question about Oracle 9i beta exam

I read from earlier posts that the test results for the Oracle 9i beta exams won't be ready until December. I was wondering if the results would be available before the Oracle Openworld conference that takes place in San Francisco during the week of 12/2 - 12/7?

My concern is whether I would be able to retake the exam at Oracle Openworld if I fail the beta exam. I recall that Oracle's exam policy states that you have to wait 30 days before you can retake an exam. Now, is that 30 days after you take the exam, or 30 days after you receive your score report? Also, will the score report arrive in time for me to decide whether I need to retake the exam at Oracle Openworld or not?

The reason I'm asking is because I just found out from reading the OTN Techblast newsletter that Oracle is offering the production (i.e. non-beta) version of the Oracle 9i DBA exams at Oracle Openworld for $50 each. That's only $10 more than what they charge for the beta exams. Had I known this before hand, I wouldn't have registered for the beta exams. (I'm getting certified as an Oracle DBA.) The beta exams contain 180 questions to be answered in 180 minutes (1 minute per question which makes the exam very rushed). The production exams contain 60 questions to be answered in 90 minutes (1.5 minutes per question). I don't think the $10 I save is worth the trouble of answering all those extra questions. Furthermore, even if you think you pass, you still have to wait until December to know the results. Also, it seems that the Oracle 9i Performance Tuning beta exam won't be available until December so you can't be certified as an Oracle 9i DBA before December anyway, even if you take all the other beta exams. In short, I don't see any reason why anyone would want to take the beta exams, unless they can't make it to Oracle Openworld in December.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

• LC