I took the IBM-141
test today at 12:30pm and passed with score of 81%. (Passing is 58%):
Architecture: 80%
Information modeling: 60%
XML Processing: 88%
XML Rendering: 100%
Testing and Tuning: 100%
I took the final Whizlabs test in the morning and got a score of 44 out of 57. (Passing was 34 out of 57).
For those who can afford it, I think the $70 to buy Whizlabs exam simulator is a great bargain. Without it I probably would have passed but just barely. I could have done better on the real exam, but I decided
to take the exam today no matter what. If I had another three days I
could have taken ALL the Whizlab tests instead of just four of them.
That would certainly have raised my score. But I figured I had to get
it over with and move on. The best part of the Whizlabs tests is that
after you take one you know exactly what areas you need to study before you take the next Whizlabs test.
The real exam had some really easy questions that only took a few seconds if you knew the answer. But there were business scenario questions that were very taxing mentally and which were very subtle and
exhausting to read.
I needed the entire 90 minutes to take the exam. I used that last fifteen minutes to review my answers.
I used the "XML Bible" to learn XML-FO. I read that chapter three or four times... I didn't get bogged down in the details of, says, how to build a complete FO-TABLE. But I had a good mastery of the FO regions and the FO FLOW, FO Blocks, etc. and the high level FO architecture.
I used the WROX XML book for SAX and DOM. I read the chapters in both books for XML Schema and XLST and XPOINTER and XLINK and XPATH. I found that re-reading the chapters was much more meaningful than the first readings of them.
I don't want to give away any answers, but hopefully it's okay to say that regarding DOM it is important to know how the DOM2 event processing works. Also, it's more important to know UDDI than it is to know WSDL, I found. I was worried about DOM, so I reviewed that chapter in the WROX
XML book many times. Thank goodness it was a short chapter... I skipped
the part of the chapter that had programming examples since I suspected
only the API of DOM would be covered.
Knowing DTD inside and out is essential. DTD is the shortest and easiest of the various technologies to know. The coverage of XML
Schema was not as in depth as was DTD. I knew XPATH was used by
several XML technologies so I read the chapters in both books on XPATH
repeatedly. I also put effort into reading both book's chapters on XLST.
One thing that confused me was that some of the possible answers involved XQUERY. I had to keep reminding myself that the IBM specs for the test did not mention XQUERY. At least, I hope they didn't.
I agree with others who say the IBM 141 test is one of the hardest of all the certifications. I agree that it takes as much effort as it did
to get the
Java Certified Programmer certification. I also agree with
others that the process of studying for the IBM 141 test is the most
valuable part of it all.
I plan next (meaning tomorrow morning) to brush up on my C/C++ skills
so I can list them on my resume along side my (very strong) java skills.
Does anyone know of a C/C++ certification that would be worthwhile
workings towards? I find it easier to learn when there is a definate
goal to work towards.
Finally, thanks to the people who answered my questions here. Also
I learned a great, great deal from reading other people's posts here.
Thanks to everyone.