Customer Reviews

OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This book has quite a few errors that I have discussed with colleagues in the field. Some of the errors are facts that were true in previous versions, 7.3 for example, but are no longer applicable. This would probably be caused to the pulling of material from previous PL/SQL versions. All examples I've used worked fine though. The errors are frustrating because I don't know whether to remember the errors for the test, or to give the actual correct answers for the test. An example of an error is that the book states that an ORDER BY clause cannot be used in a sub query, but as of Oracle 8i, this is no longer the case. The practice tests from selftestsoftware.com don't indicate that the errors are even asked, so I am hoping that they are inconsequential. As time goes by, errata will be published on the oraclepress.com website which will correct the errors. I submitted 3 errors last week, but they have not yet been posted as of yet.

The good part is that this is an Oracle Press book that is a subset of McGraw-Hill Publishing. Oracle Press has a close relationship with Oracle, so it is the most accurate book for the OCP exams to date. Another plus is that when taking the selftestsoftware.com practice tests, the errors that you made point to subjects that are almost word for word chapters names from this book, so reviewing deficiencies in the test are pretty straight forward.

This book is very well written and is easy to understand and is interesting if you are interested in Oracle. The new 9i OCP exams only cover SQL and not PL/SQL, so it's not quite the phone book I was expecting, but it has plenty of material. As all Oracle Press / Osborne books, this is useful for future reference after the OCP exam is passed, and some of the details have been forgotten. If it weren't for the errors, which are inevitable in any first edition from the first publisher of any technical book, I would give it 5 stars.

The best methodology I've found for taking any certification exam is to purchase a practice test for the exam, take a calibration test of a small subset (say 20 or 30 questions) then note the errors. Once you find the subjects you need to review, go to the book and read the chapters then take another subset until you get a passing score (it's best to repeat until you get a high score, such as 95% because you are going to memorize some of the questions).

I've been doing hardcore plsql development in an HR system environment for about 5 years now, and have just decided to get certified. My oracle sql experience is advanced.

Trust me when I say this book is garbage. How it made it off the editors desk is beyond me.

Here are some of the flaws that simply make my blood boil:
FLAW#1:
The review questions are completely ridculous and often do not make sense. Heres a sample question:
"Q: This phrase represents a multi-table query where the WHERE clause is poorly defined.
A: Cartesian Product"
How ridiculous is that??? A poorly defined WHERE clause could mean anything! A cartesian product is the result of the absence of a join resulting in all rows from both tables being joined together which is actually supported in ANSI in 9i see:CROSS JOIN, and furthermore 9i introduces ANSI-SQL1999 joins, which are written in the FROM clause!! There are dozens of vague or incorrect q&a in this book.

FLAW#2:
Table and row locks are covered in a single 10 line paragraph. Enough said?

FLAW#3:
SET TRANSACTION is a powerful statement, but he gives absolutely no example of usage. He goes as far as to give you the syntax. WEAK!

FLAW#4:
Subqueries have long been defined as "SCALAR" "NESTED" "CORRELATED" and FROM Clause subqueries are called "IN-LINE VIEWS". He doesn't define subqueries this way, and his definitions are very odd and vague, you'll especially like the review questions for which theres more than one answer, but he prefers one answer better than the other, but doesn't state why. Keyword: Multi-Column subquery.

FLAW#5:
Where did all the functions go??? Oracle has a multitude of linear regression functions, NLS, timestamp, interval, etc etc functions that are not covered here. He doesn't even mention the new datatypes such as timestamp and INTERVAL types!

To SUM() it all up, this book is a wretched piece of trash. Oracle apparently released it without editing it whatsoever. If this is your only study material god save your soul.

Do yourself a favor and pick up the SYBEX book for this exam. Good luck!

I've just taken the Oracle 9i SQL section of the DBA track, after having only read this book, and using Oracle 9i somewhat. I scored a 65% (passing was 70%). This book covered about 70% of the material that was on the test. In order to pass the test, you would need to have mastered every aspect of the book. Mind you, that would only get you a 70. You will need additional resources in order to score higher than that.

I gave this book more than 1 star because, used in conjunction with other books, it is a useful resource. However, because of its lack of enough information to pass the exam, and also the clear laziness the editors showed when editing the book. There are several errors, some providing contradictary information. Others were minor typographical errors, but quite unprofessional.

Overall, it is a useful book, but make sure this isn't the only book you buy.

Jason Couchman must be laughing his head off on his own private island. Slap together a book full of mistakes (scripts that don't work, INCORRECT information, inane opinions,) and get it reviewed by his kindergarten kids. Get a buddy at Oracle to whack "Officially Authorized Oracle Press" on it.... then watch the dollars flow in.

He didn't even both updating reference to ora81 directories.

Shame on you Jason. I thought Nigerian e-mail scams were bad, but this book is just a cruel rip-off of people wanting to get somewhere in life.

Shame on you Oracle for giving it your blessing.

I may pass the exam but books such as this will not help me become a competent Oracle DBA.

This book is an update from the release 8i. Looks like the author did not take the time to properly update material, the functions chapter have missing lots of the new functions in 9i, same goes for MERGE and INSERT INTO (SELECT FROM ...) statements.
I was surprised some of the new 9i stuff was not even mentioned in the book.

Some of the examples are well explained, but there are some errors, you better test them and not take them as granted.

You can use this book with Sybex Introduction to Oracle 9i, both will be enough to pass exam.

This book contains too many errors, in text and tests. It does not help you in explaining how Oracle functions.

This book contains too many errors.
It is well organized but only few Oracle 9i new features are related in this book, not all. And during the OCP exam you will have some questions about the 9i commands that are not here.
Then you need to find another way to learn Oracle 9i SQL.

Without any experience in Oracle, passing the test with this book alone is very unlikely. Even with a good experience you need another books or documentations to help you.

The book is plentiful in erros, to an extent that eventually you feel you need to try every stated fact to be absolutely sure it isn't an error. Book also does not cover iSql*Plus, an area tested in 1Z0-007. Apart from these lapses, I did manage to pass the exam well by using the book.

What helped me most were the three practice exams. Yes, I agree there a few mistakes, but if you score 90% or above on the practice exams and understand the reasons for the right as well as wrong answers, I can gurantee that you will pass the OCP "Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL" Exam(1Z0-007), as I did. Watch out for the questions you get right for the wrong reason or the questions for which your guess was right. That is not really understanding the subject.

If any one relied on this book, which says it is an exam guide, and took the exam, there is a very good chance that he or she will fail. I tried to contact oracle press regarding the abyssmal content of the book, because a bunch of my Oracle 9i students complained about the book and a few of them failed the Oracle 9i: Introduction to SQL exam depending entirely on this book. People at oracle press are probably flooded with such complaints and that is why they are not getting back to complaining customers. If some one wants to use this book, all I can say is GOOD LUCK!!!

Some readers indicated that the book has multiple errors due to editing problems. False. The author simply does not know many critical SQL questions.
Considering that most of the books like this has been ripped from product documentation, the Author is not only a bad writer, but not a good reader either.
Jason, you have to re-read Joins. And many other things...