Failed SCJP 6

[sridhar row]

Hi all, I took the exam today and failed. I only got 58%. The SCJP 6 Exam was very hard and even though they have increased the time, the questions are so hard that i lost time trying to get them right and ended up not having enough time. I think everytime i cracked a hard question i got a much harder question..wonder if the questions are based on ones strengths!?!?
Even though there were only a couple of questions from the newer version, there were some questions that are not covered in the SCJP 5 study guide by K&B. So my advice if you are planning to take SCJP 6 please don't. Wait for the SCJP 6 study guide.
[ May 30, 2008: Message edited by: sridhar row ]

[Jesper de Jong]

Hello Sridhar, sorry to hear that you failed it. Good luck with your next try.

I'm moving this to the Sun Certification Results forum.

[Joe Fischer]

Yes it's a hard test. You cannot get by on memorization alone. I think that you have to try coding and running examples, change a few things around and predict what should happen and verify by compiling and running. The test is designed to test your understanding of the Java language.

Even if you don't study any of the Java 6 stuff you should still be able to pass the Java 6 certification if you have a very thorough understanding of Java.

[sridhar row]

Hi Joe,

Just wanted to know if you passed the exam on the very first attempt? Cause i have heard that when you take an exam on the first time its a lot harder compared to the second attempt. Any thoughts on this?

[Swapna Gouri Kalanidhi]

Hello Sridhar
Don't get disappointed, there's always another chance. Even I have failed the SCJP 5 & now I'm preparing for the second time. It's not passing or failing that matters, what matters ultimately is gaining knowledge. I suggest you to get thorough knowledge of SCJP 5 K&B book... if possible take notes of it. Then try coding some programs. Later give as many mocks as possible when you are confident. There are few mock exams for SCJP 6. If you search on the net, it's not difficult to find one... Only after you score well(atleast 70%+) in the mocks, book a slot for the exam. Don't give up...All the Best!

[Ivan Ivanic]

Hi Sridhar,
sorry to hear that. But keep your head high. It is not the 6 that is hard but SCJP any version.
I failed 5 with same score as you 58%.
I passed 6 with 84%. Belive me those are same (THE SAME) exams except that you can get few questions from 6 and lots of additional time(hour or so) if you choose 6.
I was learning until I had 90+ in mocks (jchq) and than I set for the exam.
Compared to my first session when I failed and felt that I don't have enough time, this time I thought when I started that all easy questions come in the start. But as I continued doing exam I noticed that all questions are now in range of my knowledge. I have done exam in 2h30m so I have left with an hour to review my answers.
I have had 84% simply because I never aimed for much higher result.
So I definitely advise you to go for 6. Belive me I felt so much better when I finished all questions and had an hour more to review them.
Good luck next time
[ May 31, 2008: Message edited by: Ivan Ivanic ]

[Arsineh Keshishian]

Dear sridhar,

don't be disapointed. Nobody can deny that this is a very tough exam.
When I took my first mock exam I was completly overstrained with the difficulty of the questions and with the time left.
Then I studied the book once more time. Wrote lots of small programms and took many mock exams.
The more you take mock exams the better you get.
Practise more and do lots of mock exams and go for SJCP 6. You'll get it!

Good luck
Arsineh

[Rogerio Kioshi]

Very sad.
I think you must try a different way to answer the questions. When I start a test, I choose answering the easy ones first, and I mark the others I think are most difficult, for me to try to do them later. If you spend too much time trying to answer just one question, this amount of time would be useful to think about 3 easy questions, for example. Remember easy questions have the same value that difficult ones.
Hope this helps next time.

[Jart Bo]

Hi sridhar,

Good luck dude!
[ June 01, 2008: Message edited by: Jart Bo ]

[Joe Fischer]

From an earlier question, yes I passed the Java 6 exam on the first attempt (87%, I think). I don't know if a second time would be easier, you would almost certainly get different set of questions so it would be hard to compare. I was surprised about the mix that I got. You have to be able to think like a compiler.

[sridhar row]

Thanks guys for all the advice, encouragement and support. As the quote goes "Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did" I will persist with my goal till i succeed.
[ June 06, 2008: Message edited by: sridhar row ]

[Krishna Srinivasan]

If you need mock exams for more practice please try javabeat's SCJP 1.6 Mock Exams

[World saur]

sridhar row wrote:Hi all, I took the exam today and failed. I only got 58%. The SCJP 6 Exam was very hard and even though they have increased the time, the questions are so hard that i lost time trying to get them right and ended up not having enough time. I think everytime i cracked a hard question i got a much harder question..wonder if the questions are based on ones strengths!?!?
Even though there were only a couple of questions from the newer version, there were some questions that are not covered in the SCJP 5 study guide by K&B. So my advice if you are planning to take SCJP 6 please don't. Wait for the SCJP 6 study guide.
[ May 30, 2008: Message edited by: sridhar row ]

i also gave scjp6 today and got 58 % but i have passed. i think the passing %age for scjp6 is 58%

[Santiago Bravo]

dont give up. focus on the areas which you didnt score highly and try lots of mocks