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Hi Folks

This Blog focusses on the upgrade exam for 12c OCM (Oracle Certified Master) also known as 12c OCMU. If you are an 11g OCM then you need to write this 1 Day Upgrade exam. In this blog I will discuss the things that are important for your preparation and some pointers which will help you to crack this exam.

The first step is to visit the link:

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=5001&intcmp=WWOUCERTTOPBAN112OCM&get_params=p_exam_id:12COCMU

You can reach this through the parent link : certification.oracle.com as well.

The important thing to note here is :

 Duration: 1 day

Passing Score: 59.17%  View passing score policy

Validated Against: This exam has been validated against Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0.

Format: Performance Based

The Overall passing score is 59.17% but you need to achieve desired passing score in each module as well in order to pass the exam. The pass %age for each module is as below:

Skillset1 : General Database and Network Administration, and Backup Strategy : 55.56%

Skillset2: Data and Performance Management : 31.74%

Skillset3: Data Guard : 43.39%

Skillset4: Grid Infrastructure and RAC : 44.28%

So the entire 1 Day exam is divided into 4 sections Skillset 1-4 .

 Some of my pointers for you guys are as follows :

There is no shortcut for this exam, the only mantra is PRACTICE-PRACTICE-PRACTICE

 For this practice you need VM environments for each of the topic as the aim is to practice on a like to like environment:

Exam Environment

Oracle Linux Release 6.5 64 bit

Use either CLI or GUI environment and tools when available

Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0  64 bit

Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2)

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Rel 4

For each topic , the first step is to read the documentation and try and cover the maximum sub-topics that you can cover under 1 main Topic like (Create and manage pluggable databases.

Once you have practised a module , try to challenge yourselves and think like an examiner , imagine as if you were working for Oracle Certification program , what kind of questions would you ask  from the candidates.

Try to time yourselves for each sub-topic, for example creation of Data Guard , within how many minutes are you able to create a data guard by hand, and pre-req is it should work in the first go without any silly mistakes .

You have to be comfortable in CLI & GUI both, I would say you need to be proficient in both for cracking this exam, never go to the exam if you are not comfortable in one of these areas,

As most of you guys would be working full-time, you need to study daily for around 1.5-2 hours and make the most of your weekends say around 4-4.5 hours.

Your family is equally important so make sure to balance out your study with family commitments.

I found Library environment much better as compared to the home environment, try to go to the library for a few hours to get maximum productivity.

Feel free to ask questions from peers or other experts, don’t go to the exam with some un-answered questions still in your mind.

Try to sleep well before the exam, atleast 8 hours of sound sleep

If you are not able to attempt a question , move onto the next remember passing the exam is your aim not getting 100%.

Be confident in what you are doing and Oracle documentation is your biggest weapon here and you should know when and how to make use of it.

Last but the not the least have faith in God, your Hard-work and best wishes you have got from your family members.

In the next blog I shall talk about the topics and the pointers in the Documentation which will help in your preparation for the exam.

Happy Studying !!!

 Kshitij Joy (12c OCM)