Chris Shiflett has a new posting on his weblog today that might interest anyone out there looking to take (and pass) the Zend PHP Certification Exam.

In the past week or so, there has been a lot of discussion about preparing for the Zend Certification exam. A common concern people have is whether they can expect to pass it, and this is understandable. Even when you've been developing in PHP for a few years, you may only be familiar with a small subset of PHP's features. Another valid concern is whether the exam asks questions that are tricky or obscure. Some people are worried about missing questions on topics that they understand very well.

For those wanting to get a small taste of the exam, Zend is offering a self test with 5 practice questions. If you haven't already taken it, go ahead and try it - it only takes a couple of minutes. When you're finished, read below for my comments.

He gives five sample questions just to get you familiar with some of the types of things you'll be asked. Most of them seem pretty basic, but get a bit more difficult later on.

And, of course, as a contest from Zend, the first to solve this puzzle gets a free pass to take the exam...