Cleared SCJP 1.5 with 83%

[Neo Phesus]

Hi Ranchers,

I am happy to let you know that I have cleared my SCJP 1.5 exam with 83%. I got the lowest of 60% in OO Concepts, rest all was in 83-87%.

I am not sure where I missed in OO Concepts, I felt bad for it since its the basic

Anyways, all the best for all you folks.

Thank you all for staying by me for the preparations.

Regards,
Neo

[Gordon Brown]

Good job Neo, 83% is very respectable.

I scored lowest in OO concepts too; my lowest scores were in what I thought should have been the easiest topics.

Congratulations- party time!

Gordy

[Neo Phesus]

Thank you Gordy

As some one said in the forum, this certification is not only about java and learning...but its all about our pride and symbol of achievement...

Man, but the exam does not show wheather we passed or not at the end...It just prints the section wise score..I was so tensed before seeing the score card...I did not know if I will pass or flunk...That state was soooo fearsome

[Paul Anilprem]

Congratulations!!!

[Neo Phesus]

Thank you Paul :-)

I am so previleged to get wishes from all you people...Thanks again for your great work in the ranchers :-)

[Joe San]

Congrats man!

[Neo Phesus]

Thank you Jothi Sankar :-)

[Padma Asrani]

Hi Neo

Congratulations for the great score. I am also going to write it in next month. Please share some tips.

How long did you prepapre for the exam? How many hours per day you devoted for the preparation of this exam. what all you refered. How many mock tests you gave?
I am also really tensed as it is nearing.

Regards
Padma

[Neo Phesus]

Hi Padma,

First of all my apologies, I somehow missed this post and thanks for your wishes .

Well, here are things which I did as a part of preparations, some sequentially and some concurrently,
1. I read through K&B full stretch, one chapter per day, by the end of the book I realized there was little that I was able to grasp.
2. So, I read the book again, but this time not full, only things which I was not really confident, like the Java 5 new concepts, like generics etc.
3. I felt some improvement, but then I felt I should dedicate more time for preparations apart from work. Here is what I did, I took two hard copies of the exam objectives, one for home and other for office, I used to study through the objectives with help of google. For this period, I did not even touch K&B.
4. Concurrently, I used to visit the javaranch forum SCJP section daily at work, and go through the posts, some of which I could answer and some I had no idea. Basically, this served as self analysis method to know which areas I was strong and which areas needed improvements.
5. Once step #3 is done, I again went through K&B. It made lot more sense than before
6. Then I started writing practice codes, For anything and everything that came in my mind...Even for silly things...for complex stuff That made me more confident. Cleared most of my questions in mind.
7. For mock exams, I used this link http://faq.javaranch.com/view?ScjpMockTests, If not all atleast some I was able to make it.
8. I realized, if I kept on studying, I will study for years togather, I booked a date
9. Put myself in auto-suggest mode before 2 weeks of the exam date. I used to tell myself that I would be a SCJP very soon may sound silly but helps really a lot.
10. On the day of the exam, just an hour before the exam, I went through the summary of each chapter in K&B. That helped really a lot

I hope this helps you. And, the most funny part was, I actually took the exam two days after the scheduled date, this was because the Prometric testing centre here in my place had some network issues. They were unable to download the questions I did not even touch the book or think of Java for these two days, it was just out of frustration These prometric centre guys made me wait for more than 5 hours each day and ended up blaming the server in the US. I got really fed up. So, don't let these kind of things effect you. I am sure, incase I would have prepared those two days I would have scored more. Call up the prometric fellows couple of hours before the scheduled time and verify. Well, it does not happen in all cases, but then its a better way to go about this than suffer like me

This was all I did, I wish you and all of them all the best for your exams. May god bless you

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Regards,
[ April 15, 2007: Message edited by: Neo Phesus ]

[Padma Asrani]

Hello Neo,

Thanks a lot for the useful tips. I will certainly apply those during my learnings. I have taken up an appointment for 21st May. Right now I am going through K&B book. No doubt about the quality of this book. Excellent explanation and well written. I am also referring Java 5.0 Tiger A developer Notebook for Java 5.0 new features to get a complete hold. I have completed only 5 chapters from k&B so far and really feeling tensed because till now I haven't gone through important chapters like Generics/Collections/Concurrency etc etc.. I was really panic on Friday but now kind of okay because I gained some confidence over the weekend. I have given 1 or 2 Mock tests so far. I thought of finishing it first then taking the mock tests.

I am also working and I get less time to devote for the preparation of this exam. Thanks for letting us know that things like you mentioned can happen in prometric center. I was really surprised to know that. I am taking the exam in US but I would definitely enquire before going as the testing center is really far from my home.

Thanks again. You have a wonderful week ahead.

Regards
Padma

[sharan vasandani]

Hi neo,

congrats, what is the score one should get in mock tests provided by bates & kathy along with their book.

[Neo Phesus]

Hi Sharan,

I am not sure what score should be taken with the mock...But I am very much sure those mocks are tougher than the real exams

All the best buddy !!

Regards,
Neo

[Neo Phesus]

Hi Padma,

All the best for the preparations, looking forward for the good news from you very soon.

Well, I don't think so there should be such problems in the US

God bless you...Pep up

Cheers,

[sharan vasandani]

thanks neo

[Bert Bates]

Congrats Neo,

It looks like all of your hard work paid off!

Bert

[Neo Phesus]

Thanks a lot Bert

Its kind of really great to get a congratulations from you all.