Hello everyone, I’d like to revisit an article I wrote back in February 2013 about my experience with the Zend PHP 5.3 Certification Exam. Here’s the original content:

Today, I’m thrilled to announce that I successfully passed the Zend PHP 5.3 certification exam. This achievement brings me immense excitement, especially considering the hard work I put into it. I haven’t been on my PHP learning journey for very long, and while I may not have extensive professional experience with PHP just yet, my unwavering dedication to mastering the language has certainly paid off.

I’m not much of a blogger, so please bear with any mistakes in my writing. In this article, I’d like to highlight some key points about the exam. First and foremost, I want to reassure you that the exam is not as daunting as it may seem. It simply requires some courage to face it. Many, including myself, lacked the confidence to sit for it initially. However, I eventually thought, “Why not give it a try?” And here I am, having passed with flying colors!

To prepare, I delved deep into the PHP manual, focusing on the fundamentals, object-oriented programming (OOP), functions, string and array functions, and input-output operations. This thorough review gave me the confidence I needed for these topics. I also followed the Zend Certification 5 study guide by php|architect. While the study guide was originally designed for PHP 5, it still serves as a valuable resource for grasping the basics, IO stream functions, and web features. Just be sure to cross-reference it with the PHP 5.3 manual to stay updated on the changes.

In my opinion, approximately 60% of the exam content can be found within the language construct section of the PHP manual. Don’t overlook the string functions, array functions, and file functions – go through these sections in the manual meticulously. I committed around 30 functions from each of these topics to memory. It was a bit tedious and demanding, but it certainly paid off!

I discovered a helpful website, http://phpsec.org/projects/guide/, that provided insights into security. Additionally, I gained knowledge about security from the PHP 5 study guide. Prior to this, I had limited awareness of PHP security. After studying these resources, I felt well-prepared for the exam. The study guide is also quite useful for understanding web features. In conjunction with that, I thoroughly explored the manual to gain a comprehensive understanding.

Now, in terms of databases and XML, including DOM documents, I must admit that I wasn’t well-versed in DOMDocument, JSON, AJAX, or web services. Fortunately, I only encountered one question on JSON, which I managed to tackle. DOMDocument appeared to be an extensive topic, and I decided to take a calculated risk by not preparing extensively for it. I already had some knowledge of databases, but I did spend time studying PDO, including transaction concepts. PDO is quite fascinating, and I recommend referring to the study guide rather than the manual for PDO-related information.

Lastly, I should mention that I was well-prepared for object-oriented programming (OOP), but regrettably, I didn’t encounter many questions on this topic – perhaps around 4 to 5 questions. The best place to learn OOP is the PHP manual. I didn’t study the “study guide” because there were significant changes from PHP 5 to PHP 5.3.

In conclusion, after completing all these preparations, I strongly recommend going through the PHP Study Guide 5.3, which can be downloaded from the Zend website. It serves as an excellent resource for revision. While there may be a few mistakes in some of the questions, you’ll easily spot them if you’re well-prepared for the exam. So, don’t worry too much.

That’s the gist of my experience in preparing for the exam, and I hope this information proves helpful to others embarking on a similar journey. To all fellow programmers preparing for the Zend PHP 5.3 Certification Exam, I wish you the best of luck. Remember, as I mentioned earlier, this exam is not as formidable as it may appear – just go for it!