Passing the Oracle Database 12c: Essentials exam (1Z0-497) will earn exam candidates the Oracle Database 12c Certified Implementation Specialist certification. It will also make them an OPN Certified Specialist in Oracle 12c if they are employed by a company that is part of the Oracle Partner Network (OPN). Partner companies with employees who are certified as OPN specialists gain a higher level of specialization in the OPN program. As such, this credential makes you a more attractive employee to companies that are part of the Oracle Partner Network.
The 1Z0-497 exam is a standalone test and is not part of any track. To earn the related certification requires only passing the exam. There is no required training or other pre-requisites. The 12c database will be Oracle’s flagship product for several years to come and this exam will be a popular one for some time. This exam covers many of the same topics as the 12c database administrator track but does not require the same depth of knowledge. That said — it also does not provide the same level of prestige. While this certification generally wouldn’t be a direct stepping-stone to a position as a DBA, it may lead to a job with an OPN company that you can use in working towards employment as an Oracle DBA.
As with any Oracle certification exam, your first step should always be to visit the topics page on the Oracle University website. The OU topic lists are always complete and will provide you with a roadmap of exactly what you need to learn when studying for the test. The exam will never cover any material that is not in some way related to the subjects listed there. The 1Z0-497 exam has fifty-two topics broken into twelve different subject areas. The areas covered by the exam include the following:
- Oracle Database Software
- Administration & Configuration
- Oracle Database 12c New Features
- Maximum Availability Architecture
- Backup and Recovery
- Monitoring
- Administering Users and Security
- Software Installation and Maintenance
- Oracle Data Structures
- Oracle Database Instance Architecture
- Oracle Multitenant Architecture
- Oracle Network Architecture
The exam has eighty-five multiple-choice or multiple-answer questions. You will have a maximum of one-hundred and twenty minutes to answer all of the questions. The passing score is seventy percent. Oracle exams have no partial credit for multiple-answer questions, they are either right or wrong. Questions that are left unanswered are counted as incorrect. For this reason, you should always answer every question on the exam — even if that means picking an answer at random.
Available on the Oracle 12c documentation website is a 2-Day DBA manual. Reading this book would make a fairly good start in preparing for the exam. Much of the information in that book is on topics relevant to the test and the coverage level is similar to what you will be asked. The Oracle Learning Library has several interactive tutorials that go hand-in-hand with the 2-Day DBA manual that can also be useful in preparing for the exam. Candidates who know absolutely nothing about Oracle might want to read the Oracle Concepts manual first in order to get a firm grounding in the various elements that make up an Oracle database.
This exam covers a number of subject areas to a fairly shallow depth. The exam does not require candidates to have extensive knowledge of any single objective. Once you have obtained the topics from the Oracle University website, use them as a checklist while you prepare. Focus on learning a reasonable amount of information about each topic rather than attempting to become an expert on any single topic or group of topics. Only after you are comfortable that you understand them should you schedule the exam. Good luck on the test.
