Best ways to study for a huge VB6 competition test?

I am competing in this competition for visual basic programming. last year i entered and took the regional test and placed first, then i went on to state and got 5, missing my chance at nationals and a scholarship by 1 place. anyways i re entered this year and the regional test is tomorrow. The test covers beginners things all the way up to and including, reading data from files, built in vb functions and loops plus more.... this stuff is pretty easy but i dont want to get overconfident... anyways, what is the best way to review or study for this test tomorrow? i go over my books but i think there is probably a better way. please help.

A better way with only 1 day left?

I would say coding is the best way to learn, but if you have to do your test tomorrow you maybe are running out of time...

Try to throw together a sample project with the kind of things that
will be on the test and see how much you can do without using
help (or even intellisence for a real challenge.) Add as many things
in as you can think of. The whole project doesn't have to make
much sense, but it will really reinforce what you know. And the
things you can't remember will tell you what you still need to
study.

You can use this program I've been using to pass my VB6 Desktop Certification exam. It's pretty cool, it's a quiz program that comes with loads of braindumps and stuff.

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?5000000037636

Gonzo, you may have the answer to something I was just fixing to post to a new thread. Im reading in a book here that there is some kind of a certificate for Visual Basic, though I can not find any information on microsoft.com. Is this certificate still offered? Anyone know anything about it? Where to get? etc.

Thanks,
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Look at This Page (http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/default.asp)

If you're into programming, you would be getting on the MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer) track. There are three core exams and one elective. The VB6 Desktop is one of the electives. Pass any of the exams, however and you get the MCP (Microsoft Certified Profession) title.

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcsd/default.asp

Thanks Reboot, Gonzo, that splains it. I was at that site last night, but just did not see VB desktop certificate.

Anyway, I apprish,
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Whatever you do, stay away from braindump sites. If you are
going to go to trouble and expense to study and take one of
these tests, do it honestly.

Do it honestly, yes, but honestly, some of those Microsoft questions and scenarios are pretty out there. Not only that, but you're also often times answering questions not trying to think of what is the right way to do something, but trying to think of how Microsoft wants you to word the solution.

I imagine that you could probably take someone who's totally proficient as a network administrator, someone who knows all the ins and outs and hows and whys of everything that comes up in the real world, and there'd still be a chance that the way Microsoft words their questions and constructs their scenarios, our real world admin still wouldn't pass some of those MCSE exams.

As a student, you can know your Microsoft reference tests inside and out and still totally bomb those tests.

Or, you can know your stuff, but hedge your bets by checking out the braindumps. I know I'd never pay my $100 (or whatever it is now) and go in there without some serious study of the braindumps.

On the other hand, some people will choose to study braindumps only and memorize all the answers without having a clue as to what it all means, but if they somehow manage to BS their way through a job interview, they're still going to end up getting what they deserve when they get canned before the lunch break.

It's true that these people do cheapen the value of the certs somewhat, but hey, it's really what you know and where you've worked and how you've performed that should count and not the amount of letters next to your name.

Maybe you don't realize that when you take a MS Cert test, you
have to give your consent to their rules. Those rules include not
revealing any info about the tests to others. Those who post that
stuff on brain dump sites are breaking a legal agreement when
they do it. On top of that, there is no guarantee that the answers
they give are the correct ones. The simple answers you get on
the tests you should know from study and experience. The hard
ones can be reasoned out, but those are the ones people are
most likely to put up and give the wrong answer (and most likely
get the question wrong too.) These tests aren't supposes to be
passed by students who know the references, they are supposed
to be measures of knowledge and experience. No one who really
has the knowledge and experience and reasoning ability fails, so
yes it does matter when people cheat their way in. It isn't the
letters after your name, it is the confidence in what you know,
not just the facts, but reading a problem and logically figuring out
the solution.

>On top of that, there is no guarantee that the answers
they give are the correct ones.

I've never taken the answers for granted, I use each question as a point from which to study from.

I respect what you're saying, though. I think it was just a different atmosphere where I came from, going $10,000 into debt and dedicating seven months to a school, you wanted to make sure you walked out of there with something to show for it. When you're done with school, if you're straight up with your employer and tell them you have no experience and are willing to learn, they look at your certification as more of a confirmation that you have the brains to learn the stuff on the job.

I won't attempt to argue with you over the morality of using braindumps - your argument is morally unassailable. It doesn't make it right, but the reality of it is that I don't think there was a single student where I went to school who gave using the braindumps a second thought.

For $10,000 you could have gone to college and gotten a degree. Most employers respect that more than certs.

Where were you when I was planning my life??? :rolleyes: ;)

You can think of these technical schools as the quick re-entry option for people who don't have 4 years to futz around college taking classes they never wanted to take in the first place and working some menial job the whole time to pay rent and make it through college so they can get a real job 4 years later.

Your suggestion is good advice for someone just coming out of high school, but most of the people at the school (myself included) were one career removed from high school.

I graduated from college at the ripe old age of 32. :)

And yes, I worked 2 menial jobs to pay the rent. And it wasn't a lot of fun. But hey....

One can do whatever one sets ones mind to.....

Wow, I'm impressed. Does your major apply to what you're currently doing?

Computer Science... so yes it does. Course, let's not discuss the 3 times I dropped out of college before that. :)

When I was "someone just coming out of high school", as you said, I thought college meant beer and women. Some of us take a while to grow up.....:p

>Course, let's not discuss the 3 times I dropped out of college before that.

Hey, fourth time's a charm, I guess. ;) There's definately something to be said for your stick-to-it-iveness.

As someone coming out of high school, I bypassed the college completely and went straight for the beer and women. After nine years of playing in bands and making a pretty descent living teaching music lessons, I had two music stores go out of business on me in the span of six months.

That was a pretty good inspiration to re-evaluate my life and I realized that, although I'd had a blast and I was **** lucky I didn't have AIDS, I was hitting my thirties and still living month to month. The bohemian life style lost all it's former luster right there.