Oracle Certification announced the withdrawal of several exams on March 13, including 1Z0-147: Software with PL/SQL. This exam meets the PL/SQL component to become a Certified Oracle PL/SQL Developer Partner. Originally developed while Oracle 9i was the current database version, there has been speculation for some time that this test would be discontinued. As of the announcement, the exam will not be available after July 31, 2013. Oracle professionals pursuing the PL/SQL development path are asking what impact this retirement will have on the PL/SQL OCA certification process. The impact of the declaration and the actions you must take depend on what stage you are in the PL/SQL certification process.
- If you have passed 1Z0-147 – For people who have already passed the exam, retiring from the exam means absolutely nothing. Oracle certifications and exam scores do not change upon exam completion. The only people affected by retirement are those who haven’t taken it yet. After the deadline, it will not be possible to schedule the exam.
- If you are currently gearing up for a 1Z0-147 – If you are currently in the process of studying for this exam, and you are about to apply for it, you must complete the preparation and schedule the exam. Don’t wait until the last minute. You want to leave enough time for him to recover if you don’t miss the first try. Once the deadline has passed, you will not be able to schedule an exam for any reason. If you are preparing for the exam, but are just getting started, you may consider the following option.
- If you haven’t started preparing yet – If you are planning to take the 1Z0-147 test, but have not started preparing for it at the moment, I recommend that you go through the replacement test, 1Z0-144: Oracle Database 11g: Software with PL/SQL. Both exams have the same purpose, and passing either of them in conjunction with the SQL exam will give you a PL/SQL OCA exam. The 1Z0-144 exam won’t be finished for many years, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare for it.
1Z0-147 and 1Z0-144 have a large percentage of themes in common. However, 1Z0-144 has been heavily rewritten. The test contains new features added to the PL/SQL engine on Oracle 10G and 11G. However, the exam has also added a large number of topics to basic PL/SQL skills. Arguably most of these items should have been included as part of 1Z0-147. I researched both tests in depth and firmly believe the 1Z0-144 is by far the better of the two. The long overdue 1Z0-147 retirement.