This guide is for the SharePoint 2013 Developing Core Solutions exam. It covers material listed under the Skills Measured section titled Plan and Design SharePoint Sites. These types of questions should cover between 10% - 15% of the material. If you find this guide helpful, let me and the content creators know on Twitter.
Manage the site life cycle.
This objective may include but is not limited to: create a delayed site collection, manage site collection disposition, identify inactive site collections, back up and archive site collection data
SPWeb.LastItemModifiedDate Property [MSDN]
SPSite.LastContentModifiedDate
SharePoint StackExchange: What does SPSite.LastContentModifiedDate track? (If you find this useful, upvote the question and the answer! Pay attention to PirateEric's comment on the answer as well.)
SPSite.LastSecurityModifedDate [MSDN]
Backup-SPSite [MSDN]
Configuring SharePoint 2013 Farm with PowerShell, Jeff Adkin [Twitter] [Blog]
Create content types.
This objective may include but is not limited to: subscribe to published content types, choose appropriate content type creation, use Schema Development, create content types using Object Model, create site columns, use content type inheritance
Understanding SharePoint 2013: Part 4 - Conventional Development, Sahil Malik [Twitter] [Blog]
Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2013: Chapter 9 SharePoint Lists
Manage content type behaviors.
This objective may include but is not limited to: manage event receivers, manage workflow associations, manage policies, manage document templates
SharePoint 2013 Workflow - Advanced Topics, Andrew Connell [Twitter] [Blog]
Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2013: Chapter 9 SharePoint Lists
Implement site provisioning.
This objective may include but is not limited to: create site definitions, create web templates, implement feature stapling, implement custom provisioning code
SharePoint 2013 Developer Ramp-Up - Part 5, Andrew Connell [Twitter] [Blog]
Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2013: Chapter 11 SharePoint Site Provisioning
Branding SharePoint 2013 My Sites with Feature Stapling
Self-Service Site Provisioning using Apps for SharePoint 2013
Feature Stapling