how to prepare for IBM 486 and 287

[black night]

hi folks
where do i get the websphere and useful books
HOw much time will it take to prepare as i have no experienc with webspher

[v giri]

where do i get the websphere and useful books

There are several Websphere books available. But if you are looking for the immediate purpose of exam Redbooks(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/) and www.webspherecentral.com are the best. For exam 287, if you are strong on J2EE (especially EJB),you can supplement with Howard Kushner's book specifically for the exam. It should take <4 weeks to clear the exam if you are otherwise comfortable with J2EE.

For exam 486, primary resources are Larman's book (Applying UML Patterns)2/e. You would find nice introduction by Martin Fowler. Also Brush up a little bit on patterns and development team dynamics. You would find excellent resources @ yahoo groups ooad_meda. If you have zero previous exposure to UML it could take about 8 weeks. Discussion forums are in this forum and also @ www.objectsbydesign.com

Both are difficult exams so experience or diligent reading is required.

Best wishes

[black night]

hi giri,
where in india i can get hardcopy of redbook and " Websphere certification study guide: Developing j2ee applications with IBM websphere studio IBM certified enterprise developer by : Howard kushner " and " Ejb 2.0 Development with websphere studio Application developer Part 1: ejb Architecture and concepts "

Thanks a lot for your reply I think i have got a right place to sort out my all doubts about the exam

[Nicholas Cheung]

You may try purchasing them from Amazon.

Nick

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by v giri:

If you have zero previous exposure to UML it could take about 8 weeks.

I think it is too much... 486 exam should not be take more than 6 weeks for preparation for a Java programmer, even though he/she doesn't have UML experience....

Just my opinion....

[Theodore Casser]

Originally posted by Ko Ko Naing:


I think it is too much... 486 exam should not be take more than 6 weeks for preparation for a Java programmer, even though he/she doesn't have UML experience....

Just my opinion....

I can't even remember how long I studied for 486, though. I think that the eight weeks (two months, roughly) quoted above is probably a good estimate, especially for someone without formal training, and it took me that long to feel comfortable with UML and design patterns.

But the two books and a few online resources were good preparation, so... that's all that's needed.

WRT Websphere, I haven't taken 287. However, when I was learning 3.5 and 4.0, a good weekend spent playing with the software and reading the redbooks seemed to do the trick. It's not terribly different from any other J2EE application server when you get down to it.
[ July 16, 2004: Message edited by: Theodore Casser ]

[Alan Wanwierd]

Hi,

I've just finished my ICED - took me 4 weeks to do all 3 exams, here's a run down on my schedule. Note: this wont work for everyone, some people prefer to immerse themselves in detailed study for months, if thats you - great you'll probably get a deeper understanding than me, but if like me you want quick results heres a few pointers:

Bit of background - I work with WSAD all day everyday and already had SCWCD and SCBCD, so had a good understanding of most of what was being covered, I just needed to get through the IBM exams!

1) I started with 287, read Kushners book and made sure I knew the ICE test backwards and really *understood* all the answers (including the WHY wrong ones were wrong) - Thanks to Javaranch for really helping out here!!. This took me 2 weeks and got a scraped pass 67%. If I wanted to do better should probably have read "Head First EJB" again for what is THE BEST giude to EJB stuff you'll ever find.

2) 484 I did in 1 week - theres a lot of overlap with 287, so its not too much of a leap. If you know you're EJBs and JSP stuff theres really not too much else (DAO and MVC patterns need to be understood though). Make sure you REALLY have the ins and outs of transactional behaviour of EJBs and what happens when various types of exceptions are thrown. I found this exam really easy and got 78% - it only took me 30 minutes!

3) 486 - I was worried about this 'cos I'd heard of a few people struggling with this test and the infamous exhibits woried me. However, I read the Fowler book and found a complete set of ICE test questions and answers in a different forum and made sure I understood what all those questions were after (1 weeks prep). Almost 70% of the test refered to exhibits - but most questions refered to the same exhibits, so after a while I didnt bother looking at them 'cos I knew what the question was referring to. Alot of these question seemed to me to have LOTS of correct answers, so I felt it was a bit hit and miss - but I got 83% so cant complain!

Again a couple of questions on MVC patterns and multi-tiers applications (make sure you understand WHY and HOW)[4 questions perhaps?], and if you really understand that generally objects should perform operations to themselves not to each other, then you'll be fine (this was the basis for at least 6 questions).

(Oh.. and dont bother trying to use any of the cheat-test stuff, apart from the lack of achievment and de-valuing of certs, my experience is that they are a COMPLETE con and waste of money! see other post for details!!! )

Good Luck!

OK - I feel like swanning off on holiday somewhere now!...

[Ko Ko Naing]

Thanks Adrian for great outlines...