MySQL Certification Experience
By Nick Roper, Partner, Logical Elements.
Several years ago I qualified as an authorised trainer for Informix Software, and presented some of their public training courses on the Standard Engine database server. Having been sidetracked into other technologies I have found my business dealing more and more with LAMP based applications over the past couple of years and the next logical step was to become an approved MySQL partner.
So, having previously run SQL training courses, and worked with MySQL over the last few years, the Core Exam should be a piece of cake - right?
Wrong!!!
Like other candidates, it had been several years since I studied for an exam. I too opted to take the exam on a Monday so that I could spend the weekend revising, and I arrived at the test centre 15 minutes before the time that the exam was due to start. After signing the paperwork I was told that I could take nothing - other than the clothes that I was standing up in - into the exam room. I had to leave my glasses case and my watch in reception, and even a request for a glass of water to take in was turned down (however a bowl of mints was provided) The exam room was adjacent to the enrolment area and was separated with a glass wall - so that candidates were on view all the time. I was not allowed to take any paper in to make notes or figure out SQL statements - but there was a plastic scratch board and felt-tipped pen provided.
Tip - I asked what the procedure was if I needed the washroom during the exam, and was told that I should indicate that I needed to leave the room, but that the clock would not be stopped whilst I was away from the desk. I can assure you that the allotted time is precious - so make sure that you do anything that you need to do before starting the exam.
The format of the exam is that you are presented with 70 questions in 90 minutes. The majority are multiple choice, whilst some require you to enter a word or phrase - for example to indicate what kind of statement you would use to perform a specific task. You can move back and forward between the questions and can change your answers, so you don't have to get it right first time. You can also mark questions for review and then go through those questions in sequence later. The questions come in no particular order, so you may start off with a question on data types, followed by one on Dual Licensing and then one on data import options etc.
The approach that worked for me was as follows:
- I went through the questions in sequence and dealt with any that I felt confident in answering there and then, marking any that needed more thought for review later.
- Any that I felt may need a fair amount of thought - such as deciding which outer join would provide the required result - I not only marked for review, but also made a note of the question number on the scratch pad - so I that I new which questions were more complex.
- Any questions that I genuinely didn't know the answer to I also marked for review and, again, made a separate note of their numbers. I figured that I'd leave these to last and devote precious time to those that I felt I could answer with a bit more thought.
- After my first pass through the 70 questions I went back and dealt with those that I had marked for review - there were a lot more than I had anticipated!
- Once I was as happy as I could be that I had answered everything that I could I went back to the ones that I didn't know and took an educated 'guesstimate' If you leave a question unanswered you 'aint going to get any marks, and you might just get the extra mark that you need for a pass with a good guess.
- Once the clock was down to the last 10 seconds I stopped everything and held my breath.
Then I was informed that the exam had was over and I would be notified of my result in a few seconds - I crossed everything!
If you think that the Core exam will be a walk in the park, then think again. I've worked with various flavours of SQL for several years, but I realised that I had tended to be doing similar things all the time, and that were lots of aspects to MySQL that I hadn't used extensiveley. I bought the excellent MySQL Certification Guide and would recommend it to anyone - even if you think you don't need it. In fact, especially if you think you don't need it!
Registering for the exam...
I found it cheaper to register dircetly through the Pearson Vue website. I could have registered through the test centre themselves, but there would have been an additional admin fee. Also, the MySQL Certification Guide includes a 25% discount voucher if you register through Pearson Vue - so overall it cost me about 50% less by doing it this way - and I got the Guide pretty much for free. No brainer!
Do the exercises in the guide - for real. Make time to sit in front of a computer and actually use the commands and write the queries. You may think that you are taking things in when you read them, but they soon get forgotten unless you practise.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that you only need to concentrate on writing SQL statements. The chapters on MySQL AB. the MySQL products and Licensing are important, and you will get questions.
Most of all - READ THE QUESTIONS - TWICE - AT LEAST!!!
Some questions only have one answer, whilst others ask you to select between say 1 and 5 valid statements, so make sure you know what you are meant to do. I don't know what happens if there are 5 possible answers and you get 3 of the 4 correct ones. It may be that you get credits for the ones you do get right, or you may get 0 marks. I checked the ones that I was confident with and then left any other options unchecked, on the basis that a wrong guess might cost me the whole question.
BE CAREFUL - I had a question on a simple inner join. However, it came after a more complex question on converting a sub-query into an outer join and I was still in outer join mode so I made the wrong assumptions about what would be returned by the simpler statement. Luckily I spotted my mistake. So, try and clear your mind from the previous question before tackling the next.
Are there any 'trick' questions? Well, the closest I found was a question asking what value would be stored in a column after executing a particular insert statement. The answer was straight forward, but there was another possible answer that got me thinking that I may have missed something. I decided that my initial instincts were right and that the other option was a red-herring. Part of the exercise is to test your confidence. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it probably is a duck!
However, be alert. Make sure you look carefully at table definitions and names. If you get told that a table is called 'widgets', then 'select * from widget;' isn't going to work!
Above all, pass or fail, I knew that I had learned a great deal by studying for the exam, and that could only be a good thing.
So, how did I get on? Well, let's just say that after getting the result I went for a celebratory beer (or three), and now I'm starting to study for the final part of the certification process - the Professional exam.
If you are serious about using MySQL then I would absolutely recommend that you take the exams - and I wish everyone the very best.
Nick Roper