Hi friends,
I cleared
SCJP 5.0 with score of 84% last week.
Here is my background -
I have 5 years of IT experience but that was all in Mainframes.
I have only 6 months of
JAVA experience.
As I was new to JAVA, I first read Head First Java (by K and B) to learn java. I spent almost 3 months in learning basic java. Wrote lot of small programs.
Then I studied from k and B certification book for couple of months.
Tips for Preparation-
1. Read the K and B book thoroughly and solve all the
test questions again and again. There is NO NEED to refer to any other book.
2. Get hold of as many FREE mock exams as you can get.
There is NO need to BUY any mock exam kit.
There are plenty of free exams available on net , you just have to be smart enough to use google.

They are more than sufficient to pass the SCJP exam with more than 80%.
Tips for Exam-
1. Exam time has been increased to 3 hours 30 minutes
2. Number of questions is 72.
3. You will be given erasable notepad and a marker pen.
4. The time allotted is more than enough. I finished my exam in 2.5 hours and spent last 1 hour in reviewing all the questions.
5. There will be lot of drag and drop and exhibit type questions.
6. Be careful with drag and drop questions. When you drag the code box, align it to the empty place (where you have to drop it). Note the symbols hovering around the pointer.
7. Sleep well the night before the exam day
8. You are not allowed to carry
water bottle inside. So drink plenty of water before you start the exam.
9. Eat well before the exam. 3.5 hours is very long duration, I started feeling hungry at the end of exam and kind of lost the concentration!
10. Prepare well and you can definitely achieve more than 80%.
11. Exam is not very tough but the questions will try to confuse you a lot so do solve lot of mock exams but do not worry about the score on Mock exams, use them to build your fundamentals.
Feel Free to contact me for any questions regarding preparation and exam.
cheers
and finally -- can anyone tell me where can I lodge a complaint against a prometric centre?
The person at my centre filled the initial survey himself and handed over me the terminal when the 1st questions appeared on screen
I had lot of difficulty with drag-drop questions. I suppose they had given some tips regarding such questions during their initial survey , which I missed.