Re: Help! - OCP DBA - Books/Training Classes, etc...

Hi Jay,
I also got my certification recently, but I took only the Oracle Backup & Recovery class. I practiced a lot on my machine which is s Sun sparc 2 and crashed it like 7 times a week and even made some foolish mistakes.

According to me, the key to OCP is lot of study of manuals and hands on practice.
Well, that is all I can say. still if you want to talk, write me a mail.

Regards,

Ajay Arora
aarora_at_flash.net

Diebold wrote:

> Jay,
>
> I recently got my Oracle certification, and the Oracle certification given
> by the Chauncey group. The book you mention was not out yet, so here is how
> I went about it.
>
> I took the four classes (Intro to SQL, DBA, Backup and Recovery, Performance
> Tuning) given by Oracle (I am lucky, my boss believes in spending money for
> training). Then, I got the practice tests from self-test software. I went
> through each test until I could answer all questions correctly every time.
> At this point, then I would go to Sylvan and take the tests. I passed every
> test the first time, never missing more than 5 out of 60 questions. The
> self-test software tests were very close to the actual tests, a few
> questions were even word for word.
>
> After I had taken all the Oracle tests, I decided I might as well take the
> Chauncey test. I got the practice test for this from DOC Software, and
> again took the practices until I could answer all questions. I passed this
> on my first try, but Chauncey does not give you any score or indication of
> how well you did, other than PASS. I have to say, this test is MUCH harder
> than the Oracle tests, and I think it is probably a closer to real-life of
> what a DBA should know. For every Oracle test, I felt confident when I got
> to the end that I passed. With the Chauncey test, I was really sweating.
> Could hardly hold the mouse still enough to click the end button! Glad I
> passed the first time, I would hate to have to take that one again.
>
> HTH,
>
> --
> Brett A. Berger -
> Oracle Certified Database Administrator
> Chauncey Certified Database Administrator
> Sr. Support Representative
> Diebold Inc.
> Customer & Technology Support Center
> bergerb_at_diebolddotcom
>
> Jay Quinn wrote in message <35e4ced8.379989896_at_news>...
> >Hi all:
> >
> >I have on and off again tampered with the idea of taking the the OCP
> >exams and have researched over a short period of time various
> >expensive ways to get the training to take the exams. At least
> >expensive seemed to be the only thing I found to get the education.
> >
> >I just came across the book by J. Couchman "Oracle Ceritified
> >Professional DBA Exam Guide" book. ISBN 0-07-882549-0 for $100 at
> >Barnes and Nobels. Pretty darn cheap compared to the other avenues.
> >It makes a lot of claims that folks have used his to to learn and
> >demonstrate knowledge of Oracle 7 and upgrade exam to Oracle 8.
> >
> >I'm wondering if anyone out here has aquired thier OCP or knows of
> >someone who has and can put me in touch with them to share their
> >experience using this book and method.
> >
> >I do have one great reservation and regardless of how you were
> >educated, the exams you took. After reading in the book, the exam
> >format and practice seemed to be VERY similair to the Microsoft MCSE
> >exams for network professionals.
> >
> >I have taken several of those exams and I learned the hard way that
> >Microsoft is a sneaky, dirty, tricky, bastard when it come down to
> >taking their exams. In fact, a lot of what it takes to pass (long
> >story cut short here...) is to shell out big $ to take "Special"
> >classes and pay big $ for "Special" Practice exam CD's in order to
> >pass the exams they give. Other wise, your not educated in the right
> >stuff in which you'll be examed. IOW, don't buy the regular MS Press
> >stuff because the emphasis focus isn't on what you need at the time to
> >pass the test.
> >
> >Anyway, I'm looking for some real life feedback, advise and general
> >things like: If it's too good to be true..."
> >
> >Thanks and looking forward to lots of overwhelming responses!
> >
> >Jay Quinn
> >jpquinn_at_home.com
> >
Received on Thu Aug 27 1998 - 00:00:00 CEST