When my son Shanti was younger, I used to quiz him at home before a spelling test. Every now and then I'd throw in a difficult word from one of my computer books, like "asynchronous". He'd be wonderfully delighted when he'd correctly spell one of these. My simulated tests worked wonders for him, but the concept also works well for techie adults getting ready to take a certification exam.

There are different types of simulators. One type simulates an entire environment and gives you the equivalency of hands-on training - for example, it might simulate an entire Cisco network on your desktop PC. The other type simulates the actual certification exams, which give you an opportunity to take a practice exam before the real thing, evaluate your performance, and identify your strong points. Both types of simulators have value. Naturally, the type that simulates an entire operating environment is usually much more expensive, although I've seen some pretty pricey exam sim packages too.

Today I'm visiting New Delhi, India to look at a new exam simulation from a startup called WhizL@bs. Founded by a group of individuals who are technology experts in their own right, the company already has an impressive collection of test simulators and tutorials. WhizL@bs Director Pradeep Chopra tells me that their simulators for Java (SCJP), IBM XML, Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD) and WebSphere are particularly popular. In addition, they offer sims for Oracle, MCSE, CCNA, IBM XML and WebLogic, and are adding a sim for Red Hat (RHCE) this week. In addition, they have tutorials for CORBA, C#, and Unix.

The simulations have a straightforward interface, and are not overly cluttered with a lot of bells and whistles. A little timer in the corner shows how much time you have to answer each question, and you can customize your simulation to set your own level of difficulty and time limits. The simulation includes a tip sheet for review, which offers a number of facts that will be essential to successfully passing both the simulated and the real exams.

The simulator is actually a set of tests that starts out with a ten- question dummy test that just gives you a chance to get used to the interface. Then you dive into a diagnostic test, which will help you find out your strengths and weaknesses. Then you can go in one of two different directions-a predefined test on the subject matter, or a customized test, where you can set ahead of time the level of difficulty and particular subject areas you want to be tested on.

Lastly, the final test, meant to be taken just before you take the "real thing," contains a whole new set of fresh questions. Most of the simulator packages are between $29.95 and $49.95, with various discounts available for existing customers or multiple orders.

About the author
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Dan Blacharski has authored several books on technology, business, and entrepreneurial concepts. He has been a freelance writer and editorial consultant for nearly ten years and currently covers high-tech topics for the trade press. You can read more about his work at
http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a53727a102077214a6

If you are in the market for Java Certification Training for your SCJP 1.4 exams then you need to consider the Whizlabs Test Simulator. For some reason I have the urge to compare this to a car and cannot help but think of it as the Toyota of practice exams. The bottom line is: you will not go wrong with this product, download a trial version and check it out.

Dori Reuscher, Certification Guide
About.com
http://certification.about.com/mbiopage.htm

By releasing a new version of Whizlabs XML Certification Exam Simulator, Whizlabs once again confirms its leadership in the IT certification test simulators business. .
Whizlabs XML Certification Exam Simulator also provides a test customizer that allows you to build up your own mock exams. You can choose the kind of questions you want to be asked, the difficulty level of the questions as well as the time you will be given to complete your test. Used correctly, this feature will allow you to be focused, to put your energy and concentrate on specific topics.
The interactive quiz feature contains 115 questions and allows you to build your own quiz. You can preset the kind of questions you want to be asked and decide how much time you want to spend on each question. Once the time is up, your answer is freezed and there is no way to change it. This can be a good way to assess how well you resist to pressure and stress. read more>

About the author
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Valentin Crettaz received his MS degree in information and computer science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) where he graduated.

In 2001, he visited SRI International (Menlo Park, CA) where he worked as a software engineer. In summer 2002, he joined the Software Engineering Laboratory of EPFL as principal engineer. At the end of 2002, Valentin co-founded Condris Technologies, an aspect-oriented software development company that strongly focuses on software architecture. His research and development interests include aspect-oriented technologies, design and architectural patterns, web services, and software architecture. During his spare-time, Valentin moderates the Sun Certified Java Programmer Forum at Javaranch.com. He is a Sun Certified Java Programmer and Developer for the Java 2 Platform.

Whizlabs have added another excellent product to their stable of exam simulators - aimed squarely at candidates preparing for the Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD) exam (exam 310-090).
Using this simulator will help the candidate to determine:

• Whether they really know the subject matter (or just think they know it well enough)
• Which areas are they weak in
• Whether they can handle the pressure of the exam
• Whether they will be able to handle the format of the exam (will they understand the way the question is laid out / will they be able to identify the correct answer(s).

The exam simulator will not teach you how to program EJBs, but it will get you used to the types of questions that are used in the exams and highlight the areas you are weak in.
Whizlabs have ensured that all styles of questions that you will see in the real exam are also used in the mock exams, including the new “drag and drop” formats.read more>

About the author
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Andrew is the Manager, Information Systems for an international Occupational Health and Safety company and is currently re architecting their software product in Java. Since Andrew lives in Sydney, the head office is in Melbourne, and the programming department is in China, this means that he rarely gets to see his boss or his programmers he is still trying to work out whether the good outweighs the bad in this arrangement.

Andrew has currently passed SCJP 1.2, SCJP 1.4, SCJD, SCWCD, SCBCD, and part I of SCEA. Andrew has been working with computers for too long (his first program was written on mark-sense cards (similar to punch cards)) and his experience spans a good number of different types of hardware, operating systems, and network protocols.

Whizlabs have added another excellent product to their stable of exam simulators - aimed squarely at candidates preparing for the Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD) exam (exam 310-090).
Using this simulator will help the candidate to determine:

• Whether they really know the subject matter (or just think they know it well enough)
• Which areas are they weak in
• Whether they can handle the pressure of the exam
• Whether they will be able to handle the format of the exam (will they understand the way the question is laid out / will they be able to identify the correct answer(s).

The exam simulator will not teach you how to program EJBs, but it will get you used to the types of questions that are used in the exams and highlight the areas you are weak in.
Whizlabs have ensured that all styles of questions that you will see in the real exam are also used in the mock exams, including the new “drag and drop” formats.read more>

Today's market is an extremely competitive market and to be able to sustain oneself in this market you need to play safe at the price end. Talking about Certification market, SCEA is a different kind of a certification exam. People may argue that it is hard to justify such a fat price tag just for part I of the test when someone can go buy a book for half the price and also get some help with Parts II and III. With job losses continuing and the market recovery still being questioned, the pricing seems somewhat misaligned with what people are willing to spend to get certified. Again, this is just my opinion as a reviewer and certification candidate. But then, everybody may have a different take on the pricing model, like the perspective of a product vendor. I know the best comes for a price and hope to find more value additions at the same price.

Best regards,
-Ajith Kallambella.s

Obtaining your Oracle OCA or OCP certifications can be an expensive and time consuming process. However, it doesn’t have to be. You can obtain your certification without spending huge amounts of time and money on boot camps or other computer training.

Brain dumps found on the Internet have been shown to be a less expensive way to proceed, but one never knows whether or not the solutions posed by these practice questions are accurate for the current Oracle certification exams.

We have purchased and tested and rated most of the Oracle study guides and practice exams currently available on the market. The ones tested are listed below. Our rating was based on 5 factors.

1. Average scores we achieved on the actual Oracle exams.
2. Available selection.
3. Price.
4. Ease of ordering.
5. Product Guarantee.

Our final analysis showed that SmartCert had the best overall Oracle practice exams and study guides.

In addition, we tested several of the exam simulation software programs currently available on the Internet using the same factors listed above. The results of those tests showed that WhizLabs were the overall best for the Oracle exams.
http://dba-certification-training.com/

Whizlabs have developed a very useful study tool for those who are studying towards their CCNA. This practice test is one of the tools that you need in order to successfully pass the exam.
The engine has 5 customization levels:
Trial to familiarize yourself with the test engine
Diagnostic to find your weaknesses
Practice 3 practice tests
Customized difficulty level & the amount of questions, time limit are all configurable by the user
Final as the caption says the exam to try before sitting the real thing.

The look of the test engine does not resemble the real exam engine but this will make you more aware of the content that is tested. And face it when you have studied for an exam like this it really doesn't matter what the look of the test engine is but you want quality questions and this what Whizlabs provide.

The answer bank has total of 265 questions, the three practice tests and final test have all 54 questions each. The question formats include multiple-choice, multiple answer, write the commands, and simulations. When doing the tests you can mark and review the questions no matter what form of customization you are on. The amount of simulation questions are a bit on the low side but the answer bank covers every topic that is specified by Cisco Systems Inc. Besides the actual practice tests the software also offers: CCNA review tips, a performance history (handy to see the progress of your testing results).

All of this is offered at the price of $79.95. For that price you get all the above but also very excellent support.

Overall this is another excellent tool that will help you succeed in passing the CCNA exam.

About the author
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Koen is originally from Belgium but now living in the land of the long white cloud, Atearoa or New Zealand. He is currently employed as a network engineer for Airways New Zealand looking after the whole WAN and Communications network. He has been working in IT for almost 5 years now. His passion is WANs and hence his goal is to become CCIE R&S and Security and he is doing Juniper Networks certification concurrent as well.

His professional certifications include:
CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, MCP in SQL 2000 Enterprise Edition,
MCP+I in Windows NT4.0, MCSA in Windows 2000, MCSE in Windows NT4.0 and Windows 2000
http://mcmcse.com/training/index.php?id=308&t=reviews

This was my first, and hopefully, not my last time reviewing a product from Whizlabs. This product offered website links for an online testing center, which was perfect for novice test takers, or those that are new to using Whizlab products. I liked the fact that it was set up in two different window panes, which made for easier reading and better viewing space for each question and answer list. The Whizlabs 70-210 exam had several levels that you could select:

1. Trial – this portion gives you a mock exam to get you use to testing in a real world environment.
2. Diagnostics- this section is designed to test your weaknesses in the objectives for this test.
3. Practice- the practice mode gave you three different quizzes, all containing 53 questions.
4. Customize-This level allows you to set questions on your skill level, with a limited amount of questions.
5. Quiz- you can choose the number of questions pertaining to the objectives for the 70-210 test.
6. Final- this exam is meant to be taken a day or two before you go for the actual exam.

The only downside to this program was the fact that it only gave you a limited number of questions for the different skill levels. Having only eight questions just isn’t enough if you are on the starting level or new to Microsoft products. But that was only on the novice level and it does give you a short peak into how hard you have to study.

The other customized tests had a range of between 2-16 questions per objective on the intermediate and expert levels. If you begin seeing reoccurring questions, you are provided with a link for a new test bank, which was a nice feature. The questions were straightforward multiple choice and fill in the blank varieties, and had detailed explanations for all of the answers. Unlike other tests, they do not have low passing scores that are not challenging enough. You have to score a 85% - that is getting 45 questions out of the 53 given in order to pass most of the Whizlabs tests.

Having used many other exam simulators, and going into real exams with a false sense of security, I highly recommend Whizlabs testing simulators for Microsoft 70-210. This company offers full money back guarantee if you do not pass the real exam, which is usually a good indicator that you can trust the product. Whizlabs offers an array of products for Microsoft and Cisco certifications, as well as other vendor certification tests. If you are looking for a good practice exam, you should go check out www.whizlabs.com.

About the author
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Henry currently attends a Savannah Technical College where he is majoring in computer information systems, Networking/MicroComputers. He also attended the Cisco Academy. He has been in computers since he was about 12 or so. He was an intern at a local software company where he dabbled in a little VB, Visual C++, HTML and systems administration. HE is also a self employed LAN technician for different SOHO's around the area.

His professional certifications include:
CompTIA Network+, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
University Degrees Held
Diploma of Studies, Computer Informations Systems, Computer Support Technician
Cisco Specialist Diploma
http://mcmcse.com/training/index.php?id=308&t=reviews

I've been into training industry for over 10 years and have seen the Training Content in various forms like Books, Notes, Paper Based Tests, Video/Audio Cassettes, Mock Test Simulators. Books are always you can't do away with but you have to choose from others if you aim to score high. I find Test Simulators to be the next best resource for self training after Books.

There are lot of Test Simulators available with varying specifications and price. I've used some of them and could find strong and week points in all. An year back I came across the products from Whizlabs and was amazed at the quality of its first product J@Whiz. Since then I have been recommending @Whiz products to all my faculty and students. In fact I have used some of these products (MCSE@Whiz and CCNA@Whiz) for my own certifications. The major strength of these products after my experience with them is the quality of the questions and exhaustive explanations at highly affordable price. On the other side, of the coin, the quality of these products can be further enhanced by adding some advanced features like Adaptive Testing, limited and necessary use of audio-visual methods.

Overall I rate them among the top 1% of the available products and HIGHLY recommend to an IT Certification Exam aspirant.
Suhas Malik
Training Manager - IT Certifications (MCSE, CCNA, OCP, Java)
India

An excellent resource. Also those folks are doing some online instructor lead training which I figure should have some of the benefits of the classroom (contact with a human) and the benefits of the web (you don't have to spend hours in a classroom in a particular location).

Take a look at
http://www.whizlabs.com/scjp/training.html

And if someone who takes the course could give feedback it would be very useful.

Marcus
http://www.jchq.net/discus/messages/1/51253.html?1061117702