Re: Oracle 8i Certified DBA Tests - Performance Tuning

ericsanderz_at_yahoo.com (Eric Sanders) wrote in message news:<492ad215.0301162032.42cf5064_at_posting.google.com>...

> Any insight on how difficult the P.T. test is would be helpful.

Not sure about the 8i, but I just finished the 9i PT exam. I studied using both 8i practice exams and the Sybex 9i study guide (which was error-riddled but useful).

Personally, I found PT exam to be the most disappointing of the bunch, and the content was easier than DBA II. A lot of the questions really seemed "gimmicky". Some of it had merit (the latch questions, the SQL tuning, etc.)... The 8i exam questions seemed more apt to ask about cache-hit ratios, the 9i exam questions talked a bit more about wait events. It still had quite a few silly hit-ratio questions and "bigger pool == faster" answers.

If you want study assistance, I'd suggest the Osborne/Oracle press 8i practice exam book. It had decent questions reflecting the exam contents.

Now that I'm OCP, I can see why many are rather downtrodden on the whole thing -- you don't really need to be an experienced DBA to pass these exams. I'm a developer, not a DBA... I just wanted a badge on the resume for the clueless-clients that want certs. *shrug* .. Most of the real knowledge out there is in the sources Howard mentioned previously. Practically speaking, the only major plus for OCP was that it motivated me to actually learn RMAN in some depth (from the manuals, doing my own experiments, etc.) And I can consider taking OCM some day (assuming it's paid for :)

Cheers
Stu Received on Sun Jan 19 2003 - 01:38:03 CST