Preparation for Oracle Certification Exams
My personal experience:
I used four sources.
1. Couchman's book - DBA Exam Certification Guide
2. The EXAM CRAM series (one for each test)
3. STS.com self test software
4. NETg.com computer based training modules
I read the books, did all the questions and exercises, completed all the CBT modules and then took the entire 300 question self test. Used 80% correct on self test for my trigger to schedule the real test. Usually had to repeat the whole process at least twice before attaining the 80% mark and then usually exceeded it. I scored 90% average on all six tests (five for 8 and then the 8i upgrade). Pitfall - self test begins to loose it's value if it is repeated more than about three or four times. You are memorizing questions instead of building reasoning capability. NETg ($1375) and STS ($99 each test) stuff is not cheap but is very very helpful. What's $2000 bucks compared to all the long money you are going to make as a senior DBA with certs? Put it on your credit card!
As far as the SQL exam, it is mostly a recognition exam - you have to be able to recognize when things are not right. Also, know your joins - specifically, equijoin is any join with an equal sign in the WHERE clause, non-equijoin is anything BUT an equal sign and outer join is anything with the outer join operator (+) in it. You must be able to study the tables and know which side the outer join operator should be on.
Another thing they tested me on in the SQL exam was looking at table structure descriptions and determining whether a particular INSERT would work. Sometimes they will not put the data in the right order and sometimes the datatypes won't match the columns and sometimes they will leave out a "not null" column. Stuff like that.
Definitely know exactly where everything goes in the PL/SQL block - as in declarative, execution and exception handling sections. Make sure you know which section an error is defined in, which section an error is raised in and which section it is handled in. Also, remember that, once control is passed to the exception handler, the execution section is over with; control will not return to it. After the exception is handled, processing will cease.
These are just a few things I saw on the exam. Good luck, study hard and mail us back and let us know how you did.
-Loren
