OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide

Rating:
Summary: OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide
Review: A very good book for getting upto speed with the Oracle 9i SQL enhancements. Good for both the test and as an Oracle 9i SQL reference. I took the exam and passed easily.

Rating:
Summary: Good book.
Review: Few hours ago I got 90% on 1Z0-007 test, and that's not bad at all. The only book that I used to prepare was this one, it turned out to be enough. But overall, using a single source is extremely foolhardy. Example: this book (very good in general) missed the coverage of create index syntax. On the test I got the question right only due to an educated guess.
The test also might contain more general questions than the practice exams have.
Despite the fact that the material tested is not exactly rocket science, one can not expect much more than this book has. Good balance of detail and brevity.

Rating:
Summary: Good enough for passing the exam
Review: How I prepared for the exam:
- I have several years of industry experience using PL/SQL
- I read this book cover to cover and worked through all of the review questions multiple times

This was enough for me to feel confident about roughly 65 to 70%of the exam questions (75% passes) and to make solid educated guesses at the rest. I passed on the first try and would recommend this book for beginners and experienced users.

While this book does a good job explaining and covering the topics on the exam, I would recommend a beginner to consider supplementing this approach with a difficult practice test. This would help cover some of the trick questions and concepts that might be overlooked with a limited amount of experience.

Rating:
Summary: An elegant entry point into the SQL and Oracle Universe
Review: I am an applications developer (insulated from extensive SQL usage) who use little bit of SQL
Ex :select * from contact order by created desc,
select * from contact where row_id in (select row_id from another table etc)..

Nothing complicated..

I purchased the book (with the thought that my knowledge with SQL is above average)..Did the first assesment test(chapter 1) in the book and failed disastrously. Having been brought to the harsh 'reality',started studying the book, religiously answering the questions in the chapter etc.Completed all the chapters, took the bonus exams(from the book) ,again took all the chapter exams ( at the sametime referring to sections where i made a mistake).redid the assesment test as well

Best of all, my friend who also passed the exams sent me a question paper ( that be purchased in ebay) based on Jason Couchman's book OCP Introduction to Oracle 9i:SQL Exam guide. Took that exam( about 111 questions)..and everytime went back to the book reading the chapters and sections where i got it wrong

So on a net scale, studied the book twice

THE EXAM:
Appeared the exam yesterday and passed with 85 %..all those which i got wrong were obscure topics (ex :view name that u will use to find constraints in a column, syntax for modifying a constraint etc)There was not a single questions on roles.privileges,grant option,admin option etc. I will also not agree with those who said the book was over emphasising aggregates,group functions etc. there were quite a few questions in the exam and u will use it very often

As a matter of fact, the question paper from jason was very very closely aligned with the questions i got in the exam.My objective b4 going over the certification was to learn the basics..and i am not sure if any other book could have done a better job. Examination was secondary for me..

If passing the exam is primary for u..don't miss the simulation exams of Jason Couchman ( of course u need to study )..but if u want to learn every aspect of SQL ( ex :Soundex which even a senior DBA might not use once a year)..go for this.



Rating:
Summary: Good for study AND reference
Review: I bought about a dozen certification books before obtaining the MCSE DBA title and had never bothered to write a comment. But the authors of this book have done such a good job that I feel compelled to share my opinion with all of you. It's by far the best study guide I've used. It covers every aspects of the subject. The questions in the book are decent and well constructed. I'm new to Oracle but passed the test easily after reading through the book. Eqally great about this book is the fact that it can serve as a great reference book (Especially liked the two chapters covering functions). Good value for your money.

Rating:
Summary: This is a very good book to pass the exam
Review: I depended only on this book to prepare for sql and pl/sql exam....ofcourse I read complete reference once.I am new to Oracle....Today I passed the exam with 50/57....This is a very good book for anyone who knew oracle basics.

practice questions in the book are very helpful .

Rating:
Summary: From A Failed Test Taker
Review: I found that compared to most Oracle books this book is above average. The examples are "mostly" simple where the author is not making assumptions about your current skill with Oracle. My biggest gripe about 90% of other Oracle docs out there tend to write from the perspective of a mid-level to senior dba talking to another mid-level+ dba.

Makes me wonder why the bother writing books that only well versed DBAs can read. This makes an already complicated field harder to break into.

Now after saying the good things about it let me give the bad things I found in the book.

1. Too many errors, to the point of it being very unacceptable for a tech reference. If you look up the corrected errors listed on their website it is only a part of many other errors I found as a layman. I can imigine that a more knowledgeable DBA would have found much more than I did. I don't know how many of the queries I sat there pondering how they could possibly for long periods only to find out later that the book is wrong. It is like they never even tried to test execute a few of the queries in question which would have not provided what was claimed?

2. As others have said the book focuses on much stuff that is not even touched on the test. I failed the test my first time. I think that if I hadn't wasted my time memorizing some obscure single row function details that really don't apply that just maybe I would have done a little better.

3. I really disagree with a few here who say the book questions are harder than the Oracle ones. I could probably have quoted you the questions and the concepts behind 99% of the book and it wasn't enough to pass the test I took. But then that may have just been the random test I drew up. I found the Oracle questions to be purposely more ambiguous than the ones in the book.

4. In the book I found many recurring themes in questions (NVL/DECODE/COALESCE/CASE/ROLLUP/CUBE/GROUPING et). I focused on these areas especially, and was rewarded with no questions whatsoever on the test from those areas of focus. Just because a concept is pounded into your head many time in many different ways don't assume it is important to the test:).

Conclusion: Maybe it is just sour grapes on my part but I am slightly bitter that I was left to reread some concepts many many times to only find not one reference on the test. But then this may just be an evil plot by Oracle to get more testing fees from me by changing the material.

All in all a good book by Oracle reference technical book standards (which are pretty low it seems).

Rating:
Summary: Covers the exam 100%
Review: I have more than 6 years of experience working with PL/SQL, but let me tell you one thing - don't attempt the 1Z0-007 exam without reading a exam guide. The fine points tested in the exam are not what every day PL/SQL programming is about. This book does an excellent job of covering all the exam objectives and just reading it cover to cover will give you adequate preparation for the test. I did all the practice questions twice along with the two bonus tests provided on the CD. I found that the level of questions in the real exam was slightly easier than that of the practice tests on the CD. How do I know? I used just this one book for preparation and scored 54/57 today afternoon. Wish you luck!

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: I have read the book and I am totally satisfied with it.

The book covers all topics which you need to pass the test. I think the questions in the book are not to hard...they meet exactly the question standart from the test. So as test preparation this book is perfect. But I also have to say: if you are new to Oracle and SQL this book will not go deep enough into the topics. You will need additional books.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, cover 99% of test.
Review: I just pass the exam 5 minutes ago, and I an so supprised I got 93.3% (4 wrongs). I bought two books for this exam(an oracle press one). But focused on this book. I think the question on the test is a little more difficult than practice test. Anyway, this book help me a lot. It is a good reference during the test. Only one question on the test is not covered in this book (about iSQL).