20% off all oracle certification exams through end of 2015

[nick woodward]

hmm, I'm not sure whether to use this now, would be gutting to have something prevent me take the test and have to repurchase, all for a £30 saving.

does anyone know how I could find the lead times at the test centers? ie, if I booked today, what would be the rough wait time for the next available slot? at least that would give me some indication of whether I could get a second attempt in!

Regards,

Nick

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:does anyone know how I could find the lead times at the test centers? ie, if I booked today, what would be the rough wait time for the next available slot? at least that would give me some indication of whether I could get a second attempt in!

That really depends on the test center of your choice! In "my" test center I can schedule an exam within the week, sometimes even the next day if I wanted to.

So just check it out for yourself. Login to Pearson Vue website, make a choice of the testing centers in your neighbourhood and you can perfectly see which slots are still available at this moment. Scheduling the exam appointment is in the whole scheduling wizard way before the payment, so you can have a look for free First select the certification exam of your choice, step 2 is the testing centers and step 3 is selecting a date and time in the testing center of your choice. The next steps are about payment.

[nick woodward]

good to know it's that way around, was going to ring the test center tomorrow, but i'll just try their site. thanks.

regards,

nick

[Prajyot Gawarkar]

So can we reschedule exam under this offer after 31 December. Have anybody tried ?

[Roel De Nijs]

Prajyot Gawarkar wrote:So can we reschedule exam under this offer after 31 December.

Good question!

I definitely know you can't use the promotional code after 31 December to pay for a new certification exam. And I also definitely know you can't reschedule an existing exam after the expiration date of your voucher (tried it myself). Based on the latter one, I'm inclined to say it's impossible to reschedule an exam which was booked with this promotional code after 31 December. But I could be wrong here. Luckily it's something which can easily be verified by someone who booked an exam using this promotional code.

[nick woodward]

oh i thought on the previous page you and someone else were confirming that you can't reschedule an exam booked this year with the voucher to the next. at the moment i'm considering paying full price for the exam just so that i can move it back if i need to.

i'll try and find out tomorrow and post back here.

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:oh i thought on the previous page you and someone else were confirming that you can't reschedule an exam booked this year with the voucher to the next. at the moment i'm considering paying full price for the exam just so that i can move it back if i need to.

You are probably referring to this post. That was about trying to book an exam after December 31, 2015 using the promotional code (which is indeed not possible, have tried myself). That's yet another indication that rescheduling an exam after December 31, 2015 will probably not be allowed if you have used the promotional code.

[nick woodward]

this one

But if you have paid with an OCP exam voucher, you can't reschedule the exam after the expiration date of the voucher.

I guess I'm assuming the expiration date of the voucher is the same as the discount, which thinking about it might not be true. Either way I'm going to go check out the test center in town tomorrow, I'll try and ask them about it!

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:I guess I'm assuming the expiration date of the voucher is the same as the discount, which thinking about it might not be true.

Exam vouchers are (normally) valid for 6 months from purchase date.

[Pavel Kubal]

Hi there, I just would like thank you guys for sharing this info. You saved me few bucks in OCEJWS and will probably save more. Without javaranch I would not know about this :-)

Cheers

[Prajyot Gawarkar]

Hi Pavel Kubal

if you've scheduled your exam at 20% off, i request you to try to reschedule exam date after 31st December. We want to know if it is allowed to reschedule exam after 31st Dec. under this offer.

Thanks in advance.

[nick woodward]

I tried finding out today, and while I can't share the answer, I have to share my annoyance with pearson-vue.

Their customer services is terrible. After asking for the exam reference number so that the representative could look for a local test center, I was asked "which 1z0 803 exam I wanted to take".
So I asked for an example of the options, commenting that I was surprised that there was more than one.

"JPN Java Programmer 1, OCA Java Programmer 1....".

Is that the Japanese version? "Yes, you're right, it is!", was the response. "Would you like to book that one?".

After being asked "where abouts in the Netherlands I was from" (I'm from the UK), I was given the address of a shut-down test center, and a non-existant one. The explanation of the voucher system was almost as concrete as those companies, and after about 5 minutes they admitted that they didn't know how they worked, and couldn't put me through the department that did.



Anyway, Roel, surely this

Please note that you need to complete that exam before the promotional code and the voucher expires. OCP Exam Vouchers are not valid after the expiration date and it become void if altered or revised in any way as per our exam voucher policy.

answers the question? Seems like the exam needs to be sat before the 31st, unless I've misread.

Regards,

Nick

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:I have to share my annoyance with pearson-vue.

Wow! That's pretty dreadful. I have never contacted a Pearson Vue representative as their website let you book an exam appointment without this annoyance. If you know the exam number you can easily select the appropriate exam and based on your address you get 4-5 exam centers which are nearby and not shut down

nick woodward wrote:Anyway, Roel, surely this

Please note that you need to complete that exam before the promotional code and the voucher expires. OCP Exam Vouchers are not valid after the expiration date and it become void if altered or revised in any way as per our exam voucher policy.

answers the question? Seems like the exam needs to be sat before the 31st, unless I've misread.

Yeps, that's indeed another reason why I assume it's not possible to reschedule after December 31, 2015. But it's really easy to try and have this confirmed (if someone has booked an exam using the promotional code).

[nick woodward]

oracle just got back to me saying that:

you have to buy and take the exam before Dec 31, 2015.

*edit: and it turns out one of those two test centers *is* still open - it's just run down, with half it's sign missing, two locked doors (at 4pm), a to-let sign above it, and noone answering the phone. They picked up today and refused to let me have a look around without booking a test.

Yeah, I'll be going somewhere else!!

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:oracle just got back to me saying that:

you have to buy and take the exam before Dec 31, 2015.

That's a crystal-clear statement!

nick woodward wrote:*edit: and it turns out one of those two test centers *is* still open - it's just run down, with half it's sign missing, two locked doors (at 4pm), a to-let sign above it, and noone answering the phone. They picked up today and refused to let me have a look around without booking a test.

Yeah, I'll be going somewhere else!!

I would avoid this test center as well. With such lack of professionalism, I doubt if they are able to create a class room with the ideal conditions to take an exam.

[melad ezzat]

i want to take the advantage of this discount ,but also i have to book my next Exam next year(2016),

so i ask if i can book the exam in this December using the discount and then reschedule the exam date ? i am asking if any body had done this ?

i need to be sure before doing that.

Thanks

[Roel De Nijs]

melad ezzat wrote:so i ask if i can book the exam in this December using the discount and then reschedule the exam date ? i am asking if any body had done this ?

Previous replies all clearly indicate that you have to schedule and take your exam before December 2015, 31 in order to use this promotional code.

[Scott Selikoff]

Last week to use this discount! That said, many exam centers are closed this week.

[Felipe Kunzler]

Is it uncommon Oracle giving discounts to theirs certifications like this one?

Not very likely to have another one by February right?

Cheers!

[Roel De Nijs]

Felipe Kunzler wrote:Is it uncommon Oracle giving discounts to theirs certifications like this one?

Yes, such a (big) discount is very rare to happen (probably once every 5 years ). But Oracle sometimes has other offers, like this offer (which has already ended) for a free certification exam retake. That's of course only valuable if you have failed the exam.

[Felipe Kunzler]

Roel De Nijs wrote:

Felipe Kunzler wrote:Is it uncommon Oracle giving discounts to theirs certifications like this one?

Yes, such a (big) discount is very rare to happen (probably once every 5 years ). But Oracle sometimes has other offers, like this offer (which has already ended) for a free certification exam retake. That's of course only valuable if you have failed the exam.

Free retake seems very appealing though, you can do the exam way more calm, since you know you may try once more. (Which would make one perform better (at least me)).

Do you know where I can keep track of future discounts?

Thanks!

[Roel De Nijs]

Felipe Kunzler wrote:Do you know where I can keep track of future discounts?

I would assume such discounts and offers are announced on the Official Oracle Certification Program Blog. And regularly checking these forums will probably be helpful as well, because they are often posted here as well.

[Michel Parisien]

Boy am I a sucker, realizing this coupon code exists, just to find out that the soonest exam slot available right now would be the first week of January...

[Raphael Oliveira Neves]

too late for me

[Naziru Gelajo]

Raphael Oliveira Neves wrote:too late for me

Same for me, I wish that there would be another promotion like this that would come out sometime this year. I do want to take the exam as well.

[nick woodward]

realistically though, it shouldn't really matter.

here in the UK it would've saved me £35.

obviously different people, different situations, but personally i can't think of many where that sort of money is a deal breaker for this sort of certification.

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:obviously different people, different situations, but personally i can't think of many where that sort of money is a deal breaker for this sort of certification.

True! But it's always nice if you can save some dollars, euros, pounds,... You could use the saved money to treat yourself for the hard work after passing the exam

[Roel De Nijs]

Naziru Gelajo wrote:I wish that there would be another promotion like this that would come out sometime this year. I do want to take the exam as well.

That's unlikely to happen as this discount was introduced to celebrate the 20th birthday of Java. Maybe in 2020, we'll get a 25% discount But Oracle might start a new offer (e.g. a free retake if you fail the exam). Keep an eye on these forums (and/or the Oracle website) so you can benefit from any new offer.

[nick woodward]

Roel De Nijs wrote:

nick woodward wrote:obviously different people, different situations, but personally i can't think of many where that sort of money is a deal breaker for this sort of certification.

True! But it's always nice if you can save some dollars, euros, pounds,... You could use the saved money to treat yourself for the hard work after passing the exam

a few belgian beers?

[Roel De Nijs]

nick woodward wrote:

Roel De Nijs wrote:

nick woodward wrote:obviously different people, different situations, but personally i can't think of many where that sort of money is a deal breaker for this sort of certification.

True! But it's always nice if you can save some dollars, euros, pounds,... You could use the saved money to treat yourself for the hard work after passing the exam

a few belgian beers?

Excellent choice!