Re: Oracle DBA certification

I took the test about 3 weeks ago, and I'll give you my opinions for what they're worth:

I didn't think the test wasn't that hard. Having said that, I should also point out that I've been doing the DBA thing since 1991. However, as I look back on my career, I believe that I could have passed it with about 1-1/2 years of Oracle7 experience. BTW, I guess I'm one of the few and the proud who passed it on the first try. I didn't realize so many people don't pass at first.

I think that the hardest part of the test was a series of about 15 to20 questions having to do wih a case study. You're presented with a pile of information about a system - including tuning information from SQL*DBA Monitor, INIT.ORA parameters, user/role/security info, and some notes about the application itself. You are then asked a series of questions such as, "If FRED creates a table, which tablespace will it be created in?", "The users are having rollback segment problems; what's the most likely cause?", etc. The tough thing is that some of the information that you're presented is relevant to the questions, and some of it is not. Your job is to determine which information will help you answer the case study questions.

There are also a few obscure questions that should be updated. For example, what does the OPSON/OPSOFF parameter in SQL*Net v1 do? SQL*Net v1 is a dead duck as of v7.3, so why continue to ask questions about it? There are a couple more questions in there having to do with old products that might throw you if you haven't been using Oracle that long.

My advice is to study *your* applications and databases that you support. And get really familiar with the data dictionary, if you aren't already.

Good luck... -Mike C.

Frank Rodgers <frodgers_at_interserv.com> wrote in article <01bbfd00$8c5c30e0$8deb2399_at_toshiba>...
> Oracle Press has a new book out that has several chapters discussing the
> certification test and has some sample questions. The title is Advanced
> Oracle Tuning and Administration -- ISBN Number: 0-07-882241-6 -- Oracle
> Part Number; A48099.
>
> Unless you will be taking the test to see what is on it, I am not sure
 one
> year of experience is enough to get you through this test. I've heard it
> is quite difficult and the pass rate is very low for first time takers.
>
>
>
> venki srini <venkatesh_srinivasan_at_sdt.com> wrote in article
> <5agseg$kmi_at_aadt.sdt.com>...
> > hi everyone:
> >
> > I am planning to take the ORACLE DBA exam. I have been a DBA for the
> > ... snip ...
> >
>
  Received on Thu Jan 30 1997 - 00:00:00 CET