Taking another Microsoft exam blatantly demostrates how different is a day-to-day programming experience with ASP.Net and a formal requirements of certification: till the very end of the exam session, when the thrilling «Congratulations...» screen apperared, I wasn't quite sure about my chances to pass it.

Here some of the topics were covered:

• mobile controls (to be hones, i've never used any),
• master pages,
• membership (authorization, profile),
• deployment (compiling, publishing),
• localization (as for me, related question has some deviation from the best practices, when instead of using declarative syntax for implicit user interface translation, it was offering to access resources in code as a single correct option),
• configuration,
• a little bit about accessing SQL Server data with ADO.Net classes,
• a single question about XML and schema validation,
• Web parts,
• usage of Web Site Administration Tool.

To my surprise, there were no single mention of data binding expressions (for me, this is corner-stone of the whole ASP.Net 2.0 hype). Also, the correct usage of standard controls wasn't adequately addressed. Nor the understanding of Page life-cycle -OR- event system was tested.

From organisation point, the time given for exam was a way too much, as for me. They give 2.5 hour (including extra 30 min. for non-english examinee). I was done in an hour, having reviewed 45 all question twice.

All in all, my score is 876 of 1000 (while a passing score is 700). The chances are high i'll got my MCT in some months.