Rating: 
Summary: Not nearly as good as the Net Admin / Performance Tuning vol
Review: I have used this series of books along with the STS software to prepare for my DBA certifications and passed them all. This one was very weak for the backup and recovery. The actual test go into much more detail. I was very surprised by how much I had not seen before. When I took the performance tuning exam I breezed through it but the Backup exam was nothing like what I encounted in the book. It did help me to pass but I would suggest getting another book also.
Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as the Net Admin / Performance Tuning vol
Review: I have used this series of books along with the STS software to prepare for my DBA certifications and passed them all. This one was very weak for the backup and recovery. The actual test go into much more detail. I was very surprised by how much I had not seen before. When I took the performance tuning exam I breezed through it but the Backup exam was nothing like what I encounted in the book. It did help me to pass but I would suggest getting another book also.
Rating: 
Summary: part 2 is horrible
Review: I passed IZ0-023, and I will do IZ0-025 next weekend. Part two is rubbish, and includes much more errors than oracle doc. I would suggest you cut it into two parts, just throw the part two away immediately after purchasing it.
Rating:
Summary: part 2 is horrible
Review: I passed IZ0-023, and I will do IZ0-025 next weekend. Part two is rubbish, and includes much more errors than oracle doc. I would suggest you cut it into two parts, just throw the part two away immediately after purchasing it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Read BACKUP & Recovery Part if you want to pass.
Review: I've previous experience in DBA before reading this book. The Architecture & Administration PART was excellent and cover around 95% of the test questions, but the second part Backup & Recovery was full of errors and not useful at all and doesn't cover more than 25% of the test questions, and only cover the titles of the test!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent preparation for the exams.
Review: If you have the required experience, this book is an excellent guide to pass (and score high) in both exams. Both parts of the book fully address the Exam topics and the practice tests provide additional information. I highly recommend the other two books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Oraganized Book
Review: It is a good book , helped me to prepare for Archecture and Admin and as well for Backup & Recovery. I used this book + my work exp. which helped to succeed in the test. i recommend this book in additon to any of your existing resources.
Rating:
Summary: Inconsistent writing styles but worth it.
Review: Oracle 9i has been out for some time now so I'm sure most folks starting their certification path will be going that route.
If you're still on the 8i path, as I am, this book is for you. I mentioned in a review of the SQL & PL/SQL Sybex book that it was flawed but still the best out there. This is probably about the same. There are two authors credited with this book so maybe that explains why there seem to be a couple of different writing styles. Sometimes everything is spelled out and easy to understand. Other times, it seems a bit rushed and an assumption seems to be made that I should know more than actually do.
All-in-all, for the most part it's a good read. I've learned a lot but not taken the test yet. That's the ultimate test of how good this book is.
I'd give it 3.5/5
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing new OCP study guide
Review: This book is fresh out of the prints and covers the second exam needed for a DBA certification. In my opinion it is much better than the first (Oracle PL/SQL) book in this serie. It is not as rudimentary and the practice questions are very close to what can be expected on the exam. The lates 8i features are well integrated in the book and the structure is well designed to reinforce learning. The price might be a bit high but I prefer to have the different exams covered by one book instead of trying to cover everything in one, as done in the official Oracle8 DBA certification guide.
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