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Exam Objectives
The exam objectives are broken up into five different categories. The 70-599 exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.
The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.
The objectives for Exam 70-599 as stated by Microsoft are as follows:
Designing Data Access Strategies (19%)
- Send and receive data.
- Design a data storage strategy.
- Plan for bandwidth limitations and implement network connectivity detection.
This objective may include but is not limited to: design connection mechanisms for communicating with external web services; plan how to consume and parse data from web services (for example, WCF and WS*); ensure a trusted transfer of data to and from a phone
This objective may include but is not limited to: differentiate between persistent and transient data; determine when to use isolated storage; plan for size limitations of isolated storage; design cloud-based storage
This objective may include but is not limited to: plan for disconnected scenarios; plan for low network bandwidth
Designing and Implementing Notification Strategies (17%)
- Plan for and implement push notifications in the application.
- Plan for and implement push notifications on the server.
- Create and update live tiles.
This objective may include but is not limited to: choose method for notifying user of application’s state/status (tile, toast, RAW); respond to notifications; registration for notifications
This objective may include but is not limited to: when to use toast, tile, and raw; plan for receiving the unique device URL
This objective may include but is not limited to: update background image, numbers, and text
Working with Platform APIs, Tasks, and Choosers (21%)
- Design and implement sensor interaction.
- Plan for and implement the use of Tasks and Choosers.
- Plan for and implement multitouch and gestures.
- Design and implement application navigation.
This objective may include but is not limited to: choose which sensors are appropriate for your application; design location awareness (when to use different levels of GeopositionAccuracy); location awareness system setting
This objective may include but is not limited to: manipulation events (ManipulationStarted, ManipulationCompleted, ManipulationDelta)
This objective may include but is not limited to: pass parameters (NavigationContext API), manipulate the navigation stack (NavigationService API), use of the Back button, PhoneApplicationPage class and PhoneApplicationFrame class and the difference between these two classes
Designing the Application Architecture (21%)
- Design for threading.
- Monitor and tune performance.
- Manage the application life cycle.
- Prepare the application to meet Windows Phone marketplace requirements.
This objective may include but is not limited to: use of the composition thread
This objective may include but is not limited to: frame rate counter; cache visualization; redraw regions; bitmap caching; memory usage limitations; plan for power consumption; tune bandwidth consumption; performance counters
This objective may include but is not limited to: tombstoning; response to PhoneApplicationService events (Launching, Activated, Deactivated, Closing)
This objective may include but is not limited to: Windows Phone Application Certification Requirements; design for localization and globalization; plan for trial versions; work with WMAppManifest.xml; design for icon requirements for marketplace
Designing the User Interface and User Experience (22%)
- Design for separation of concerns.
- Design Windows Phone control usage.
- Recommend keyboard layout for a given situation.
- Design for system themes, accent color, and screen orientation.
This objective may include but is not limited to: presentation patterns that use view models, MVVM
This objective may include but is not limited to: design control usage as described in UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone; design proper use of PanoramaControl and PivotControl; choose when to use the Panorama Control and PivotControl; recommend when to use ApplicationBar
This objective may include but is not limited to: InputScope property
This objective may include but is not limited to: built-in styles that use system themes and accent colors, ApplicationBar icons (size, transparency), landscape, portrait
Where to Go from Here
The 70-599 exam counts as credit toward the Microsoft Certified Professional Developer: Windows Phone Developer certification.
In order to earn this certification, candidates must also pass the following exams:
- Exam 70-506 TS: Silverlight 4 Development
- Exam 70-516 TS: Accessing Data With Microsoft .NET Framework 4
It is worth noting that in order to retain this certification, candidates must pass a recertification exam every two years.
Have you taken the 70-599 exam? Share your experiences by posting to the <thread name here> thread in our forums.