I took my
SCJP 1.2 exam today. 56 of the 59 answers came out correct. Thanks to Ron for all the answers he posts to the many questions in the forum. Mostly his answers are crisp and correct. Thanks to all who participate actively.
The list below is for all those who might find it useful. But the best thing to do is to browse the study faq provided by javaranch or the one provided by Maha anna.
First of all, i did have some java experience.I prepared for 3 weeks before taking the exam today. I began with a weekend, when i completely read the Khalid Mughal book for Java Certification. I read for 4 days continously till i was able to complete the book. (i skipped office too !) It was a comprehensive and very helpful book. I prepared notes after each chapter and tried to remember the forgetful points. Then during the first week i read the R&H book. Since i had to attend office, i took some time off during the office hours to go through the book. It was a bit faster since i had read the Khalid Mughal first. Every day i also used to spend 4 hours atleast in the before and after office hours. Then i began taking the mock exams which were helpful in plugging the holes and cementing the concepts. I took atleast 10-12 tests spread over a week. I postponed the test to next week since i felt i was underpreparedThen i took 2 days rest, off from everything else spending time with my family. The next 2-3 days i read the Khalid Mughal book again.Then finally just the day before the exam, i took the Marcus Exams, one in the morning, one in the evening and the next one in the morning 4 hrs before the exam.Finally i appeared for the exam half an hour earlier and took it immediately.The Marcus exams were very similar to the final exam and were very helpful in my final stages of preparation. I had reserved them for the final day as per the suggestions by Maha Anna in her javaranch page.All the mock exams were helpful and i never scored more than 75-80%, except for one Marcus exam in which i scored 90%. In each exam i learned atleast 4-5 things i either didn't know or was not sure of I was helped by the the weekends and the holidays that came as bonus during the week, especially the day before the exam