Hi Guys,
Took the exam today - PASSED
Got a score of 86%

!!!
I am going to give you a few tips on how I studied. And tell you my exam experience.
WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST!
Ok some tips on how I studied: 1. I went thru Kathy Sierra / Bert Bates Book - Its a great study book...totally recommended.
Don't worry about some parts not in the book - like static initializer or whatever! Basically I did not get anything on my exam, over which I freaked out because that was not covered in that book.
2. I did all of Dan's topic mock exams.
3. Did Marcus's mock exams - got 93/82/87 on those three - avg of 87 - and that�s about how much I got in my real exam!
4. Took Bill Brodgan's mock and toughest 19 Qs.
5. Tried Valentine's Mock - Freaked me out - Good to solve if you want some confidence!!
6. I also did many of the mocks on :
http://www.javaranch.com/mock.jsp 7. I also read parts of Mughal's book - just to make sure I had not missed anything. I would not think that would be very necessary though. There is one great table for inner classes in that book though.
8. In the last 2 days, I flipped thru Kathy/Bert's book again - Concentrate on the Exam tips they give you in that book - THEY ARE VERY VERY USEFUL - READ AND RE-READ THEIR 2 MINUTE DRILLS, AND THEN RE-READ IT AGAIN, AND ONCE AGAIN!
7. I drank a lot of
water - as per Kathy's advice.
OK NOW, few things about my exam experience 1. Even though I was fairly prepared - I was nervous as hell! Just the idea of going in to a room and taking an exam � the thought got me nervous � Its just those 2 hours that matters - no matter how much you prepare!! I tried to remind my self that the key is to keep cool and think straight.
2. I started of well, but then in between sometime - I came through a couple of hard questions and I freaked out....

....I thought I was short on time too�.I got tenst and basically lost 10 mins of good thinking time -SO DON'T GET TENSE!! Coz then you can't think and you loose even more time.
3. Over all time was sufficient for me. I was able to go thru 1 round of the questions, then revisited the 8/10 I had marked, and finally got to check about half my exam again....If I had not freaked out in between, I probably would have got an extra 10 mins...and been able to check my whole exam!!
3. Third thing, I assure you, if you study hard - as in know your stuff from Kathy/Bert�s book well, and take all of Dan's topic mock exams, and take Marcus's mock exams....and a may be a few others online...then getting a
pass score should not be tough. I can also assure you if you don�t study, you won�t pass the exam. According to me, the exam makes sure you will fail if you don�t study, just pass if you study, do well if you prepare well, excel if you are a brain.
4. There are many "easy" to "mid level tough" questions which should get you through....Its NOT like an all evil exam with all VERY TOUGH questions. Its not like its set so you don�t pass.
5. There were some questions I got stuck on, scratched my head, made a sad face, wondered what the person who thought of that question must have been thinking ;-) , and finally answered my best, but I have no idea if I got those right or not....be prepared for some of those - MAKE SURE THOSE FEW DON'T KNOCK YOU OFF - KEEP YOUR COOL - ITS NOT A BIGGIE IF YOU MISS 2/3 OF THEM!! DON'T FREAK OUT

STAY CALM...You still gotta bag what you can bag!!
6. I messed up in Garbage Collection big time

Although I never found it a tough topic, I usually ended up getting most Q�s in the mocks right � dunno what happened there...
Thread Q's were kinda brain teasers - I'd say they were definately not very easy. But I did quite well in that section � better than I expected.
7. Flow control part - like if/for/do-while loops kinda stuff, was a little more time consuming...kinda tricky too!! Not difficult, just thinkers!
8. Topics like Declarations, Access Control, Language Fundamentals,
java lang, collections, overloading, overiding....do lots of practice q's in the mocks - these topics are the ones where you can score.
9. For most questions, think simple - look for silly things! � well I don�t mean silly, I mean �things you would not think of� kinda things - I can't tell you how many questions were misleading - like you think they are on some topic, but they are totally
testing something else!! So read the code in the questions slowly, closely, carefully
Read the exam traps in Kathy�s book!! You�ll thank her and Bert.
10. Java ranch is a GREAT place to share knowledge!! PARTICIPATE!!
11. Over all, a great experience and a satisfactory result.
12. Finally � Last but not the least, THANKS to all of you who helped me - answering my doubts

BILL BRODGEN, COREY, DAN, JOSE, KATHY, MARLENE, RESHMA, PREETI, and all the rest who helped me...
All the best to all of you taking the exam!
Cheers, Monisha.
� SUN CERTIFIED PROGRAMMER
PS: Yeah now you can move this thread to the passed forum to continue the congrats
