Well I posted the homework for chapters 6-8ish, and worked on it once or twice. Then the other day I decided to go back and clean up a few posts in my blog as to not confuse anyone that might read the blog and in doing so I started to review some of the homework that I assigned myself. When I read the questions and tried to construct a query that would answer the questions in SQL I had a feeling of writers block; like ok, how do I start this thing? Do I need a CTE? What am I grouping? What tables am I using? How do I cross apply, and what does that do again?
I think it's virtually impossible to not relapse on the things you've learned without looking at them on a daily basis, but thankfully when I felt the writers block I was able to go back and review some notes to get back on track as to how I can construct a sufficient query. None the less, it did take time for me to look up notes which I will not have the luxury of doing in a test environment.
Realizing that the initial things that I learned had gotten fuzzy I've been working through my homework sets from chapters 3, 4, 5. Reading the questions slowly, and taking my time has helped me to refresh my memory of these queries.
Learning SQL for this exam is tough if you're new to SQL because there are many ways to go about learning it. It's not as if you first learn the SELECT statement in chapter one, and the ORDER BY in the last chapter (if that makes sense). You learn principle concepts that are simple at first, then shift, and morph to become increasingly more difficult.
So with that all being said, it can be frustrating trying to learn something new and not forgetting the old. The best remedy I've found for blending the two is constant application. I've already told myself that I'm not going to take the exam again until I can complete every homework question in my blog without looking at notes. I then will know that I'm ready…
Cheers to those on the warpath with me...
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