Rating: 
Summary: Guide? Guide me to what exactly?
Review: - Lacks typical reference structure, making it tedious to find information.
- Index is sorely lacking and doesn't have enough terms in it.
- No quick reference lists or comaprisons to differntiate 9i from previous versions.
- Paragraphs used when bullet, numbered, or outline lists would have explained the concepts better.
- Only a minimal amount of 9i specific information is ncluded, which van be good/bad depending on one's experience level.Conclusion: Buy it used if you must indeed buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Blows
Review: - Lacks typical reference structure, making it tedious to find information.
- Index is sorely lacking and doesn't have enough terms in it.
- No quick reference lists or comparisons to differentiate 9i from previous versions.
- Paragraphs used when bullet, numbered, or outline lists would have explained the concepts better.
- Only a minimal amount of 9i specific information is included, which can be good/bad depending on one's experience level. Conclusion: Buy it used if you must indeed buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't let This be your only means of prep!
Review: After using the first book in the series to pass the first exam, I was skeptical of the second book, but there was no other exam prep guide on the market for the 9i DBA exams. I used the book as a warm-up and to know what was covered on the exam. I also used the online documentation that comes with Oracle9i in the areas that the exam covered. The more sources you read, especially those produced directly by Oracle the better off you will be. I read and re-read the material in this book. Thankfully though I also read the Oracle University 8i books on Architecture and Administration that I borrowed from people who had taking the classes. These were the greatest help. The exam wording came almost directly from these books. The wording of the exam and the challenges it presented were more difficult than what the OCP book prepared you for. Had I not read the OU books the day before the exam I would have struggled a great deal more. Using multiple sources with no actual DBA I missed only 1 basic level question and "a few" more than that on the mastery section. This book has errors that do make studying confusing at times. I am happy to see the third book is by a new author and has no where near the number of errors the first two had.
Rating: 
Summary: Some problems, but helpful nonetheless
Review: Although I haven't taken the OCP exam yet, I have been using this book (which I got with the OCP Oracle9i DBA Certification Boxed Set) as a reference during my training. Since the classes are compressed and fast this book has cleared up a lot of information that was only touched upon by my instructor. Since I have not taken the exam I cannot predict how useful this book is for preparation; however, it gives clear information and has more than once allowed me to understand concepts that I was unable to get in class. Note: there are editing flaws and inconsistent writing that do make this book ponderous at times. There have been times when I wished the authors and editors had paid more attention to the book, and other times when I silently thanked them for clarifying a concept.
Rating:
Summary: Useful book is useless here
Review: As per others, this book may be useful in preparing for OCP 9i. But, it has so much grammatical errors and in some places contents themselves are not correct. When you do the exercises, incorrect answer is marked as correct answer. There is a lot of inconsistency in this book. After paying so much money to buy the book and preparing aggresively for the exam, I feel it was too soon to buy the book as I am unable to rely on what it says. I wish, the publishers spent more time reviewing the content of this book and scanning through atleast for grammatical errors. If I can, I will definitely return this book and get the refund for it as it is not serving me much.
Rating: 
Summary: Many errors and misses the scope of the exam
Review: As per the previous reviews, there are many typos and misleading info in this book. At times the author loses track of 9i and speaks as if the book is about Oracle 8i (perhaps missing new 9i enhancements?). The book covers all the basic subject areas needed for the exam, but goes into detail where it doesn't need to and then completely misses the details that are required for the exam. I would have expected better from the Oracle Press.
Rating:
Summary: Good but maybe not enough to pass the exam
Review: I just passed the exam (54/60) using this book but fortunately also the Sybex book and the Oracle online documentation. Oracle "old features" are well described but it is not the case for the new features. The concepts are not always very clear and the information is incomplete. If you have the same questions as I had you should at least read more about
- locally managed tablespace
- spfile
- sysdba/sysoper system privileges
- users identification Use Oracle documentation, it's free and very clear. There is a chapter about "Creating and Configuring Undo Segments Manually". It is not in the Test Content Checklist and I had no question about it.
Rating:
Summary: Needs better editing
Review: I just passed the Oracle Exam on Sunday(56/60) and used this book, the STS, and the 8i ILT manuals to study. Of the three, I'd say that this book by far was the least helpful. A few things to make note of: 1. There are a lot of editing mistakes in the book. At several points, it starts to refer to Oracle 8i instead of 9i. Not a huge deal, but there are differences between the two and this gets confusing. 2. At several points, the book strays from the exam objectives. For example, I ended up studying about manual redo segments for 10 pages before realizing it's not even on the 9i exam. Useful information to have, but not something that should be included in an exam study guide. Again, this looks like another carry-over from their 8i book. 3. The chapter on NLS appears as an appendix, even though it is specifically listed as an exam topic. I went through the other chapters and the practice exams before realizing I still had more to go. Overall, it's a good overview book, but I wouldn't rely on it as being my primary study guide by any means.
Rating: 
Summary: Good enough for exam
Review: I just passed with 86% (basic) , 80% (Mastery) . I have no DBA experience , trying to get a job. I think there were maybe 2-3 questions max not covered in the book . The questions are kind of tough but if you use commom sense and process of elimination you do fine . You have to really dig into the book and memorise chapters and even then only common sense can save you on many of the questions . For example if you see some choice that you just don't recognise ever reading about that's probably not the correct choice . Not guaranteed but I think it will work 8 out of 10 times . I also bought the Sybex book and this one is definitely better. The reason is it's better organised and not cluttered with too many details which prove to be not useful for the exam . I know there's someone who wrote a Sybex review saying that book flows better , better organised but I don't know how someone can be so way off . This book is better for understanding the basics and concepts stick to your head better . However , the Sybex book I think will cover those 2 or 3 questions not covered in this one .
Regardless , if you want to be more thorough just read the online documentation which is free in addition to this book . No point over-studying as no amount of studying can help you for some of the screwy questions .
The book is far from perfect , some sections the author is meandering around saying nothing really , probably because he doesn't really understand the concept himself . If you've read previous certification books you know what I'm talking about . But majority of the book is crystal clear .
Rating:
Summary: Very poor guide
Review: I made the mistake of purchasing this book instead of the sybex study guide by Biju Thomas. The sample questions in the midst of each section are horrible, they ask stuff that wasn't covered in the chapter and are poorly worded. Half the time I don't really trust their answers.
I used the sybex guide for the 9i SQL test and was much happier with that book, so I decided to buy the sybex guide for Fundamentals I, even though I had bought this book.
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