| The following questions and observations are not designed to help you decide whether you really want to be certified. If you weren't sure of that, you probably wouldn't have read even this far in this book. They are designed to help you to determine how much real work you will face in this pursuit of the elusive OCP prize and what other information you should seek in your quest. Be honest with yourself about the answers; you are the only one who will see them or know the answers anyway, and if you aren't honest with yourself, you are the only one who will face the consequences of the answers. Educational Background Formal education is one important aspect of determining your readiness for the exam. This does not necessarily mean that you must have a degree or that your education must have come from a university or even directly from Oracle (although either of these helps). It only means that you have spent time in pursuit of the information. Have you ever taken any computer classes, either at a university, online, or independently? [Yes or No] If Yes, proceed with questions 2 through 4. If No, continue to question 5. Have any of your classes been on relational databases or relational theory? [Yes or No] If yes, you should be okay with the majority of the Oracle documentation, the concepts covered in this book, and the information included on the exams. If it has been a while since you have worked with relational databases or since you have taken such a class or read anything on it, you might want to brush up on some of the basics and the terminology. It comes back quickly. If No, you might want to look at reading some of the broad books in the area of Oracle, particularly a good Database Administration book such as Oracle 9i The Complete Reference by Kevin Loney and George Koch (McGraw-Hill 2002), or review other titles available at any bookseller. Not only will the additional reading provide you with needed background on the concepts and vocabulary but also will prove to be a valuable reference going forward. Have you taken any database administration classes? [Yes or No] If Yes, you should have a general idea of how things work and what processes are involved in database management systems. If No, you might want to do some searches on your favorite search engine and read some of the exceptional white papers and presentations that have been done on the subject of Oracle 9i administration, or visit Oracle TechNet (http://technet.oracle.com) to see what might be on its site in the line of online training (some are even free) or articles and white papers. You can even download the Oracle 9i database administration manual to peruse at you leisure. Have you done any reading on relational databases? [Yes or No] If Yes, review the requirements for the exam and the suggestions for questions 3 and 4. If you are comfortable with those, you can easily go on to question 5. If No, pursue the recommendations on further reading for both questions 3 and 4. A more well-rounded background will be an asset not only in your exam taking experience but also in your future career.
Hands-On Experience A big key to your success on not only this exam but all the Oracle exams as well is hands-on experience with the product. This is true not only for the exam process but also for your future employment. It is not necessary that you have years of experience administering high transaction or very large databases in a production environment to meet this requirement. It is only suggested that you have interacted with the software on more than a cursory level. Have you installed and worked with (installed, configured, and examined) the Oracle 9i release 2 database software? [Yes or No] If yes, you have a head start on understanding what is going on with the product. Now you need to make sure that you understand the exam objectives and start looking at what it will take to pass not only this exam but the subsequent ones as well. If No, seriously consider getting the installation media and practicing with the product before you have to face the exam situation. It is an advantage to have worked and interacted with the product hands-on before attempting the certification exams. Proceed to the next section about how to gain some hands-on knowledge.
 | Download the candidate certification guide, objectives, and other information about the exams from the Oracle training and certification page on http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/index.html?content.html. |
| You can download the database, although it is in several rather large files that take considerable time to download even over a dedicated high-speed connection, or you can buy trial software from Oracle Store (http://oraclestore.oracle.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?a=b) and for less than $100 get full versions delivered to your door. Install it, break it, fix it, and learn. Install it, configure it, work through some of what you will learn in this Exam Cram 2 book, as well as the following exams. |
Whether you have taken formal training classes to help you to prepare for the exams or are just using written material to study from on your own, preparation is absolutely essential. The $125 fee for each and every try, regardless of your success or failure, is a bit expensive if you have to pay it more than once for a test. And even if your company is reimbursing you for the exams, they won't likely reimburse you for failing one. Having to pay for the same test more than once is at the very least disheartening. You will, therefore, want to do everything that you can to increase your chances of passing the test the first time. Studying will help you to improve those chances. Take the practice exams included with this book along with the sample questions at the end of each chapter. If you don't score well on the chapter questions, study more, concentrating on those areas where you performed poorly. |
