Product Reviews

Transcender C#-Cert/Windows 7.0

• By Mike Gunderloy
• 10/02/2002

Transcender's C# practice exam tool installed easily for me, and the online server delivered a license key without any problems as soon as I remembered what my Transcender password was. Inside, there are three separate practice exams for the C#-Windows MCAD exam (70-316), as well as a mode that delivers random questions. The Transcender interface does a faithful job of simulating what you'll see in the testing center (except, of course, the testing center won't let you take a break to work on other stuff on the same computer), and the exam questions seem true to the Microsoft format. There is not a lot of code here; I'd say 50% or more of the questions would work equally well on the VB .NET exam (70-306). That's appropriate, because the exams aren't supposed to be about syntax.

When you're done with the exam, you can get a traditional scoring report in the same format that Microsoft uses, telling you whether you managed to pass or not. But then, as you'd expect from a training product, you can go back and review the questions and see the right answers. Each answer is explained so you can see the rationale that the item writer had in mind (and argue with it if you like). For many answers, there are hyperlinks back to MSDN for the information straight from the horse's mouth. You can also take the exam in an instant-graded format, which allows you to see how you did on each question as you answer it. This may work better for focused study, though of course it's not as good a simulation of the real thing.

You won't learn the material from a simulation, of course. But combine this tool with a good study guide, and you'll be on your way to passing one of the core MCAD/MCSD exams.