  The book addresses everything and if you have a modicum or real-world experience, it should be a straight-forward exam.  If not, take the time get some real world experience or at least execute the labs in the book.  That will probably give you what you need.

I even go so far as to recommend the book to pro’s, especially self-taught people like myself.  It covers some basic stuff which I just never had a reason to stumble upon in my travels and I’m kicking myself a little bit for never having taken the time to learn them.

I took and passed the above mentioned test this morning. I found the exam to be difficult and fair.

There is a relative dearth of information on this exam on the web. I’m not sure why.

I obviously won’t get into any detail about the exam I took, but I think I can safely say the following:

1. Trust this link: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-541.mspx.

   It lists what you need to know to pass the exam and it’s, IMO, very accurate.

2. The link also recommends Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by Ted Pattison & Daniel Larson. This book covers nearly all the subjects that the test addresses. I found it to be great in and of itself beyond simple exam prep. It provides great examples and really got me thinking about some new and interesting things to try. If you want to skip a few bits in the book, just cross-reference the book’s TOC with the items in the link from above.
3. Nothing beats actual hands-on experience. If you have time and interest, follow along with the examples in the book and then experiment with them. You’ll have an easier time on the exam as well as really learn WSS application programming.

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