Passed SCJP 5.0 with 97%

[Ninad Kulkarni]

I cleared SCJP 5.0 exam on August 28th, 2008. I got 70 correct questions out of 72 questions. I missed 2 questions in Generics & Collection section.

Before actual exam my mock exam scores in percentage as follows
1. K&B's master exam 90%
2. Enthuware's all mock exams 82% - 90%
3. Whizlabs all mock exams 85% - 90%


When I was new to java programming and came directly from C programming background I learn basic concepts of java language from Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel. This book cleared my Object Oriented Programming concepts also. Then I read Kathy Sierra & Bert Bate's SCJP 5.0 Study Guide which kept me on track of SCJP objective. I followed all instructions given in the book. Whenever I found some doubts I went through JavaRanch SCJP forum.
JavaRanch members on SCJP forum cleared my all doubts. I learn many concepts from javaranch forum.

Thank you very much to all my javaranch members.

I went through following resources for SCJP 5.0 preparation

1.SCJP 5.0 Study Guide by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
2.Java Language Specification 3.0 (JLS 3.0)
3.Java SE 5.0 API Documentation
4.JavaGenericsFAQ by Angelika Langer
5.Sun's Java tutorials Documenttation
6.Thinking in Java 4th edition by Bruce Eckel
7.Sun's Generics Tutorial Documentation
8.JavaRanch SCJP Forum


I went through following mock exams for SCJP5.0 preparation

1.The master exam which comes with Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates's SCJP 5.0 Study Guide
1.I referred many mock exams SCJP Mock Tests section of JavaRanch forum
2.Enthuware's SCJP5.0 kit.
3.Whizlabs's SCJP5.0 kit.

Following are the tips for SCJP aspirants

1.Create small simple java programs and do a lot of practice with code.
2.Think in multiple way through java code.
3.Solve as many mocks as possible.
4.Try to clear each and every concept of java and apply it in real world java coding.
5.Find out why the given answer is incorrect or correct for particular java code in the given mock exam.
6.Use command line interface for compiling and running java program.

[Joe San]

That's a great score. Congrats!

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

Congratulations!!!

-Cameron McKenzie

[Ninad Kulkarni]

thanks

[ankit kumar]

That's a great score. Congrats!

[arulk pillai]

Excellent results and keep applying what you learnt.

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Thanks kumar ankit and arulk pillai

Regards
Ninad
[ September 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Ninad Kulkarni]

[ September 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Krishna Srinivasan]

congrats!!

[Vyas Sanzgiri]

Congrats...can you please post the link to those in this post if they are free?

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Originally posted by Vyas Sanzgiri:
Congrats...can you please post the link to those in this post if they are free?

Hello
Vyas Sanzgiri

For K&B's SCJP6.0 Study Guide

http://www.amazon.com/SCJP-Certified-Programmer-Java-310-065/dp/0071591060/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220847769&sr=8-1

For Thinking in Java 4th edition by Bruce Eckel
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Java-4th-Bruce-Eckel/dp/0131872486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220847900&sr=1-1

For JavaGenericsFAQ by Angelika Langer
http://www.angelikalanger.com/index.html

For Java API Documentation for J2SE6.0
http://java.sun.com/javase/reference/api.jsp

For Sun's Java tutorial specifically for Regular Expression by Sun's online document
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

For Java Language Specification 3.0 (JLS)(Very Important)
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/j3TOC.html

For Generics Tutorial by Sun's online document
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/language/index.html

For Mocks

For Solved as many mocks as possible which are available on javaranch's SCJP Mock Test
http://faq.javaranch.com/java/ScjpMockTests

For Enthuware's SCJP5.0 kit
http://www.enthuware.com/jqplus/

For Whizlabs SCJP5.0 kit
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz.html

Regards
Ninad

[Vyas Sanzgiri]

Nice...thank you so much

[Sharma Ritu]

Congratulations for the awesome score! We are glad to have contributed to your success! We look forward to contributing to your future certification exams.

Best wishes
Ritu Sharma
[ September 14, 2008: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Which certification should I do next?
SCJD,SCWCD or SCBCD ?

Please give me suggestion for future Sun's certification.

Regards
Ninad
[ September 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

Congratulations!!!

-Cameron McKenzie

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Thank you

http://suncertifiedjavaprogrammer5n6.blogspot.com/

Thanks for above link which is very useful to every java programmer
I want to know about hibernate.


Regards
Ninad
[ September 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Hello

What skills are required for SCJD?
where SCJD is used in real world programming?

Regards
Ninad
[ September 14, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Jesper de Jong]

Congratulations Ninad Kulkarni, great score!

Note that an older version (the 3rd edition) of the book Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel is available for free online: http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/

The older version of the book does not cover the new language features of Java 5 and 6; however, if you're a beginner with Java it's still useful.
[ September 14, 2008: Message edited by: Jesper Young ]

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Hello
Jesper Young

Thanks for your reply

Regards
Ninad

[Ninad Kulkarni]

[ September 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Ninad Kulkarni]

How many days are required to obtain SCJP certificate from sun?
I took exam on 28th August 2008
Also I got SCJP logo from Sun but how can I use eps file on my resume?
when I insert it on my doc file nothing is diplayed.

Please Help regarding this

Regards
Ninad
[ September 17, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Jair Rillo Junior]

Originally posted by Ninad Kulkarni:
How many days are required to obtain SCJP certificate from sun?

Here in Brazil, usually it takes about 1-2 months. Not sure for others countries.

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Hello Jair Rillo Junior

Thanks for given information

Regards
Ninad

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Originally posted by Ninad Kulkarni:

Also I got SCJP logo from Sun but how can I use eps file on my resume?
when I insert it on my doc file nothing is displayed.

Please Help regarding this

Regards
Ninad

[ September 17, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

Hello javaranch members
Am I correct to ask this type of question here?
but I really don't know how to use EPS file which I received from Sun
suggestions are always welcome

Regards
Ninad
[ September 19, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[Jesper de Jong]

EPS is the Encapsulated PostScript format. You can search on Google if there is some software that can convert this to a BMP or other format that your word processor can handle. Ghostscript should be able to display it. If you have Ghostscript together with IrfanView you should be able to convert it to something else. (I don't know exactly how.)

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Thank you very much Jesper Young


Regards
Ninad

[tapeshwar sharma]

what a score man!!!
what do you eat?

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Thanks Prashant Bhardwaj


Note: Try to think like java compiler and java virtual machine

Regards
Ninad
------------------------
Practice makes a man perfect

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

congrats ninad,

i have started preparations for scjp 1.6, and will come to you in case i get any doubt or querry.

Cheers
Bilal

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Thanks Bilal

Sure I will try to solve your query if you have any doubt


Regards
Ninad
[ September 20, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]

[tapeshwar sharma]

Hey Ninad.
I cleared SCJP last year, although my score isn't that staggering as yours.
Just out of curiosity, can you please elaborate what do you mean by saying :

Note: Try to think like java compiler and java virtual machine

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Originally posted by prashant bhardwaj:
Hey Ninad.
I cleared SCJP last year, although my score isn't that staggering as yours.
Just out of curiosity, can you please elaborate what do you mean by saying :

Hello Prashant Bhardwaj

Purpose of the given note is to share my actual experience of SCJP
preparation with other SCJP Aspirant who want to tackle SCJP exam
I just try to give some guide lines from my side to SCJP Aspirants
I also learn from mistakes

This is not for you because you are already certified you know all the things of java. You have more knowledge and experience than me.

Why are you said that,"although my score isn't that staggering as yours"
Be proud on yourself you are certified score does not matters what matters is the sound knowledge of java which is applied in real world
java programming.

Regards
Ninad

[tapeshwar sharma]

This is not for you because you are already certified you know all the things of java. You have more knowledge and experience than me.

Hey man!, one can always learn from other people, more experienced or less.
Doesn't matter that I've been there, done that.
When I quoted you, I meant that perhaps you have some trick to view the code in a way that makes it easier to analyze.
While I do not know whether it'll help me or not, but it will certainly not hurt me to gain some extra knowledge.
In this light, may I now request you to elaborate upon "thinking like a java compiler" ?

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Hello Prashant Bhardwaj
If you are hurted by my message then sorry for that

I will give small example which try to elaborate think like a java compiler

[B]final abstract[/B] class Test{
             void toShow(){
                System.out.println() => 1st compiler says use [B];[/B]
             }
      }
After putting semicolon at the end of print statement compiler gives another error which indicate that final and abstract are not used together
 
In the above code as per our knowledge there are two errors 
but compiler shows only one error at a time 
then after removing 1st error compiler shows another error 
like abstract and final used together

As per my knowledge in this way compiler thinks about source code

Regards
Ninad

[tapeshwar sharma]

If you are hurted by my message then sorry for that

Are you kidding buddy ? You are not assuming nasty things about me, why would I be hurt? . Seriously, I just looked at your score with awe and became genuinely interested in knowing the technique.

I understand now what you mean by thinking like a compiler.Thanks.

[Ankit Garg]

So the great Message Editor Ninad has cleared SCJP.... Just Joking...

Congratulation Man

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Hello Prashant Bhardwaj and Ankit Garg

Thanks for reply from both of you

Hello Ankit your blog on jgenius is very helpfull to every java programmer.


Regards
Ninad

[Marcus Moreno]

Hey, Ninad, how long did it take you to study to get such a great score of 97% ?!

I am now studying for about a YEAR. Reading your posting, I also bought Thinking in Java and The Java Language Specification Third Edition - however, so far I have not learned anything new from these 2 books (ok, also, I only looked into chapters I still have some lack of knowledge..) -
or only a really tiny bit, which might be good for my programming skills, but I doubt that it really helped in terms of preparing for the SCJP test.

Also, how much (profesional) (Java) programming experience did you have when you wrote the test?

I am basically programming since 2001 (start at university), with several work experiences during uni, plus 14 month of working as a Java software developer, I would call my programming experience as rather short, maybe that's why it takes my sooo long to study for the SCJP.

I really am trying my best to also get a score of 95% + - so any feedback of how to make this happen would be greatly appreciated...

[Venkata Saraswathi]

Hi Congracts!
I am familiar with topics in K&B's SCJP5.0 Study Guide. I want to write the SCJP exam quickly.
Any suggestions to prepare SCJP in short term.

--
Venkat.

[Ninad Kulkarni]

Also, how much (profesional) (Java) programming experience did you have when you wrote the test?

Hi Marcus Moreno

I have no programming experience. I am non-experience B.E. candidate trying for java job.
I took more than one year for SCJP5.0 preparation.
Basically I prepared for Java Programming Language not for SCJP alone
this way I try to become a Java Programmer.

Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates SCJP6.0 study guide is good for scjp preparation
but if person has no background in oops programming then I will suggest to go through Head First Java or Thinking in Java 4th edition by bruce eckel

I am now studying for about a YEAR. Reading your posting, I also bought Thinking in Java and The Java Language Specification Third Edition - however, so far I have not learned anything new from these 2 books (ok, also, I only looked into chapters I still have some lack of knowledge..) -

I used Thinking in Java for learning java language.Preparation for SCJP means learning java language which will help in real world java programming.

Already I mentioned books for SCJP exam and then links for that.

Only reading cannot help in understanding java language you have to do a lot of practice on simple java code then you will get an idea of working of java

You can learn many things from java compiler and java virtual machine
This is my way of preparation about java language

Java Language Specification 3.0(JLS 3.0) is very very important that tell us how java works.

I suggest to every SCJP aspirant only reading of JLS will not help to understand java we have to do java coding on each and every topic given in JLS then we will get idea of java.

I am basically programming since 2001 (start at university), with several work experiences during uni, plus 14 month of working as a Java software developer, I would call my programming experience as rather short, maybe that's why it takes my sooo long to study for the SCJP.

Since you are experienced java programmer then its very easy for you to pass SCJP exam

I really am trying my best to also get a score of 95% + - so any feedback of how to make this happen would be greatly appreciated...

Solve as many mocks as possible that will help you for SCJP exam.
Mocks are given in SCJP faq of javaranch go through that some mocks are commercially available for purchase like Enthuware and Whizlabs I used both of them.

For exam I suggest you that understand each question and think properly on each question then you will get good results.


Don't think about score only think on concepts of java language because score does not matters what matters is sound knowledge of java.


Best of Luck

Regards
Ninad
[ September 28, 2008: Message edited by: Ninad Kulkarni ]