Re: Please help!

Hi Ramesh,
 
OK, the totally useless answer is - take the test, it is really the only way
to see if you're ready.
 
I took the test in October and made the (brave) decision to not prepare for
it at all. My logic was simple - I am testing myself to see if I really know
enough about what I do for a living. I don't "need" to be certified (others
would argue) but I wanted to take the test to see if I knew "enough" and
also to discover if there were fundamental gaps in my understanding of ILE.
I work with ILE RPG 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week and I write free-form,
using BIFs, subprocedures, modules, programs, service programs, binding
directories, binding source, date calculations, (when I remember what target
release I'm compiling to :-) ), qualified data-structures, arrays, etc... If
you don't do these things regularly then you are going to struggle in the
test. (IMHO). There is a little bit of O-specs and other "old" stuff in
there but I'd say approx 35-40% requires a good understanding of ILE
(prototypes, parameter types, etc). As the pass mark is 69% this is
something you absolutely need to know. The other things they tested quite a
lot on was qualified data-structures, arrays, date calculations, and data
types. Of course, most of the test (50-60%) was on what you'd call standard
RPG IV - bread-and-butter stuff you can do blind-folded (until under test
conditions :-)  ).  
 
But, of course, if you really are a IBM Certified Specialist eserver iSeries
i5 ILE RPG Programmer then you already "know" this stuff and the test is
just something to wave under the nose of your manager when he tries to tell
you recursive subprocedure calls are not possible in RPG. ;-)
 
I went through Tomson Prometric and it cost £122.00. The test was 2:15 hours
long and there was 98 multiple choice questions, split into sections.
 
Here's the site: http://www.thomsonprometric.com/Default.htm
 
Cheers
 
Larry Ducie