Additionally, exam 1Z1-558 (Oracle Value Chain Planning: Demantra Management 7 Essentials) has become available and is schedule to be in beta until July 2.

All Oracle exams are available through VUE testing centers and run between three and three-and-a-half hours long. More information, including the objectives for each exam, can be found here.

Green IT Series Available
A nine-part series of articles exploring the CompTIA Strata Green IT certification, and what you need to know to pass that exam, is currently being posted in installments at the Pearson IT Certification site. The first three articles are now live: 

• An Overview of CompTIA's Strata Green IT Program
• CompTIA's Strata Green IT Certification: Disposing of Hazardous Materials
• CompTIA's Strata Green IT  Certification: Power Usage and Conversion

Cisco Virtual Classroom Instruction Specialist Arrives
Cisco is now offering a specialist certification in virtual classroom instruction. While there are no specific prerequisites, experience with WebEx is expected. The certification "validates a specialized set of instructor skills, can expand an instructor's employment opportunities, and serves as a differentiator to prospective students."

The certification is good for three years and candidates must first pass a written exam (642-132) before attempting a practical exam (the 642-133). The written exam is administered through VUE testing centers and consists of 60 to 70 questions that must be answered in 75 minutes and costs $150. The 642-133 LVCIP Practical Exam costs $350 per attempt.

More information can be found here.

Certification Book of the Week: 'Hands-On Guide to the Red Hat Exams'
In what has to be one of the longest book titles in a while, Damian Tommasino's Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat Exams: RHCSA and RHCE Cert Guide and Lab Manual (ISBN: 978-0-321-76795-0) makes the difficult look easy. In 22 chapters, and 500 pages, he covers Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 in sufficient detail for you to be able to complete the 22 labs (one per chapter). Each lab consists of multiple tasks and each task typically consists of multiple steps.

While the book is specifically targeted toward candidates wanting to pass the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) and Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exams, the majority of the content and labs applies to any Linux distribution and can be helpful in bringing your skillset to a higher level even if you aren't a Red Hat administrator. It should be noted that RHCSA is now a requirement for RHCE certification (this wasn't always the case) and explains why one book can cover so much.

Certification Exam Tip #7: Never Leave a Question Unanswered
When you were younger and forced to take aptitude exams, one of the strategies you probably heard was to never answer a question that you did not know the answer to. Unanswered questions, on those exams, either did not count as right or wrong, or counted as only a fraction of a wrong question while questions answered incorrectly cost a whole point. Those days are behind you.

There isn't an IT certification vendor I am aware of that counts an unanswered question as anything but a wrong answer. Some vendors will not let you go to the next question without answering this one, while others allow you to leave it blank and mark it for return later. It is the latter that is of concern for it is possible to mark a question for return, run out of time to do so, and lose all possibility for credit.

A far better solution is to answer B to every question you mark. If you have time at the end of the exam to return and spend more time with it, then do so. Otherwise, you still have a 25 percent chance (assuming four possible choices) to get the question correct.