Update: July 2021
Removed old not working links.
Background
In October 2015 I decided to take the Zend Certification Exam. I always wanted to challenge myself to learn more about PHP and learning for a certicate seemed to be a very good way for me.
For those who haven’t heard of the certification before. A quick wrapup. The Zend PHP certification is the most popular certification that you can get as a PHP programmer. Although its value can be questioned.I found it a good way of learning new stuff and it gives you some PHP knowledge credibility. You can find more information here:
http://www.zend.com/en/services/certification/php-5-certification
Or if you like movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2JbjD1wGsw&feature=youtu.be
There are similar posts about how to study and pointing to resources but I found some of them outdated. That’s why I went searching and got myself an up to date list of resources for studying for the Zend PHP Certification exam. I thought it could be very handy for other people that want to take the exam. So here it is:
Resources
The official PHP documentation (yes, up to date and contains almost everything you need)
http://php.net/manual/en/
The PHP book (I highly recommend this one)
http://www.phparch.com/books/zend-php-5-certification-study-guide-3rd-edition/
Zend Certification Guide
http://www.zend.com/en/services/certification/php-certification-study-guide/
Study advice:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/2p1wfu/how_hard_is_the_zend_certification_exam/
PHP The Right Way:
http://www.phptherightway.com/
Don’t forget to review these:
http://php.net/manual/en/ini.php
Handy overview of links to important pages
http://thomashunter.name/blog/zend-certified-engineer-zce-study-guide-links
Test Questions
Short online self test (8 questions)
http://shiflett.org/blog/2005/apr/zend-certification-self-test
Slides with 40 questions in 40 minutes
http://www.slideshare.net/carlosbuenosvinos/zend-php-53-demo-certification-test
Sample Questions Pack from Lorna Jane (disclaimer: I haven’t used these but they look promising)
http://www.lornajane.net/posts/2014/zend-certified-php-developer-5-5
https://leanpub.com/zce
Some handy questions for preparing for the exam
https://github.com/certificationy/php-pack
Blogs about preparing for the exam
http://7php.com/zend-certification-advice-lorna-mitchell/
http://7php.com/zend-certification-advice-michelangelo-van-dam/
http://7php.com/zend-certification-advice-eric-hogue/\
Wrap up
The resources listed above helped me a lot with studying for the exam. I hope they will help you too. If you appreciate this list or have more additional resources let me know and I will update the list. And finally good luck in studying for the exam!
In case you wondered if I passed the exam. Very kind of you for thinking about it. I have some good news, I passed the exam! One of the great things is you can add it on your CV, LinkedIn and add a shiny button on your homepage too. Also you can be found in the Zend Certified Engineer directory which is a handy tool to proof you really passed it:
http://www.zend.com/en/services/certification/zend-certified-engineer-directory
Again happy studying!
