Rating: 
Summary: Informative for the OCP Exam, But A Few Errors As Expected.
Review: This book has quite a few errors that I have discussed with colleagues in the field. Some of the errors are facts that were true in previous versions, 7.3 for example, but are no longer applicable. This would probably be caused to the pulling of material from previous PL/SQL versions. All examples I've used worked fine though. The errors are frustrating because I don't know whether to remember the errors for the test, or to give the actual correct answers for the test. An example of an error is that the book states that an ORDER BY clause cannot be used in a sub query, but as of Oracle 8i, this is no longer the case. The practice tests from selftestsoftware.com don't indicate that the errors are even asked, so I am hoping that they are inconsequential. As time goes by, errata will be published on the oraclepress.com website which will correct the errors. I submitted 3 errors last week, but they have not yet been posted as of yet.The good part is that this is an Oracle Press book that is a subset of McGraw-Hill Publishing. Oracle Press has a close relationship with Oracle, so it is the most accurate book for the OCP exams to date. Another plus is that when taking the selftestsoftware.com practice tests, the errors that you made point to subjects that are almost word for word chapters names from this book, so reviewing deficiencies in the test are pretty straight forward. This book is very well written and is easy to understand and is interesting if you are interested in Oracle. The new 9i OCP exams only cover SQL and not PL/SQL, so it's not quite the phone book I was expecting, but it has plenty of material. As all Oracle Press / Osborne books, this is useful for future reference after the OCP exam is passed, and some of the details have been forgotten. If it weren't for the errors, which are inevitable in any first edition from the first publisher of any technical book, I would give it 5 stars. The best methodology I've found for taking any certification exam is to purchase a practice test for the exam, take a calibration test of a small subset (say 20 or 30 questions) then note the errors. Once you find the subjects you need to review, go to the book and read the chapters then take another subset until you get a passing score (it's best to repeat until you get a high score, such as 95% because you are going to memorize some of the questions).
Rating: 
Summary: So simple, have terribly many wrong information
Review: This book includes just litte information, so simple that your even could't really understand what it expressed. And have so many terribly wrong mistakes. One page said this and in just a litte after page said totally opposite, made you confuse what is the right one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Starting Point
Review: This book is a good starting point. I used this book along with the Oracle documentation and passed the exam with 93%(53/57) on my first attempt. The important thing is that do not rely upon just this book to pass the exam. Like others wrote this book does not cover some of the new features like any, all etc and has many errors.
Make use of the Oracle's "Oracle9i SQL Reference" free documentation in addition to this book. After going through the first 10 questions of the Practice Exam 1 in this book I decided to stop. I knew it is not worth my 2 hours. .... You can be hundred percent sure to pass the exam if you buy STS and prepare using it. But I felt I could have passed the exam even without buying STS. Gook luck.
Rating:
Summary: Good Starting Point
Review: This book is a good starting point. I used this book along with the Oracle documentation and passed the exam with 93%(53/57) on my first attempt. The important thing is that do not rely upon just this book to pass the exam. Like others wrote this book does not cover some of the new features like any, all etc and has many errors.
Make use of the Oracle's "Oracle9i SQL Reference" free documentation in addition to this book. After going through the first 10 questions of the Practice Exam 1 in this book I decided to stop. I knew it is not worth my 2 hours. .... You can be hundred percent sure to pass the exam if you buy STS and prepare using it. But I felt I could have passed the exam even without buying STS. Gook luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Just right
Review: This book is a great read despite the mistakes and typos littered about its pages. Its not dry or overdone like many prep books - it's just right. In addition, it's a super value considering it's hardcover and official. My book included a CD with excellent practice test software which helped me drill in some of the tough topics. This book is also a great place to start if you know nothing about the workings of an Oracle database. Some other cram type books leave you to figure out many of the nuts and bolts on your own so you can't put together the whole picture. This book doesn't do that. It takes you through gently but briskly giving you a solid ground to work from. After reading it, I passed on my first try with the help of an 8i Cram book because there were about 4 or 5 questions on the test that the book did not cover. This leads to my only real dissappointment. The fact is that it the book is just not detailed enough in just a couple areas. In the end, I give it 5 stars. I have read 5 certification prep books (2 Oracle) in the past few months and this is the best and my absolute favorite because of its easy to read content and its hard to beat value. Happy studying.
Rating:
Summary: Not enough to pass exam
Review: This book is an update from the release 8i. Looks like the author did not take the time to properly update material, the functions chapter have missing lots of the new functions in 9i, same goes for MERGE and INSERT INTO (SELECT FROM ...) statements.
I was surprised some of the new 9i stuff was not even mentioned in the book. Some of the examples are well explained, but there are some errors, you better test them and not take them as granted. You can use this book with Sybex Introduction to Oracle 9i, both will be enough to pass exam.
Rating:
Summary: Woefully Inadequate
Review: This book is appalling. As other reviewers have said, the book is overrun with error after error. The CD study guide that comes with the book is totally useless as any kind of prep material. The questions for one, are no where near the complexity and scope of anything you will find in the actual test. The author bungles concepts so frequently that one wonders if the publishers simply took the writer's rough draft and published it as-is. The complete mess that is made of the DECODE statement is just one of many examples that I can think of. The prep software from time to time provides different answers to questions each time you take them, which can be absolutely maddening. As an example of how poor the sample tests, book scope and question complexities are, I would average about 95% correct with their simulated exams, and yet still only scored a 66% on the actual test. Your ability to pass the exam, based on this book is quite frankly going to depend on you being lucky enough not to get certain questions and topics that failed to be mentioned in the text. I recommend that anyone who seriously has a desire to pass the first exam read through and take the practice exams from Self Test Software (this company actually writes and administers the exam). All one has to do is take about 10 sample questions from there, and compare them to the ones in the book to realize how insufficient this text will be to pass.
Rating:
Summary: Errors all over the place
Review: This book is designed for an entry level person to the SQL language, so there should not be any errors.But that is not the case, errors all over the place, truly not a proffesional book I expected from Oracle press. Dont buy this book, because you dont want to get your foundation on SQL wrong just because some guy thought that is the right way to do things.
Rating: 
Summary: Error Error and Error
Review: this book is full of errors. even the so-called fixes on the book web site contain error. You are going to be very frustrated when reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough to pass exam
Review: This book is perfect if you just want to pass the exam and have at least some experience with SQL. It covers (at least in part) all of the exam topics. If you want to actually learn SQL, this isn't the book for you. This book lacks depth and information about SQL.
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