>What it would be:
>- compliation of examples and links based on the posted study guide

Hi Evan, great thought but...

I did this with the 71-100 beta exam and regretted it afterward. I ended up putting way too much thought into what could be covered and reading between the lines of the official topic list on the exam page, that I ended up getting myself off track. Come exam day, the questions where exactly what the exam outline listed. And I mean exactly! In fact they even came in the exact same order... it was eerie. My stomach fell about 15 floors as I started in becuase I knew right away what that I took on the exam outline to be generic or broad points to cover, where actually the specifics & represented exactly what I was hit with. (and I kicked myself for the study guide effort the whole way thru 3 coronas in an hour following the exam)

So IOW, I went overboard with a study guide for the same reason you mention - I couldnt imagine going in without one. So far overboard I missed the point unfortunately - the real tough cutting edge techie stuff & M$ salespitch buzznyms I knew inside & out (assuming they would be there via read-between-the-lines mentality) and guess what, it wasnt on the exam. What was on the exam was handed to me on the outline - major bummer.

Think about it this way. The exam outline posted on the website is the exact same outline they developed the questions from. So the way I see it that is the ultimate study guide. Plus too "beta exam" means it not tried & true yet, and each topic will most likely have 2-3 questions hit on that area so that they can throw out the ones people dont get afterward. So I'm gonna follow the frame of mind Garrett F. had with the 71-100 - it's a beta exam, either you know it or you dont, so what's the point in studying your butt off since you get the free exam voucher regardless.

And one more thing worth considering - look at all of the core language exam outlines. *All* the MCSD exams have a base design & analysis topic that is the same on each exam. And in my opinion, that's the hard part of the exams if you know your tool well. (and it was the area I worried about the least on the 71-100 and boy was I in for a surprise!!!) So what I'm planning on doing is looking at the design/analysis part of the published VB study guides that are out there now, and I downloaded some demo's from Transcender.com on other core exams just to pull out the design theory practice questions. Afterall - good design & analysis skills shouldn't have an effect on which tool your using.

On another note I'm scheduled to do the 70-055 (FP98) exam this coming Friday. And I'm applying this "stick strictly to the exam outline as a study guide" theory... I let you know how it works. Plus too the same core design/analysis topic is apart of this exam also, so I'm anxious to see how similar it is to what I seen on the 71-100.