Oracle Certification

One of the topics that we get a lot of questions about is beta exams. Questions like:

…why is the test so long? (i.e. so many questions)
…why don’t I get the score for my beta right away?
…how does Oracle use the beta exam results?
…why should I take a beta exam?

Many more too. And although we are certainly happy to answer these questions when they come into our customer service inbox (ocpexam_ww@oracle.com) and online forums, we thought you’d enjoy hearing the answers to these right here in our blog. We’re therefore beginning this new mini-series called “Beta Exams: What, Why and How?”

These posts will be sprinkled amongst our regular posts, so don’t worry – we won’t bore you with a consecutive assault of ‘posts about beta exams’.

Right now, there are still many Oracle exams that you can take in beta, so we encourage you to get out there and take them while they are still available. (Exam prices and availability window listed on each certification exam’s detail page.)

If you have a question about Oracle’s certification beta exams – please let us know here in the comments and we’ll see if we can address them right here. (please note – we will continue to refer specific customer service questions to our email address above)

Question: Why Is The Test So Long?   (a.k.a. Why Does The Test Have So Many Questions?)

Answer: During exam development we write a large pool of questions for several reasons. The quick answer?

1. So we can create multiple versions of the exam, and...
2. So we have a pool of a sufficient size that allows us to remove poorer questions, leaving only the "best" questions.

The beta exam is critical, allowing us to evaluate each question for its difficulty and ability to measure the candidate’s knowledge. In addition to the data collected and analyzed for each question, there is also important data obtained from the questions' performance relative to each other as well as to the exam as a whole.

So yeah - it's important that we include every question in the beta exam pool.

Although it takes longer to answer all of these questions, there is a tremendous benefit:

Firstly, you are direcly helping ensure that all versions of the exam are fair; i.e. every future exam has the same difficulty and comprehension regardless of version.

Secondly, you are directly helping determine which questions are selected for the final versions, and which ones... "kinda need to go."

Oh. And you are scored only on those questions we choose to keep in the final exam versions (more good news).

So get a good stretch, get comfortable at the testing station, and help us in making these certification exams as fair and straight-forward as possible.

Question: Why Don’t I Get The Score For My Beta Right Away?

Answer: The beta exam is created and analyzed before we build the production exam (with its multiple versions). During the analysis of the beta results, we select only the most effective questions to be used in the production exam. Beta candidates are then scored only against the questions that appear on the production exams.

For this reason we can only provide your results once the beta is complete, the results are analyzed and the production exams (with its multiple versions) are published.

Paul Sorensen,
Director, Oracle Certification

QUICK LINKS

• Oracle Certification Program
• Oracle Certification Beta Exams
  

Today begins the final four weeks remaining to take advantage of beta testing on three Oracle E-Business Suite R12 certification exams.

On April 15, 2009, beta testing will close for the following three EBS R12 certification exams:

• Oracle E-Business Suite R12: General Ledger and Payables Fundamentals (1Z1-215)
• Oracle E-Business Suite R12: General Ledger and Receivables Fundamentals (1Z1-216)
• Oracle E-Business Suite R12: Advanced Supply Chain Planning (1Z1-244)

Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultants (OCE) certifications

Exam 1Z1-215 is one of two exams required to earn the Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultant, Payables (OCE) certification.

Exam 1Z1-216 is one of two exams required to earn the Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultant, Receivables (OCE) certification.

The Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultants (OCE) certifications (Payables / Receivables) endorse the high-level of IT practitioner expertise in the successful design and implementation of Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Payables and Receivables and managing the accounts payable/receivables processes respectively.

Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Advanced Supply Chain Planning Certified Expert Consultant (OCE) certification

Exam 1Z1-244 is one of two exams required to earn the Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Advanced Supply Chain Planning Certified Expert Consultant (OCE) certification.

The Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Advanced Supply Chain Planning Certified Expert Consultant (OCE) certification endorses those who have demonstrated key knowledge and skills including modeling supply chains, generating plans, using the Planner Workbench, filtering and executing action messages, analyzing demand and supply, and running what-if simulations

Register Now

Candidates are encouraged to register now for these beta exams while they are still available at the special beta price of $50 USD. Oracle beta exams are an excellent way to directly provide your input into the final version of the certification exam as well as be one of the very first certified in the track. Furthermore – passing the beta counts for full final exam credit.

QUICK LINKS:

• Register for exams:
  • Prometric registration
• Certification Tracks:
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultant, Payables (OCE)
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Financials Certified Expert Consultant, Receivables (OCE)
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Advanced Supply Chain Planning Certified Expert Consultant (OCE)
• Certification Exams:
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12: General Ledger and Payables Fundamentals (1Z1-215)
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12: General Ledger and Receivables Fundamentals (1Z1-216)
  • Oracle E-Business Suite R12: Advanced Supply Chain Planning (1Z1-244)
• More Information:
  • Oracle Certification Beta Exams

The beta period continues for the Oracle Database 11g: Performance Tuning certification exam (1Z1-054).

Exam 1Z1-054 is a single exam requirement for Oracle 11g DBA OCPs to earn the Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert (OCE) certification, which endorses those database administrators, support engineers, and technical consultants who have demonstrated their knowledge and skills using Oracle Database 11g automatic tuning features, including SQL Tuning Advisor, SQL Access Advisor, Automatic Workload Repository and Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor.

The beta exam is only $50 USD, and is an excellent way to directly provide your input into the final version of the certification exam as well as be one of the very first certified in the track. Furthermore, passing the beta counts for full final exam credit.

You can register now online at Prometric.

QUICK LINKS

• Register For Exam: Prometric Testing
• Certification Track: Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert (OCE)
• Certification Exam: 1Z1-054 – Oracle Database 11g: Performance Tuning
• Learn More: Oracle Certification Beta Exams