Where can I get information about certification paths and hand-on course requirements?

Your first port of call for anything to do with Oracle certification should be the Oracle Certification page of the Oracle Education website.

Using other sources of information means you are relying on those sources to keep up to date with what is changing on the Oracle Education website.

Which version of the database should I certify against?

Certify against the latest version! I say this for the following reasons.

• Certifying against the latest version means the certification will remain relevant for the longest period of time.
• I don’t think many companies would care about you being certified against a newer version than they are currently using, as the skills will be useful once they start to upgrade.
• For many people and companies, the presence of a certification is more important than the version number.

Ultimately, this is just my opinion. Go with the version you feel most comfortable with.

Where can I get free certification materials from?

Most certification materials are covered by copyright and must be bought. If you use any of the following for free you are probably breaking the law:

• Oracle Instructor Lead Training (ILT) manuals.
• Electronic copies of Oracle Certification Books.

Should I use braindumps to prepare for certifications?

Oracle consider the use of braindumps as cheating. If you are caught using them you will lose your OCP status. Don’t use them if you care about your certification.

Do I need to do practice questions?

Practice questions may help you with your exam technique, which in turn will help calm your nerves, but you should spend most of your time learning the material and practising using Oracle, not doing endless practice exams.

Do I need to use the Oracle software to get ready for certification?

YES. There is no point passing the exam if you have never used the product. Your lack of experience will stand out a mile.