I am so happy! I started studying 6 weeks ago. Initially I wanted to study for at least 8 weeks before taking the exam, in fact, I posted a message on this board but didn't get any replies
http://www.javaranch.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=26&t=000804 6 weeks ago, I had very little or no knowledge about
EJB,
JSP, Serverlet, JNDI, JMS -- i.e. J2EE in general. But I already had the
SCJP and
SCJD certifications and considered myself very strong in the
Java language itself and had pretty good understanding of protocols, UML and design
patterns. I really gave 100% of my effort during the last 6 weeks. I have a full time job and often I have to work overtime, but I manager to pull it off.
Now 6 weeks later, I cleared part I! I am so proud of myself. Also I want to thank you people for all the information and resources. This forum and the Yahoo study group really helped me a lot.
Here the breakdown of my scores. I got 100% in all other categories except the following:
Common Architectures: 83% (got 1 out of 6 wrong)
Protocols: 66% (1 out of 3)
Design Patterns: 80% (1 out of 5)
I really consider myself very strong in design patterns, I am somewhat upset that I got 1 wrong, but I think I should be happy with the overall score.
Here are some thoughts I'd like to share with you all:
1. focus on the knowledge, not the exam
This forum and the yahoo group provided a lot of resources and information. While this is all good, I think the most important thing is still to honestly learn all the topics. You really have to know your "stuff". Before I took the exam, I really felt that I had already accomplished my goals, i.e. I had already become a much stronger architect/designer. I felt like even if I failed the exam, all would not have been wasted, because I learned all the "stuff" during this process. And isn't that all these exam and certification all about?
2. do not pay too much attention to all the mock exams
While I thank those who provided mock exams, and I personally browsed some of these and probably benifited from them too, I have to point out that some of these mock exam questions are not very well constructed and the answers are sometimes vague or even wrong and misleading. Paying too much attention to these mock exams will only create distraction. The best way to prepare is still to learn the "stuff".
3. do not pay too much attention to other people's notes
For the same reason as above,
you should only use these notes as a quick and casual reference. You should compile your own study notes!
4. some recommendations:
I bought too J2EE related books, but I hardly used them much. The material I used the most is Sun's J2EE Tutorial. It is very clearly written and explains all the concepts concisely and precisely. The examples are easy to run and really help you understand the concepts. The EJB related chapters and Transaction are especially good. Hey, I got 100% on EJB and EJB container by just studying the tutorial! Also, Sun's J2EE Design Patterns (part of the J2EE blue print) is excellent too. The best part? Both are free! With these two, you will just do fine with the EJB related topics.
For design patterns, of course you need to read the Gang of Four book, but you don't need to read the implementation and sample code sections for each pattern. Also, you need to read the J2EE Design Patterns. For UML, I recommend UML Explained over UML Distilled as it is even easier to understand.
Other useful resources include the files recommended in the Yahoo group, especially the JavaWorld article on security, 3COM's firewall article, Eternal System's introduction to fault tolerance, RMI/IIOP,etc.
Any way, now I need to take a break and then register for part II.
Howie
