Update of the MySQL Certification Exams

On February 1st, 2005, the MySQL Certification Exams will be updated to reflect the changes that have taken place with the release of MySQL Server version 4.1. The following presents a high-level overview of the changes that will occur on the exams as they are upgraded from MySQL 4.0 to MySQL 4.1.

Download Free Study Guide Addendum

Please read the MySQL Certification Study Guide Addendum (pdf format) for more information.

Changes to the Core Exam

• Structural changes: The exam section MySQL and MySQL AB is reduced from taking up 10% of the exam questions to 5%. The section SELECT statements is increased from taking up 10% of the exam questions to 15%.
• In the exam section Using MySQL Client Programs, questions on the MySQL Control Center (mysqlcc) are removed. This product is no longer under active development by MySQL AB, and has been replaced by the new GUI tools MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query Browser. Note that MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query Browser are not included in the MySQL Certification Program at this time.
• The exam section Using Client Programs will contain questions on using server-side help, as well as questions on specifying connection protocols for client/server communication.
• In the section Data Definition Language, questions on new TIMESTAMP behavior and storage requirements for character strings will appear.
• Questions on subqueries, the GROUP_CONCAT() function, and GROUP BY ... WITH ROLLUP will appear in the section SELECT statements.
• In the exam section Basic SQL, you should be prepared to answer questions on prepared statements.
• The exam section Update Statements will contain questions on INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE.

Changes to the Professional Exam

There will be no structural changes to the Professional exam. However, questions will appear on the topics described in the Study Guide Addendum

• Knowledge of the Cluster storage engine will be part of the exam section MySQL Architecture.
• The exam section Optimizing for Query Speed will contain questions on using different index types for MEMORY tables.
• SHOW WARNINGS will be part of the section Advanced Server Features.

New Features in MySQL 4.1 Not on the Exam

MySQL Server 4.1 introduces some completely new features that are important in their own right. But the area of application for these features is so new that they do not fit into the framework of general MySQL usage. We mention them here for the sake of completeness, and to clarify that they will not appear on the exam.

MySQL server now supports the spatial data types required for analyzing geographic features. The spatial data types allow you to store locations (such as lakes, cities, postcode areas, street intersections) in the database, and retrieve them using special functions. Most often, the spatial functions will, given a border, select those locations that are within the border, outside the border or which intersect the border.

Apart from briefly covering the need to be aware of potential new storage requirements, the exam does not touch upon newly introduced support for character sets and character collations.