Summary
This is the first post on preparing for exam 70-480 Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3.
It has been sometime since I posted about starting this, so this will be a bit of catch up, where I am now and how I intend to continue.
The Exam
Firstly, if you haven't already then review the exam 70-480 contents.
It is really important to review the exam and what it is testing AND being hugely confident in the subject matter before taking the test.
So, the first job I wanted to do was to assess my starting point.
Assessment
I've used the http://smarterer.com site to take a quick assessment on my abilities. The site is fairly new me (seems fairly new anyway) and seems to work of community provided questions.
As such, you can probably question the validity of the test results, and even individual questions, but it certainly gives enough of a subjective assessment. A test is measured up to 800 points, and is graded as follows:
- 780+ Master
- 700-779 Expert
- 450-699 Proficient
- 300-449 Familiar
- < 300 Beginner
I would suggest at this point I should be aiming at Master level for all relevant tests.
Ok ... time to show and tell. I'm fairly happy with most of the results (as a starting point) - but all areas really need work.
HTML to begin with. Nicely in the Proficient.
There is also a HTML5 test. This I actually score higher on - this is likely to be because I've recently started reading up on it - and thus fresher in my mind. Not much of a leap to take it up to the Expert level.
CSS again was in the Proficient level.
Again, a separate test for CSS3. This was considerably lower. No great surprise on this as I've not really researched with greatly. This is the first in the Familiar category.
JavaScript again is in the Proficient level.
jQuery however was the real disappointment - and actually rather disappointing to me. This is the only skill within the Beginner category.
While tempting to re-test, I have decided against it. Smarterer appears to have a limited amount of questions and I fear that it would be very easy to see repeats - and thus effectively just learn the question. This of course wouldn't help at all.
As such I will hold off re-testing until I believe I have worked through the relevant level of study.
Learning so far ...
Recently I've been reading HTML & CSS: Design and Build Web Sites
This book was recommended to me by my Development Team leader and it is a really good book.
For me, there was certainly a good amount of basics - but there was more than enough advice and best practice for me to enjoy. It isn't deep enough to pass the exam ... but was a good warm up.
I'd also say that it is a really good book for providing design advice - really good for me having more of technical background.
So where next ...
I found that a good few people have already been before me and written study guides:
After a quick review I've decided to start with the Blogged By Chris.
I'll update once I've worked through it.