Cleared SCJP 1.4...but disappointed

[Sherry Jacob]

Hi everyone,
I finally cleared my SCJP 1.4 today, though I did not do according to

expectations !!

I was expecting to get between 85-90% but the exam was really very

tough.

I had done a number of mocks and was scoring 80-85% consistently and so

I decided to appear today. Also, some people on the forums told me that

the standard of the exam would be as that of the Marcus Green Mocks.

Let me enlighten those misguiders...

The exam was nearly 10 times more tough and trickier than those mocks.

I scored nearly 95% on all of Marcus Green's mocks.

But when I started the real exam today, the very first 5 questions blew

the breath out of me !! And shockingly, there were another 56 to come

!!

The exam was nearly of the level of Khalid-Mughal and WhizLab mocks

which I did not have time to do although I had a look at them once.

I don't know why the exam was so tough. When I started, I was given a

15 minute survey. The survey asked me questions on how I rate myself as

a programmer on different topics of the SCJP Objectives. Each question

had 4 choices : Expert, Need continuous assistance, Need some

assistance and Novice.

I happily marked "Expert" on all. I don't know if that's what caused

the questions to be more trickier and tougher.

Secondly the pass percentage was set to 52%, so that may be another

reason for the exam to be tough.

Well, bottom line is that I cleared it but I am really disappointed

with my performance.

After being exhausted by the exam, I asked the center manager about the

initial 15-minute survey and he told me that it was used to build a

database. What database ??

I'm not sure if marking "Expert" for all those choices put me into the

toughest firing line !!

So for any of you planning for SCJP in the near future, BEWARE !!

Prepare well...ALL THE BEST !!

I'll be starting off with SCWCD next

[David Ulicny]

First of all: Congratulation!

I must disagree with you about the mock exams. I found SCJP not so tricky, mocks are in my opinion much more tricky. Especialy Dan Chisholm's .

[Santana Iyer]

congrats! did you try JQ plus v 4 (for scjp1.4) with 11 standard tests if yes please tell me how similar or different it is from real.

[anand phulwani]

If You dont mind please mention how much you scored in the exam,coz i saw you as a very active member of the forum so personally i had an attachment with you,anyways you are now SCJP and we all know its the certificate that matters,so go out chill and enjoy your achievement ,and best of luck for your further exams.

[Esam Ahmed]

CoNgRaTz Sherry,

As you pointed out about rating yourself for the survey...
I was curious about that too...
While I took the survey, I actually rated myself accordingly as I tought of myself on particular areas...

One specific area where I really spent a little time was the garbage collection area since I had little weakness...
Finally I became well versed ... with all the mock exams for this area...

So, I rated myself Expert on this area.....

Then, I found out that I literally flanked on this area...

I then woundered what just happened???

Because I was informed from a topic question, that Sun hadn't implemented any "Adaptive Test" yet....

Looked to me it was quite adaptive for the garbage collection area...because some of the questions I encountered...didn't even see anywhere....although some mock exams had some touch of it.....not quite...


Anyway...congrats on passing it....
Cheer now....

Esam

[Bert Bates]

Congrats Sherry!

Remember everyone that JavaRanch is filled with a bunch of smart-alecks er... very smart people

It's easy to lose sight of how hard these exams are, because of all the fantastic results that JavaRanchers get, but remember, Sun WANTS these exams to be hard, and they STILL set the pass percentage at 52% !!! So remember that even at 52%, a LOT of people don't pass this exam!

- Bert

p.s. The exams are not adaptive... the survey really is just to help provide some data for analysis. By the time you've signed in, your questions are already cast in stone, way before you've answered the survey.