Customer Reviews

DB2 Universal Database v7.1: Application Development Certification Guide

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Background info:
I have about 2 years working experience in developing application using embedded SQL to get data from DB2 for AIX. This experience has helped me a lot to understand the contents of this book and it helps to pass the application development test. I spent about 4 weeks to read this book and tried the sample test at the end of the book.

My tip: after reading the whole book, try the sample test and rate your score, but don't check for the wrong/right answer you have choosen. Try to figure out by yourself, which topic you think that you have problem to answer and re-read the book.
Using this technique I got about 75% of the sample test on a second try. After that I took the real exam, and passed with the score of 72%.
If you have some experience (at least 6 months IMO) on developing application that gets data from DB2 (either with embedded SQL or JDBC/ODBC), then you shouldn't have any problem to pass the test by using only this book as a study guide.

This is all what you need to pass. Actually, it contains a lot of helpfull information for the job but too much to prepare for the exam. Exam was pretty much easy but without this book and professional experience in the programming field,it would be difficult to pass...

Unfortunately, this seems to be the only book available to specifically prepare for this exam. While the material is probably covered, the examples and practice test (which is identical to the online practice test at ICE) in this book are so much easier than the actual exam, that I felt I was ready for the real exam when I got scores over 90 on the practice exam, but flunked the real one. Sybex knows how to do certification books right, but they don't have any for DB2.

This book made the difference between a PASS/FAIL on the IBM-514 DB2 UDB V7.1 Family Application Development exam. I have extensive experience in developing DB2 applications on the OS/390 platform but none in the Linux/Unix/Windows environments. Having taken the sample certification exam I knew I needed to "bone-up" on the JDBC/SQLJ, CLI/ODBC and dynamic sql topics to guarantee a first-time pass. Personally, I concentrated on the corresponding chapters in this book (3 through 7) and this proved more than sufficient to make the grade. If your goal is to pass the 514 exam and you already feel comfortable with developing DB2 SQL applications then I would strongly suggest limiting your study purchases to this book. Incidentally, good luck in the exam (if applicable)!

This is a "sister" book of "DB2 Universal Database Version 7.1 for UNIX, Linux, Windows and OS/2 Database, ISBN 0130913669". See my review on this book - I talk there about both of them, also about certification tests.