Well, I may say that I give my scoring based on the average of scoring for only two books of the set, and this is because I have had both the tests and succeeded with them, while I have not started with the others, so I'm simply going to ignore them for this review:
1) Introduction to Oracle 9i SQL (Rate *****): {Passing score 39/57}
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This book is briliant indeed, but .. it is not easy for begginers to start with, and one of the very simple reasons, while it starts by talking about something (INSERT statement for example), you discover examples of things has not been exaplained yet (INSERT AS SELECT)!
But in general, this is a GREAT book to be prepared, and confident for the test; it helped me pass the test by 52/57.
2) Oracle 9i Database Fundamentals (Rate ***): {Passing score 44/60}
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Unfortunately, even if the book claims to cover ALL the Oracle objectives, surprisingly you see things in the exam, which are not covered well!
I failed my first exam, and scored 43/60 (no comment!). I was disappointed, because I faced about 8 questions I really did not have any idea about answering them, and the other multiple choice questions (3 of 6 and 4 of 6 for example), I knew some, and was unable to determine the last choice, because of the poor coverage of some areas!
Having failed my exam, I decided to study from the online books of OTN (Oracle Technology Network), and during my study I came to the answers of those 8 questions! and had the test again, and passed with a score of 56/60!
To mention some of the weaknesses of this book:
1) Poor coverage of Globalization Support, and if you want my advice, please do not study Globalization support from this book, or kiss you Globalization questions goodbye!
2) Weak or missing explanation of the following areas:
- Tablespaces, especially in the areas of the Temporary and Undo, Locally and Dictionary managed tablespaces.
- Redo Log files, and checkpoint not complete problems.
All this does not mean this is a bad book, but .. do not depend just on it to pass the exam, try to find another source of information beside this book, so you do not fail!