Hello, Quick words of introduction before you read on: I'm the MySQL AB Certification Manager :-)
As Mike's comments (below) to a large extent states much of what I was planning to say when I sat down to write this, I'll keep it short by adding a few comments to his response. Yes, there are some questions on the practice test that ask "just" knowledge-based questions rather than testing skills, and while they are over-represented on the practice test, you will also find a good deal of these on the actual exam. As Mike says, it's a trade-off - while low-cost, world-wide, easy-access (add more terms to your liking) delivery certainly is an issue, it's not the only one. Besides the issues that Mike raises, I would like to point out two more reasons why we have chosen to include a fair amount of this type of question: Balance: A good exam will test both skill AND knowledge -- knowing how to change the table type from MyISAM to InnoDB is knowledge -- realizing when and why to do it is skill. And the two complement each other. Breadth of subjects - we want people to go to only one exam per certification level, to keep down costs (for both you and for MySQL AB). This in turn means that we must cover many topics in the 90 minutes we have available for testing. Skill-proving questions have many advantages; letting the candidate answer them quickly is not one of them... Finally, as Mike also points out, the people that I see complaining about the lack of skill testing are obviously long-time users very proficient in MySQL, and you may be forgetting that the Core exam is aimed at people with maybe just a few man-months of experience. Trust me: you'll get "a comb that fits your hair" (as the Danish expression goes) when you get to the higher-level exams. And just for the record: I of course disagree with Mike's statement that "most certification exams are a braindump" -- at least when it comes to our exams :-) Should anyone have further questions about the certification program, do have a look on http://www.mysql.com/certification -- if you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Best regards, (and for those of you that decide to get certified: Good luck on the exams!) / Carsten On Tue, 2003-06-10 at 20:33, Mike Hillyer wrote: > I think the other thing to remember is that this is only the Core exam, > and as far as I can tell a fair amount of the content you suggest will > be part of the Pro exam. I remember once seeing stirrings of a DBA exam > as well, so I guess the Core is just to get your feet wet and show a > knowledge of the basics before moving to the higher level exams. > > The problem with more complicated exams is that they become difficult to > administer and grade automatically. The benefit of MySQL using VUE to > administer tests is that the tests can be offered in hundreds of > locations around the world thanks to the automated testing process. This > means that the lady administering my Core exam didn't have to know MySQL > from a cheese sandwich. A more complicated exam means instead of > choosing from three convenient testing locations in my city, I have to > make an extended trip to a testing location where there will be a > professional examiner. This all means more cost to me in both time and > money. > > I think certification exams are a tradeoff. The RedHat Certified > Engineer exam is supposed to be practical and hands on (you are asked to > install, not how to install), and is supposedly in fair demand in the > market, but the tradeoff is that I count maybe 20-30 locations on their > website that you can take the exam, at a cost of $749 plus travel to the > nearest center. > > When I check for a MySQL exam center, I see more test centers in > California alone that RedHat offers in all of north America, and I pay a > lot less for the exam. While the MySQL Core exam may be less challenging > than an in-depth hands-on exam, I think the exam is good value for the > money. It shows you know the basics without checking the manual and can > spot basic syntax problems before running the query. > > I have to agree that most certification tests are a brain-dump, but hey, > most HR people do not have the knowledge to check whether you know what > the job descriptions need to know, so you have to have something to show > you meet the requirements in a job description. > > Regards, > Mike Hillyer > www.vbmysql.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Feist [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:09 PM > To: MySQL List > Subject: Re: Practice test > > > Paul DuBois wrote: > > > At 7:51 -0700 6/10/03, Jeremy Zawodny wrote: > > > >> "Is this syntax valid in MySQL?" > >> > >> [some query] > >> > >> What's the point of such a question? Anyone with access to MySQL can > >> find out by simply running the query. > > > > > > You don't have access to MySQL during the test. You have to know > > whether or not the syntax is correct. > > I think the point is that this isn't representative of how effectively > we can use MySQL. Yes, the test can measure whether or not we know > syntax details, but in a real-life situation that's not a very critical > piece of knowlege to have. > > >> They did ask at least one "what does this query DO" question. I > think > >> those are much better for a certification exam. > > > Exactly. > > Procedural questions, and questions that probe the depth of > understanding, are harder to write for such an exam... but much more > useful in evaluating how well an individual will perform on the job. > Examples might include: > > 1) How do you set up replication? > 2) How are replication conflicts resolved? > 3) How do you recover from a disk failure? > 4) To what extent can you recover from data changes introduced by a > rogue program? > 5) What is the impact of the CHECK constraint? > 6) You create a HEAP table. The server is brought down, and then up > again. You issue a SELECT against the HEAP. What happens? > 7) A database table has become corrupt after a power outage. What > should you do? > 8) Which of the following queries will not benefit from indexes? > 9) Which of the following queries corresponds to the following query > with a NOT EXISTS subquery? > 10) Match the following filenames to their corresponding table > structures. > > And so on. Heck, the commonly asked questions on this list would make a > pretty good test! > > Bruce Feist > (retired database instructor / courseware designer) > -- Warning: Certification can seriously increase your wealth! http://www.mysql.com/certification Carsten Pedersen, Certification Manager MySQL AB, http://www.mysql.com Office: +45 56 36 16 10 -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
