vortex’s blog

After only a minor amount of study, today I took the Zend Certified Engineer (ZCE) exam at Excom. I was able to pass the test successfully on the first try!

To prepare for the exam, I took a number of steps that may or may not work for you. I’ve been working with PHP since version 3, so I’m quite familiar with the language itself; you may need either more or less preparation.

This is a list of the steps that seemed to work for me:

1) Purchase the ‘Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide‘ by Davey Shafik with Ben Ramsey. Aims to cover the material addressed in the ZCE exam, it’s ideal for studying toward the certification.

2) Purchase the ‘Zend PHP 5 Certification Online Practice Test‘. You can choose to purchase to access a single practice test or a package of up to 10 tests. Personally I purchased a 5 test pack, but I only used two of these. These tests provide an insight into how the real ZCE works, and to be honest I would have failed the first time had I not done these practice tests. One warning, however. Don’t get caught by the trap of continually re-testing yourself with the practice tests. It can lead to a false reading of how well you’re doing because you can end up learning the questions specifically in the practice test rather than what you actually need to know.

3) Book your exam online. The exams are run through Pearson Vue, so anywhere they have a testing center, you should be able to book your exam. Personally, I booked my exam when I bought my practice tests effectively giving me a deadline to study to. In Adelaide, the test was at Excom in Pultney Street.

4) Profit! Well, I can’t verify this step yet, but it cant be a bad thing to be certified, right?

I’d like to thank the friendly folks in the PHP Community Channel #phpc on irc.freenode.org; specifically fellow regulars Davey Shafik and Ben Ramsey for writing a great study guide for the Zend Certification!