Episode 3: ORACLE8 Performance Tuning Workshop

In order to fairly gauge the meaning of "OCP certified" on DBA resumes, and as part of the background for my Advisory Board work on behalf of the Database Domain, I am going back through the DBA certification process. For the first two tests, I reviewed basic SQL and PL/SQL command syntax. For the third test, Oracle8 Performance Tuning Workshop, I did not prepare at all. I had some free time at Oracle Open World and walked in and took it.

Three questions into the test, I was starting to wonder how else I could have spent the registration fee. The first three questions concerned products and options I don't use, and I could envision another 58 questions on the same topics. Luckily, reality intervened and the rest of the questions were in more familiar territory.

For this test, the passing score was higher than the first two tests. If you’ve done extensive tuning work before, a passing score is well within reach. Having taken several of these tests now, it's clear that a good test-taking strategy helps tremendously.

• First, know how much time you have - there's a countdown clock in the upper right corner of the test screen. Different tests have different time periods available.
• Second, answer all the easy ones quickly. For a number of the questions, you'll know the answer immediately. If you don't know the answer immediately, mark the question (there's a Mark box in the upper left corner) and go on to the next question.
• When you've completed all the easy ones, and marked the ones you didn't answer, go to the Item Review screen and you can quickly count how many you've answered. Then go back through all of the questions again starting at #1. This time through, focus on eliminating the wrong answers, narrowing your choices. Also, watch for questions that answer each other - examples in one question may show the correct answer to a prior question. You won't know that until you've seen all the questions, so answering those questions on the second pass through may reduce the time spent figuring out an answer.
• Don't argue with the computer. There are a number of questions whose answer may be "It depends." There may be questions for which the best answer (imho) is not listed. Don't waste time reading additional meaning into the questions. Try to figure out what answer the question's author had in mind, and pick it.

Three passed, two to go: Backup/Recovery and networking. The problem with those general topics, of course, is that they will feature extensive coverage of rarely used tools like RMAN or CMAN. We shall see…