Passed today with 69% ... the exam was

[Darrell Henry]

EVERYTHING I expected, thanks to the INVALUABLE input from fellow Ranchers.
My preparation went as follows:
Marcus (before JQ+, test#2:57%,60%; after JQ+, test#1: 77%)
JQ+ (after 14 standard tests, last three random tests, in order: 70%,65%,71%)
RulesRoundup: 100% (every day for past 5 days)
Books: RHE
Looking at my above scores, I'm not surprised with my final score.
I have been toying with Java for the past year or so (been desiring to get into it for some 4 years now).
Over the summer, I ripped apart a JSP project from "Web Development with Java Server Pages", Fields/Kolb, and put it back together, customizing it for a personal project. Put it on the shelf and kind of went dry for a couple of months.
I seriously starting preparing for the exam exactly one month ago, using RHE and other fine resources from this site.
I obtained JQ+ two weeks ago. Looking back, I wish I could have obtained this product several months ago, maybe my score would be higher - but, hey, they lived up to their guarantee - I passed! It revealed my weak areas and allowed me to zero in.
The company I work for will be undertaking a huge project in the coming months: Converting major sections of a Lotus Notes/Domino application to a relational back-end database (possible Websphere/Oracle combination). Looking forward to that.
About the content of the exam: Check out this link. Shivaji breaks it down well.
Shivaji describes my exam precisely. Yeah, I/O and threads all over the place. I got the ONE GridBagLayout too. All things considered, No walk in the park for me this time around.
Tips:

You'll hear this one all the time - Write and compile code (at least small snippets) - it works! Cut and paste is your friend. It clears the fog.

Mocks - do 'em. As many as you can. I wish I could have ... trains the eye.

Get a good grasp of each objective before jumping into the mocks. I hadn't finished RHE before I started taking the mocks - a LOT backwards. I was attempting a parallel effort. I crammed hard for this.

My goal with any certification is to open my eyes to various facets of the topic at hand. Allow me to see what the possibilities are, instead of focusing solely on one aspect - and then proceed in an informed manner.
Looking forward to enhancing what I've learned thus far and SCWCD ... thanks, again, folks.
ciao,

[Rob Ross]

Way to go Darrell.
Good job!
Rob

[sonir shah]

Congratulations..
Keep it up!!

Sonir

[Valentin Crettaz]

Congrats Darrell

[M farhan]

HELLO!!~
Congratulation !

Muhammad Farhan

[Darrell Henry]

Hey! I'm going to celebrate. My wife planned a suprise vacation for us. She booked a 4 day cruise to Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico!
She knew that we would need a little break after all of the cramming. She said whether I passed or not, we were going ... So, this trip turns out to be one of celebration rather than consolation
We leave tomorrow - c-you when we get back!
take care -

[Valentin Crettaz]

Enjoy Key West, that's a really nice place...

[Ghulam Rashid]

Hi Darrell Henry,
Congratulations
Rashid

[Reda Mokrane]

Congratulations Darrell