Passed with 87%

[Samir Shah]

Today I cleared the 141 test with 87%. Thanks to all you folks at Javaranch. I had prior working experience with XML which made it little easier for me. I had 17 minutes left after first round of answers with 14 questions marked. I changed answers for 4 of them. It was a pleasant surprise to see such a good score.
Actual Exam:-
No. of questions are 55 and passing score required is now 58%. Otherwise I didn't see any difference in format with compare to IBM sample exam.
Architecture 18%
Info.Modeling 27%
XML Processing 33%
XML Rendering 11%
Testing and Tuning 11%
Sample Exam:-
Last night, I took IBM's sample test which now asks 44 questions to be answered in 90 minutes. IBM have added more/different questions to sample exams now.
Study Material:-
Start with w3school tutorials - (Just basics)
W3Specs for XML, Schema Primer, XPATH, XSLT, DOM
Prof.XML 2nd Edition. chapters 1 to 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 24, 27
javaprepare - Notes which were posted by Vibha
certificationguru
mulberrytech.com - quick references for XML,XSLT
ZVON.ORG
XFront.com - Roger's Schema tutorial
An introduction to XML encryption and XML signature
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/s-xmlsec.html/index.html
An Introduction to XML Digital Signatures http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/08/08/xmldsig.html
XML-links from xml.com
Mock Exams:
JavaRanch
IBM's sample test
Witscale
skillometer
XMLWhiz
Take as many mock exams you can get. It definitely prepares your mind to think in exam perspective.
Cheers!!
Samir
IBM Certified Developer - XML and Related Technologies
SCJP
MCP

[Jeff X Williams]

Wow, that's the best score I have heard of! I can't believe they lowered the passing score to 58%. Maybe they should concentrate on making their questions better instead of lowering the bar.

[Vasudha Deepak]

Congratulations for the good score.
Can you tell about the format of questions for DOM/SAX?Are they similar to the ones appearing in the new sample exam?
How much did you score in the sample exam?
Thanks,
Vasudha

[Jayadev Pulaparty]

Congratulations Samir on your achievement; Can you please throw some light on the depth of coverage of schemas and xlst?
Thanks.

[Samir Shah]

Thanks guys.
DOM/SAX questions are similar to what IBM have in sample test. They had couple of scenario based qustion on SAX/DOM. Understanding of SAX/DOM/NodeFilter/NodeIterator/TreeWalker would definately help. I had scored 90% in new sample test which definately built my confidence up.
Schema questions: what is a correct instance document defination for given Schema. Advantages of schema over dtd for given practical scenario. Which of the following is not true about schema and DTD. What technologies to use to improve performance of existing xml aplication. I saw XMLQuery as on of the option in couple of questions. Lot of questions were scenario related.
XSLT question: 2 direct question on given xml, given output, what would be correct template defination.
I will try to post more details.

[Aaron O'Brien]

It seems like IBM is slowly implementing a new version of the test along with a new ICE test...does anyone know when the new ICE test was released and does IBM have any material on the new format of the XML exam?
Congrats Samir and thanks!

[Samir Shah]

I took sample test 3 times in last week.
Beginning of this week they had 57 question. On 17th I noticed they had 44 questions. I couldn't find any details for new format on IBM site and was wondering before going to Exam. But in actual exam its 55 question with passing of 58%.

[jim yin]

Amazing score, Samir. You probably got the highest score on this forum. Could you tell us which areas cover most of the test questions?

[John Wetherbie]

Congrats, Samir!
Thanks for the info regarding the test. I don't think you need to get more detailed than you have.

[Rakesh Gudur]

Congrats Samir!
Regards,
Rakesh.
-----------------
IBM Certified XML Dev.

[Valentin Crettaz]

Good job Samir

[Ashik Uzzaman]

Congrats Samir, the best score I found so far in this exam!
Jeff, do you know some others who scored more than 80%? Just curious!
Samir, your comments here will also be useful to us. What's your next plan?

[Patrick Kim]

Good job Samir! Now I have a goal! To break that 87% line...
I stop by to borrow your notes...

Patrick Kim
MCSE
(More Certification Seeking Engineer)