8. The testing engine used in the exam

The user interface of the testing engine used for the certification exam is quite simple. (You could even call it primitive, compared to today’s web, desktop, and smartphone applications.)

Before you can start the exam, you will be required to accept the terms and conditions of the Oracle Certification Candidate Agreement. Your computer screen will display all these conditions and give you an option to accept the conditions. You can proceed with writing the exam only if you accept these conditions.

Here are the features of the testing engine used by Oracle:

• Engine UI is divided into three sections—The UI of the testing engine is divided into the following three segments:
  • Static upper section—Displays question number, time remaining, and a check box to mark a question for review
  • Scrollable middle section—Displays the question text and the answer options
  • Static bottom section—Displays buttons to display the previous question, display the next question, end the exam, and review marked questions
• Each question is displayed on a separate screen—The exam engine displays one question on the screen at a time. It doesn’t display multiple questions on a single screen, like a scrollable web page. All effort is made to display the complete question and answer options without scrolling, or with little scrolling.
• Code Exhibit button—Many questions include code. Such questions, together with their answers, may require significant scrolling to be viewed. Because this can be quite inconvenient, such questions include a Code Exhibit button that displays the code in a separate window.
• Mark questions to be reviewed—The question screen displays a check box with the text “Mark for review” at the top-left corner. A question can be marked using this option. The marked questions can be quickly reviewed at the end of the exam.
• Buttons to display the previous and next questions— The test includes buttons to display the previous and next questions within the bottom section of the testing engine.
• Buttons to end the exam and review marked questions— The engine displays buttons to end the exam and to review the marked questions in the bottom section of the testing engine.
• Remaining time— The engine displays the time remaining for the exam at the top right of the screen.
• Question number— Each question displays its serial number.
• Correct number of answer options— Each question displays the correct number of options that should be selected from multiple options.

On behalf of all at Manning Publications, I wish you good luck and hope that you score very well on your exam.