Srikanth Technologies

Certification FAQs

A lot of interest was shown by many students on certification exams in the recent past. One of the reasons is, companies that recruited them want them to be certified before they join. Another reason is; I am a certified professional, so they know I know about it.

I have received a number of emails and requests in feedback section of my website asking me to guide and suggest regarding certification. I want to do it once for all. So here are the common questions related to certification in general and related to each technology

General Questions Related To Certification Exams

The following are common questions asked by many students about certification exams.

What is certification all about?

We all need a way to asses the ability of person before we consider him/her for a job. Certification is the process of certifying the knowledge of a candidate after testing through an online examination.  All major companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, IBM etc. offer certification exams, which enable you to prove your command on a particular area.

Who prepares the certification exams?

Certification exams are prepared by the concerned company. For example, Microsoft prepares exams that test your knowledge on .NET. Sun Microsystems prepares exams Java, Sun Solaris and so on. 
All these exams are objective type.

Who conducts certification exams?

Certification exams are conducted by Prometric company. Thomson Prometric is looking after certification exams related to Java, .NET and Oracle.A few centres in each city are authorized to conduct exams by Prometric company. You have to take exams by going to these prometric centres.

What are the steps to take exam? When these exams are conducted?

These exams are available throughout the year. You have to do the following to take exam:

What is the prerequisite to take exam?

There is NO prerequisite to take exam. Any one, irrespective of academic background, can take exam. All you need is knowledge and amount to buy voucher.

Are there any negative marks for wrong answers?

No.

When will I get marks?

The exam is online. Once you finish the exam, you immediately get the result. You get mark sheet providing details of scores in different topics.

Do I get any certificate?

YES. You get certificate from concerned company (like Microsoft) after approximately a month from the date of exam. You also get a few other items like badge etc. It depends on the certification.

What if I fail?

In the unfortunate case of your failure, you have to retake exam. Of course you have to pay the same amount again. However, there may be schemes for retaking of exam. Generally you are not allowed to retake exam for certain number of days since the date of exam.

How much time it takes to prepare for exam?

Though it is the most often asked question, it is subject to ones own ability and the complexity of the exam.

How much does it cost me to take exam?

It depends on the exam you are interested in. Java exams generally cost 200 USD, Oracle 125 USD and Microsoft 50 USD. For exam price, please contact your prometric centre.

Where are the prometric testing centres?

You can find out prometric testing centres related to exam you want using prometric website.

Java Technology Certification Questions

The following exams are related to Java language and its related certification exams. Java provides good number of certification exam. The following list consists of exams that i find personally very interesting and attainable by students with reasonable knowledge in the concerned area.

Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)

This exam covers Java programming language and some core classes related to Java SE. You can opt for exam, CX-310-065,which is for Java 6.0 or CX-310-055, which is for Java 5.0. The content has not changed much from Java 5.0 to Java 6.0. It is better to try Java 6.0.

Books

Click here to get more details.

Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD)

This exam tests your ability to develop web applications using Java. It covers Servlets, JSPs, CustomTags etc. The exam number is CX-310-083, which covers Java EE 5.0.
Books

Click here to get more details

 

Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD)

This exam tests your ability to develop enterprise applications using Java. It covers EJB, JPA and JMS mainly. The exam number is CX-310-091, which covers Java EE 5.0.
Books

Click here to get more details

For all certification exams related to Java, I found these websites useful.

.NET Technology Certification

The following exams are related to Microsoft .NET related certification exams. Microsoft provides exams related to .NET 1.1 , .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.5 (upcoming).  Exams related to .NET 1.1 are called as MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer) and MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer). I am providing details about exams related to 2.0 and web applications only.

You can get all details by going to Microsoft's certification page.

 

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist - MCTS (Web Applications)

This exam tests you knowledge of .NET fundamentals and web application development using Asp.Net. You can take these exams either in C# or VB.NET. As usual, the choice of language is yours.
 
To get MCTS one has to pass two exams given below: Click here to get more details

.NET 3.5 Versions

Microsoft is about to launch new exams for ASP.NET 3.5 and ADO.NET 3.5 exams.

These exams are scheduled to be released by June, 2008.

Oracle Technology Certification

There are a lot of exams offered by Oracle. As i am targeting application developers who use Oracle mainly as backend, the best exam is the one they recently launched - Oracle Database : SQL Certified Expert. This exam tests your skills of SQL.

Click here to get more details.