70-488 Exam Guide: SharePoint 2013 Core Solutions Preparation
The 70-488 exam validates development knowledge for building core SharePoint Server 2013 solutions, including sites and lists, client-side access, apps, deployment, and workflows. Microsoft’s associated Course 20488 material is aimed at developers creating SharePoint solutions in team-based, medium-sized to large development environments. This guide helps you decide whether the exam matches your background, which technical areas to study first, how to practise without relying on dumps, and what to verify before attempting to schedule it.
What does 70-488 validate?
70-488 is associated with Microsoft Course 20488, Developing Microsoft SharePoint Core Solutions. The course material explicitly references the 70-488 Exam and frames the subject around developing SharePoint solutions rather than administering a farm as an isolated infrastructure task.
The evidence available for this exam is a course outline, not a current exam skills-measured document with domain percentages. Therefore, this guide treats the following areas as preparation themes rather than claiming they are the current official weighting: the SharePoint developer landscape, lists and sites, client-side SharePoint development, apps, cloud-hosted apps, deploying apps, and workflows.
The underlying platform scope is broad. Microsoft’s SharePoint 2013 developer material describes workloads including portals and collaboration, search, enterprise content management, web content management, social and communities, Business Connectivity Services, and business intelligence. A candidate should therefore prepare to connect an implementation choice to a SharePoint workload, not just recall isolated API names.
The practical validation target is the ability to reason about a solution across its lifecycle. That includes selecting an appropriate SharePoint object or extension point, retrieving or changing data, packaging or deploying an app, and understanding how the solution fits into a farm or hosted environment.
What the available evidence does not establish
The supplied official research does not provide a current question count, exam duration, passing score, price, language list, delivery method, or current registration status for 70-488. Do not use an unverified figure from a preparation site as a scheduling assumption. Check Microsoft’s current certification and retired-exam information before making a payment or committing to a study deadline.
The research also does not provide blueprint percentages. Any article or practice plan that presents exact domain weights for 70-488 should be checked against a current Microsoft skills outline. In the absence of that evidence, distribute study time according to your experience, the Course 20488 outline, and the weaknesses revealed by hands-on tasks.
Who is the exam best suited to?
The clearest intended audience is a developer who creates SharePoint solutions in a team-based, medium-sized to large development environment. That profile usually includes familiarity with application design, source control, testing, and collaboration with administrators or other developers.
This is a stronger fit for someone who has already built or maintained SharePoint customisations than for a candidate whose only experience is creating lists through the user interface. You should be comfortable reading code, following object relationships, diagnosing failed requests, and explaining why one extension approach is safer or more appropriate than another.
The exam can also suit a developer moving from classic on-premises SharePoint work toward broader Microsoft 365 development, but the platform context must be handled carefully. The 70-488 material is tied to SharePoint Server 2013 and Course 20488, while current SharePoint developer documentation prominently covers SharePoint Framework, Microsoft Graph, REST, webhooks, SharePoint Add-ins, and other modern extensibility options.
Use the exam as a historical platform-specialist objective only if your role, project, or learning plan still requires SharePoint 2013 knowledge. For a new project, compare its technology needs with current Microsoft role-based or applied-skills options rather than assuming an older exam is the best current credential. Microsoft’s mapping article explains how some 70-xxx exams were aligned with newer role-based certifications, but the supplied mapping does not list 70-488 specifically.
A quick readiness test
You are probably ready to begin focused exam preparation if you can explain the difference between a site collection, site, list, library, content database, web application, and farm; build a small solution against a test environment; use client-side access to retrieve and update data; and describe how an app moves from development to deployment.
If those terms are familiar but you cannot implement a small feature without copying an unexamined snippet, begin with lab work before attempting practice questions. The objective is not to memorise a catalogue of classes. It is to understand the object model, request flow, permissions, packaging, and deployment consequences behind a design decision.
Which technical subjects should you study?
Organise your preparation around solution tasks rather than a flat list of product features. Start with SharePoint structure and developer choices, then move through data access, apps, deployment, and workflows. This sequence mirrors the way a real solution is designed and exposes dependencies between topics.
The Course 20488 outline identifies the SharePoint developer landscape, lists and sites, client-side SharePoint development, apps, cloud-hosted apps, deploying apps, and workflows. Use those topics as the primary study map. Add the official developer documentation when a topic requires current conceptual clarification, but keep the exam’s SharePoint 2013 context visible in your notes.
SharePoint structure and solution boundaries
Begin by drawing the hierarchy of a SharePoint Server 2013 environment. Microsoft describes a server farm as the top-level element of the logical architecture, with web applications, content databases, site collections, sites, lists, libraries, and documents occupying progressively narrower scopes.
This hierarchy matters to developers because scope affects URLs, administration, data ownership, deployment, and permissions. When studying a feature, ask where it lives and who can manage it. For example, a site-level customisation should not be treated as though it were automatically a farm-level deployment, and a content database should not be confused with the list or library that stores user-facing content.
Practise translating a requirement into SharePoint objects. For a document approval scenario, identify the site collection boundary, the site or library involved, the columns and content types needed, the actors who require access, and the automation mechanism. This turns terminology into design reasoning.
Lists, sites, and client-side development
Treat lists and sites as the data and navigation foundation of a solution. Study how code identifies a site, locates a list or library, selects fields, handles items, and responds to permissions or missing objects. Do not limit practice to successful reads; include updates, invalid input, and a user who lacks the required access.
The official REST documentation explains that SharePoint REST enables remote interaction with SharePoint data through technologies that support REST web requests. It describes CRUD operations using REST web technologies and OData syntax, with responses served in Atom or JSON formats. Read the documentation at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/sp-add-ins/get-to-know-the-sharepoint-rest-service and reproduce the request flow in your own notes.
Study request construction as a chain: target site, endpoint, HTTP method, headers, payload, authentication context, response format, and error handling. A useful exercise is to write down what changes between reading an item, creating an item, and updating an existing item. Include the effect of a field that is read-only or omitted.
The REST article also notes that client object models remain a primary development option for communicating with SharePoint sites through the .NET Framework, Silverlight, or JavaScript, while REST provides remote access through standard HTTP patterns. Compare the approaches by application context, not by memorising that one universally replaces the other.
Apps and cloud-hosted apps
Study apps as an isolation, hosting, permission, and deployment problem. For each app design, identify which components run inside SharePoint, which components are hosted elsewhere, what data the app accesses, how it authenticates, and how an administrator or user installs it.
The course outline distinguishes apps, cloud-hosted apps, and deploying apps. Build a comparison table for the app types in your study material. Record the hosting location, trust or permission model, configuration points, packaging artifacts, deployment audience, and likely failure modes. This is more useful than a list of definitions because many scenario questions turn on the consequences of a hosting choice.
Create a small app exercise that reads a list and displays a filtered result. Then change one variable: move the user interface or service component outside SharePoint, alter the requested permissions, or deploy to a separate test location. Document what must change in configuration and what should remain inside the SharePoint data boundary.
Be precise about historical and current terminology. The official SharePoint developer documentation now presents SharePoint Framework and other modern options alongside SharePoint Add-ins. That documentation is valuable for understanding the broader developer landscape, but it should not be used to silently replace the SharePoint 2013 topics named in the 20488 material.
Deploying and operating a solution
Deployment knowledge is part of development competence because a feature that works only on a developer workstation is not a finished SharePoint solution. Study packaging, activation, configuration, permissions, environment differences, rollback considerations, and the division of responsibility between developer and farm administrator.
Microsoft’s installation guidance describes deployment through different topologies for testing and implementing SharePoint solutions at different stages of the deployment lifecycle. It covers single-server deployments, multi-server three-tier farms, virtual environments, language packs, and adding web or application servers. Use those examples to understand why a solution may behave differently in a development farm and a more distributed environment.
A practical lab should have separate development and test stages, even if both are virtual. Record prerequisites, deployment steps, configuration values, service dependencies, and verification checks. After installation, test the feature with a normal user account rather than only with an account that has broad administrative rights.
Microsoft’s overview recommends careful planning, phased deployment, ongoing testing, and evaluation. It also identifies physical architecture, installation and configuration, and deployment stages as factors that must be considered alongside the logical SharePoint elements. Treat those recommendations as operational design guidance, not as a promise that a particular topology is required by the exam.
Workflows and the platform’s lifecycle
Workflows deserve focused study, but they also require a current-lifecycle warning. In SharePoint, a workflow automates the movement of documents or list items through actions or tasks related to a business process. Learn how developers author, publish, and extend workflows, then verify how the technology is supported in the environment you intend to use.
Microsoft Support states that SharePoint 2013 workflow was turned off for new tenants on April 2, 2024 and was scheduled for removal from existing tenants on April 2, 2026. Microsoft recommends migrating affected Microsoft 365 workflows to Power Automate or another supported workflow-orchestration solution. These dates and policy details are relevant to technology decisions, but they do not by themselves establish the current availability of the 70-488 exam.
For exam preparation, separate three questions: what the SharePoint 2013 workflow model does, how a professional developer extends or publishes it, and whether the model is appropriate for a new deployment today. Mixing those questions creates poor design decisions and can lead to studying a historical feature without understanding its operational consequences.
If your work depends on a tenant using SharePoint 2013 workflow, review Microsoft’s retirement guidance and inventory dependencies before planning a new implementation. Do not assume that an existing workflow can be treated as a future-proof design merely because it still appears in older course material.
How should you build a practice environment?
Use a controlled lab to make each topic observable: create a site, add a list or library, access it through a supported client technique for the target material, package a small app, deploy it, and test it under different permissions. A lab should produce notes and troubleshooting evidence, not just a successful screenshot.
Microsoft’s installation documentation lists several deployment patterns. A single server with a built-in database is typically used for evaluating SharePoint 2013, while a single server with SQL Server can be scaled to two- and three-tier topologies. The documentation also describes virtual environments and SharePoint 2013 development or test environments in Azure.
A virtual environment is useful for evaluation because Microsoft notes that it offers flexibility, rapid deployment capability, and the ability to roll virtual machines back to earlier states. Before building the lab, check whether you have access to software, directory services, SQL Server, storage, and a supported development toolchain. The supplied evidence does not establish current licensing or compatibility details, so verify those separately in official product documentation.
Do not treat a lab as representative of production merely because it runs. Microsoft warns that farm complexity can make installation and configuration difficult and recommends phased deployment with testing and ongoing evaluation. Keep a written record of what the lab proves and what it cannot prove, especially around scale, high availability, security, and external hosting.
A lab sequence that creates useful evidence
First, create the smallest environment that lets you inspect SharePoint objects and deploy a simple feature. Second, add a list and library with deliberate columns and permissions. Third, implement one read operation and one write operation through the client technique being studied. Fourth, package and deploy an app or solution. Finally, remove or change a dependency and diagnose the resulting failure.
For each task, record the requirement, selected API or extension point, required permissions, deployment artifact, expected result, observed error, and correction. These records become a revision guide tailored to your gaps. They also force you to explain why a solution works, which is more durable than copying commands from a question bank.
What is an efficient study sequence?
Study in dependency order: platform structure first, data and client access second, apps third, deployment fourth, and workflows alongside the lifecycle discussion. Finish with scenario review that combines at least two areas. This sequence prevents you from attempting app or deployment questions without understanding the SharePoint objects and permissions underneath them.
Use the following roadmap as a flexible plan rather than a fixed calendar. The supplied sources do not define how many days or hours preparation requires. Adjust the pace according to prior SharePoint development experience, access to a lab, and the results of your implementation checks.
Stage one: establish the platform model
Read the Course 20488 outline and the SharePoint installation overview. Draw the farm, web application, content database, site collection, site, list, library, and item relationships. Then annotate each boundary with likely administrative, data, or deployment implications.
At the end of this stage, explain a proposed solution without code. Identify its workload, site boundary, data objects, users, hosting assumptions, and deployment path. If you cannot do that, postpone API memorisation and resolve the architecture vocabulary first.
Stage two: implement data access
Use the REST documentation to construct read, create, and update requests against a test site. Compare the request URI, method, headers, payload, and response for each operation. Add a negative test for an invalid resource and another for insufficient permissions.
The REST guidance explains that POST can create entities such as lists and sites, while PUT and MERGE update existing SharePoint objects; it also notes that properties not explicitly set in a MERGE request retain their current values. Verify these behaviours in a safe lab and write down when an operation could overwrite data or fail because of a read-only property.
Stage three: develop and deploy an app
Choose a small business requirement, such as presenting filtered items from a project list. Implement the smallest useful version, then document its hosting location, permission request, configuration, package, and installation steps. Test installation and use with accounts that have different levels of access.
Next, introduce an environmental difference, such as a different site URL or deployment target. The goal is to learn which values belong in configuration and which belong in code. This stage connects the course topics on apps, cloud-hosted apps, and deploying apps.
Stage four: integrate and review
Create scenario cards that combine platform structure, REST or client-side access, app design, and deployment. Each card should ask you to choose an implementation and justify it, not merely name a class or command. Include at least one workflow scenario that asks whether the historical SharePoint 2013 approach is suitable for the stated target environment.
Review mistakes by category: misunderstood object scope, incorrect request construction, missing permission, unsuitable hosting choice, deployment omission, or lifecycle error. Rework the implementation for each category until you can explain the correction without referring to a memorised answer.
Which mistakes waste the most preparation time?
The most damaging mistake is treating dumps as a substitute for implementation knowledge. Memorised or leaked material cannot reliably teach object scope, permissions, request construction, deployment dependencies, or the consequences of a changed environment. Use official documentation and original lab tasks instead, and treat practice questions only as a way to expose topics requiring further study.
Another common error is studying modern SharePoint documentation without marking the boundary between current guidance and the SharePoint 2013 exam context. Microsoft’s developer portal includes modern SharePoint Framework, Microsoft Graph, webhooks, REST, and SharePoint Add-ins resources. Those resources help with orientation, but they should supplement rather than silently redefine the Course 20488 outline.
Candidates also over-focus on successful API calls. A production-minded developer must handle authentication context, permissions, invalid fields, missing lists, response parsing, and partial updates. Add failure cases to every lab so that troubleshooting becomes part of study rather than a last-minute activity.
Do not ignore deployment. A feature’s code may be correct while its package, activation, configuration, hosting, or permissions are wrong. Microsoft’s farm guidance makes clear that planning, preparation, phased deployment, testing, and evaluation are connected activities. A study plan that contains only coding exercises leaves a major reasoning gap.
Finally, do not confuse old course relevance with current platform suitability. SharePoint 2013 workflow is a clear example: it can be an exam topic while also requiring migration or replacement decisions in current Microsoft 365 environments. Record both the historical mechanism and the current lifecycle implication.
A better way to review practice questions
For every missed question, write four lines: the requirement, the object or service involved, the permission or deployment assumption, and the evidence that supports the corrected answer. If you cannot cite a course topic or official documentation page, mark the item for verification instead of turning an uncertain explanation into a fact.
Avoid reconstructing a supposed live exam from online recollections. The official sources supplied here do not publish live questions, and relying on unauthorised question material undermines the practical skill the exam is intended to validate.
What should you verify before scheduling?
Verify the exam’s current listing, eligibility, registration route, delivery options, price, language availability, and any retirement notice directly through Microsoft. None of those details is established by the supplied research snapshot for 70-488, so they should not be inferred from another Microsoft exam or from a third-party catalogue.
Microsoft’s retirement policy states that retired exams cannot be taken and that candidates cannot earn the associated certification or credential after retirement. Already-earned certifications remain on the candidate’s Microsoft Learn transcript. The policy also says that information about exams scheduled for retirement is subject to change, making a current official check essential.
The supplied retirement schedule does not list 70-488 among the examples shown, but absence from that snapshot is not proof that the exam is available or unavailable. Use the official retired-exam page and the current Microsoft credential interface to confirm the position before scheduling.
If your objective is a current career credential rather than historical SharePoint 2013 validation, compare the exam with newer role-based options. Microsoft’s 70-xxx mapping article shows that several older exams were aligned to newer certifications, but it does not provide a replacement entry for 70-488 in the supplied evidence.
A final readiness checklist
Before scheduling, confirm that you can explain the SharePoint hierarchy, select an appropriate client access method for a stated context, construct and troubleshoot basic REST operations, distinguish app hosting and permissions, describe a deployment path, and assess a workflow choice against the platform’s lifecycle.
Then perform one complete lab from requirement through deployment and testing. Keep your notes closed during the explanation phase. If you need to look up every design decision, continue preparation; if you can justify the decisions and use documentation to verify details, move to an official availability check and scheduling decision.
Where should you continue your research?
Use the official course material to define the historical exam scope, the SharePoint developer portal to locate API and extensibility documentation, the REST reference for request behaviour, and the installation guidance for farm and deployment context. Use Microsoft’s credential pages for exam status rather than relying on catalogue listings or claims about dumps.
The most useful next action is to create a source-linked study notebook. Give each topic a page containing the official definition, a small implementation, one failure case, deployment considerations, and questions still requiring verification. This structure keeps preparation evidence-led and makes it clear which knowledge is exam-focused, which is operational, and which reflects current platform guidance.
Official references
Course and developer landscape material: https://download.microsoft.com/download/D/D/8/DD815156-6C73-4DA7-B343-F8719D6DAEFC/Module%201%20-%20Introduction%20to%20the%20SharePoint%20Developer%20Landscape.pptx
SharePoint developer documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/
SharePoint REST service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/sp-add-ins/get-to-know-the-sharepoint-rest-service
SharePoint 2013 installation and configuration overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/install/installation-and-configuration-overview
SharePoint 2013 installation options: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/install/install-for-sharepoint-2013
SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement: https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/SharePoint/platform/sharepoint-2013-workflow-retirement
Retired certification exams: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/retired-certification-exams
Mapping Microsoft 70-xxx exams: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/posts/mapping-microsoft-70-xxx-exams-to-new-role-based-certifications
Conclusion
Prepare for 70-488 by building and explaining small SharePoint 2013 solutions, not by collecting memorised answers. Anchor study in the Course 20488 topics, practise data access and app deployment in a controlled environment, and include permissions, errors, and lifecycle decisions in every review. Before scheduling, verify current exam availability and delivery information through Microsoft because the supplied sources do not establish those details. If your goal is a current credential, also compare this historical exam with Microsoft’s present certification options.
