Re: OCP test resources... SOLVED!!!

From: Rahul Dandekar <orcldba_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 07:24:04 -0500
Message-Id: <10693.122927@fatcity.com>

DBAs,

Following are my experiences about OCP paper 2. I would not like to attract OCP Police so I won't be disclosing any questions from the exam...

I passed.
I scored 59 / 63 wherein passing was 43.

1. This exam was pretty simple. Simpler than SQL - PL/SQL exam. Practical experience would take you a long way and should be enough to 'pass' this exam.
2. Some areas which are not commonly touched in routine admin work, are covered.
3. Testing environment was similar to Self Test Software Sample test.
4. I highly recommend the pdf guide at cramsession.com. That was a great resource.
5. There were a couple of questions meant just to ensure that noone passes 100% :) Questions were very simple and answers I knew for sure. But the alternatives were so confusing... After using that stuff in almost all 5-6 projects I have worked on, I couldn't have gone wrong. But none of the alternatives were 100% correct and more than 1 appeared to be 'best answer'.
6. I missed one question, which was a jinx, I missed it all the times in practice exams also and when I saw it I knew I am gonna miss. Bad preparation. Worse to know that you made this mistake 5-6 time and you are making it again.
7. I missed one question which I could not understand how. ;-)

Rating of preparation material used...

1. Notes at cramsession.com - Excellent resource. Very close.
2. dbasupport.com sample questions - Too simple
3. Brainbench.com test - Okay, buy not close though
4. STSware sample test - Good simulation of exam environment
5. Text Books -

   DBA Handbook by Loney - Was useful
   Backup and Recovery - Rama Velapuri

        I studied this mainly for understanding Rollback segments. Great text. But

        not much useful for OCP
6. As always Oracle Manuals were of good reference. 7. Take a printout of OCP checklist and keep on refering it all the time.

But let me warn you guys. These are my views and from my experiene. I have heard that STSware complete test set and Oracle ILT notes or CDROM are supposed to be too good. (Were just too expensive for me ;-(. And I did not
want to study just for the sake of passing the exam. But passing is important
for those HR people who want to see 'Buzzwords' on our resume.)

I would like to tell one more thing. I approached this exam not just to pass it
but also to understand Oracle better. And let me tell you that I read about many many
small small features which I never used and did not know very well. And it expanded
my vision and I got better understanding of Oracle.

All the best to you who are appearing.

Best Regards,

-Rahul

---

DBAs,

Probably its too late. But better late than never. I am appearing for my OCP Paper 2 today. Any useful hints / tricks / suggestions?

I prepared from :

1. DBA Handbook : Kevin Loney
2. Oracle Manuals
3. Cramsession.com
4. STSware 40 sample questions
5. DBASupport.com OCP Preparation

I could NOT get:
1. Oracle CDROM or ILT notes
2. STSWARE full question set

Have some good practical experience and testing lab practice to back me up. Received on Mon Nov 27 2000 - 06:24:04 CST