MySQL Certification FAQ

Q: What is MySQL Certification?

A: The MySQL Certification Program is a high quality certification program that provides several degrees of certification. The program certifies foundational MySQL knowlege, and contains certification tracks for developers and and database administrators, as well as specialized certification for Cluster database administrators. Certificates are an objective way for professionals to prove their attained knowledge, experience and skills in working with MySQL products.

Q: What is the benefit of MySQL Certification?

A: Managers use MySQL certification to pre-qualify and assigning employees to projects and other tasks, and to delegate responsibilities to qualified personnel. Employers may use MySQL certifications to shortlist candidates to an open position. Developers and database administrators use certification to distinguish themsselves, making themselves more marketable and thereby getting access to projects and positions that might otherwise be unavailable to them.

Q: What MySQL certifications are available?

A: MySQL offers four different certifications:

• CMA: Certified MySQL Associate
• CMDEV: Certified MySQL Developer
• CMDBA: Certified MySQL Database Administrator
• CMCDBA: Certified MySQL Cluster Database Administrator

Q: How is certification attained?

A: Certification is attained by passing one or more certification exams.

Q: How many exams do I need to pass to attain a MySQL certification?

A: The requiremts differ somewhat per exam:

• To attain CMA certification requires that you pass one exam.
• To attain either CMDEV or CMDBA certification, you must pass two exams.
• To attain CMCDBA certification, you must first be CMDBA certified, then pass one additional exam.

Q: Where can I take certification exams?

A: Person VUE, who delivers MySQL AB exams, has more than 3.000 test centers world-wide. Use their test center locator to find one near you!

Q: How do I best prepare for the certification exams?

A: MySQL AB certification and training are tightly linked, and through authorized MySQL training you will be provided with excellent preparartion for the training courses. For the four certification titles, the following are the recommended courses:

• CMA: MySQL for Beginners
• CMDEV: MySQL 5.0 for Developers
• CMDBA: MySQL 5.0 for DBAs
• CMCDBA: MySQL Cluster for High Availability

If you are upgrading a MySQL 4 exam, you should consider one of these classes, or perhaps the Upgrade and New Features class.

Q: Where can I find self-study materials for the Certification?

A: MySQL Press has published the MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide for exactly this purpose. It is available from several on-line bookstores as well as in most bookstores in the world that specialize in literature for the technical field. The MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide covers everything you need to know for the CMA, CMDEV and CMDBA exams. For the CMCDBA certification, a separate MySQL Cluster Certification Study Guide will be published in Q2, 2007.

Q: What happened to the Core and Professional certifications?

A: The MySQL 4-specific Core and Professional certifications became unavailable as of December 31, 2006. At that time, MySQL 4.1 came to the end of its supported lifecycle.

Q: How do I know which topics are covered in a particular exam?

A: The Certification Candidate Guide contains a detailed outline of contents for each exam.

Q: How many questions are on a MySQL Certification exam, and how many do I need to answer correctly to pass the exam?

A: The following table outlines the number of questions and the passing score for each exam. Every exam is created randomly from a large pool of questions with varying difficulty and therefore the pass mark varies slightly within each exam:

Q: The MySQL Certification Study Guide and earlier versions of the Certification Candidate Guide had references to the MySQL Query Browser and MySQL Administrator. I can't seem to find these listed in the latest version of the Candidate Guide?

A: For a number of technical reasons, Questions on the MySQL Query Browser and the MySQL Administrator do not appear on the final version of the MySQL 5.0 certification exams.

Q: What are the prerequisites for the MySQL certification exams?

A: Apart from the Cluster certification (which requires the candidate to first hold the CMDBA certfication), there are no formal prerequisites for taking MySQL certification exams, although having some working experience is obviously needed.

Q: The MySQL 4 exams had the Core certification as a prerequisite for taking the Professional exam. Is there a similar relationship between the Developer and DBA certifications?

A: No. The Developer and DBA certificates are each in their own track, and each track focuses on people with particular job role. The Developer and the DBA tracks and their corresponding certificates are different, but that is not to say that one is 'harder' or 'more advanced' than the other. Rather, the DBA track is aimed at professionals that are mainly occupied with database maintenance and architecture, whereas the Developer track is aimed at database application development.

Q: Can I bring the manual or other books to the exam?

A: The exams are designed to be "closed book" exams, so you will not need (or be allowed) to bring any materials with you to the exam

Q: If I don't know the answer to a question, is it better to guess, or should I leave it unanswered?

A: You should always attempt to answer a question. An unanswered question is regarded as having a wrong answer, and only correctly answered questions are considered in the scoring of the exam.

Q: I passed my exam, and the Examination Result printout that I have received after the exam says "If you have met the passing score, you will receive your official certificate by mail." Is this true?

A: Candidates that take a MySQL Certification Exam at a VUE testing facility receive a printout of the exam result. Among other things, the printout contains the following text: If you have met the passing score, you will receive your official certificate by mail. This may be interpreted in such a way, that candidates that have the "Pass" grade on an exam will always receive a certificate. However, this is not always the case: The DBA and Developer certifications both consist of two exams, which must both be passed before a certificate is issued.

Q: When will I receive my certificate?

A: Your certificate will arrive by postal mail 4 to 6 weeks after you passed the exam. For Beta exams, the review process is quite a bit longer, so for these you will need to have a bit more patience.

Q: It's been 6 weeks, and I still did not receive my certificate. What do I do now?"

A: Certificates are sent by priority mail. For many different reasons, this can some times take much longer. If you have not received your certificate within 8 weeks after attaining your certification, please send an e-mail to certification @ mysql.com. Please include details such as the exam number and your candidate ID number in the e-mail.

Q: What do the exams cost?

A: All MySQL certification exams are offered at the local equivalent of US$200^*.

Q: How do I stay updated on the latest MySQL certification developments?

A: Subscribe to the MySQL Certification mailing list to stay updated on the latest MySQL Certification developments. Send an e-mail to certification-subscribe@lists.mysql.com to subscribe.

Q: What rules must I follow as a certification candidate or representing myself as MySQL Certified?

A: Candidates should carefully review the Non Disclosure Agreements and Logo Usage Agreements for the English and Chinese & Japanese examinations before registering for any exam.

^*Prices for all exams are subject to local currency conversion and any local taxes.