CF 8 exam advice

[Monique1335]

I am new in Coldfusion and Flash. I want to go for the exam. Any advice?

How much study hours? CF8 or CF9? My chances as beginner? Are they still giving 'advanced' and non advanced diplomas?

Thanks.

Monique

[BKBK]

Monique1335 wrote:

I am new in Coldfusion and Flash. I want to go for the exam. Any advice?

Welcome to  Coldfusion. It's fun, especially with the extensions to the language brought by Coldfusion 8 and 9. My advice is: yes, do the exam.

I can think of at least 3 reasons. First, learning keeps your knowledge up-to-date. Secondly, everything else being equal, the Adobe certification will position you above the next candidate who has none and only asks the prospective employer to take his word for it.  Thirdly, it will boost your self-confidence as a savvy Coldfusion developer. After all, if Adobe says you can cut the mustard, who's to argue with that?

How much
study hours?

I'd say 2 hours a day everyday, for 6 months. Remember, this is more study time than 6 hours/day for 2 months!

It takes one woman 9 months to produce a baby, but you can't go on to  say it will take 2 women half the time. I believe in acquiring knowledge that sticks, rather than cramming.

Go to the Adobe site and download the exam objectives. It contains about 40 bulleted requirements. I estimate that a beginner will need 8 hours per requirement, spread across 4 daily study periods

CF8 or CF9?

Start with CF8. Leave CF9 for later, when you have more experience.

My chances as beginner?

Depends on the number of hours you put in. I was in your position when I started with Coldfusion MX6.1. It took me 6 months, studying the way I've just explained, to get the Advanced certification.

Are they still giving 'advanced' and non advanced diplomas?

Yes. If you score 84% or lower, you will get the normal certificate. If you score 85% or higher you will get 2 certificates, the normal one and the Advanced.

So, go Monique! There's everything to play for! Good luck.

[Owainnorth]

A CF Instructor gave me some advice for the exam which did the job nicely and worked for me.

He told me to read the CFML reference and work through the ColdFusion Functions A-Z and the ColdFusion Tags A-Z; once I knew off the top of my head what every single function and tag did and how it worked, I sat the exam and passed.

Obviously there's no substitute for experience, but even in a few years of doing CF there were plenty of tags and functions I'd just never had the need to use, so going through the docs really worked for me.

O.

[Monique1335]

Wow! Very helpful and encourageing! Funny as well!

I knew the pass mark is 66, which is high (in the Dutch system if you have 60% you pass), but 85% for advanced, that is extremely high! I thought I read somewhere 80%, but I have checked - it is 85% for advanced for real.

I have the Forta book and have downloaded the Adobe PDF documentation. There is a lot of work to do! BKBK is right. 2 hrs is well OK. I will find it difficult to manage 2 hrs a day.

Thanks to you all.

[BKBK · Accepted solution]

Dutch, aye! Grappig, ik woon ook in Nederland. (That's cool, I also live in The Netherlands).

I take it you mean Forta's Coldfusion 8 books. His latest exam guide was for Coldfusion MX7.x.  You can use it to practise, as CF8 includes older versions,  but always keep sight of the new topics in the list of exam objectives.

Having said all that, I have to add that books are not going to be the deciding factor. Your performance will be determined by the Coldfusion server.

Download and install Coldfusion 8 or 9. The Developer version is as free as the air you breathe.

I'll now let you in on my secret recipe for preparing for the exam. Aim to create and run code to illustrate each and every requirement in the list of exam objectives. It might be difficult at first, but you'll get used to it very quickly. This way, you also build "muscle memory", which lasts much longer.

I don't know how far you are, but towards the revision period you should search the web for mock questions to practice on. There is one on Ben Forta's web site. You could also buy the CF8 Exam Buster. It has good press in the CF community. I rediscovered this CF7 exam advice I gave someone 3 years ago(ignoring the part about the MX7 book). In fact, I followed it myself when I did the exams.

[Monique1335]

BKBK wrote:

Dutch, aye! Grappig, ik woon ook in Nederland. (That's cool, I also live in The Netherlands).

I take it you mean Forta's Coldfusion 8 books. His latest exam guide was for Coldfusion MX7.x.  You can use it to practise, as CF8 includes older versions,  but always keep sight of the new topics in the list of exam objectives.

Having said all that, I have to add that books are not going to be the deciding factor. Your performance will be determined by the Coldfusion server.

Download and install Coldfusion 8 or 9. The Developer version is as free as the air you breathe.

I'll now let you in on my secret recipe for preparing for the exam. Aim to create and run code to illustrate each and every requirement in the list of exam objectives. It might be difficult at first, but you'll get used to it very quickly. This way, you also build "muscle memory", which lasts much longer.

I don't know how far you are, but towards the revision period you should search the web for mock questions to practice on. There is one on Ben Forta's web site. You could also buy the CF8 Exam Buster. It has good press in the CF community. I rediscovered this CF7 exam advice I gave someone 3 years ago(ignoring the part about the MX7 book). In fact, I followed it myself when I did the exams.

Another Hollander! I'm not alone here! Yes, I mean the Coldfusion 8 books. The thick books!

So BKBK and Owain, what was your score if I may ask? Anyway thanks for the great information! Very inspiring!.

[BKBK]

Brainbench MX = 95%, percentile 99%

Adobe MX7 = 95%

Adobe CF8 = 100%

[TLC-IT]

Something else to keep in mind ... in the end, "the exam" is not the point.

"Passing the exam and getting the piece of paper" is not a Golden Ticket."

Exam-cram books are sometimes a very good, very concentrated source of practical information.  (I cannot speak personally for the ColdFusion materials since I have never examined them, although I have contributed to exams in other disciplines.)  But it is the process of studying for an exam that makes the difference ... whether or not you subsequently take and/or pass the exam itself.

Therefore, you should get the exam materials, download a copy of ColdFusion (and maybe MS SQL Server Express and/or MySQL, all of which are free and entirely legal for this purpose), and take as much time as you need to ... working through the exercises again and again until you really understand them.  You need to know the material thoroughly enough that "passing the exam" would be such a foregone conclusion that you might not even bother actually doing it.

A great many of the successful practitioners in this business are self-taught, and what I have just described is a form of self-teaching.  The designers of these exams are generally sought-after because they are considered to be the best in their fields.  They know that one purpose of the materials is "to sell examinations," and if that is all you're looking for that's all you'll receive.  But if you look deeper, and work harder, it's there to be had.

Good luck.

[Monique1335]

TLC-IT

Also many thanks to you! Have used all my points, otherwise would have given some to you.

BKBK

OMG! Are you for real?.