Beta Update (July 2, 2003)

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Beta....
Cancellations: 14
No Show to beta: 47
Beta exam Taken: 406
I will send you an update on numbers tomorrow as well.
As a reminder Friday is a Holiday here, so I will not be in the office until Monday morning.
Reminder that 600 beta takers is the maximum.
Thank you.
Evelyn

[Randall Stevens]

What is the count on complaints on not being able to register with Prometric?

[Eduardo Rodrigues]

Hi Evelyn...
My exam is already scheduled to 7 July, at 14:00...
Is there any chance of , after i studied the entire weekend, when I will make the test i cannot do it?
I was thinking that after my registration my exam was guaranted!!! Am I wrong??? Must I hurry up to take the exam without study!? Or my exam at 7 July is guaranted?
Thanks !!!

[Jonas Isberg]

It doesn't matter when you booked it, the important thing is when you take it.
So if there have been 600 who has taken the beta before you start yours, you wont start it at all. If I have understood everything correctly that is.

[Gustavo Torreti]

Originally posted by J Isberg:
It doesn't matter when you booked it, the important thing is when you take it.
If there have been 600 who has taken the beta before you start yours, you wont start it at all.

Exactly.

[James Clinton]

Personally, I dont think there is any need to worry and re-schedule your exam.
Previous posts suggests that SUN was stuggling to get enough beta testers and were thinking about pushing the deadline date back.
:roll:

[Raghuveer Rawat]

Evelyn

Cancellations: 14
No Show to beta: 47
Beta exam Taken: 406

After seeing this figure, one thing is sure you are not going to reach 600 beta taker on 7 July.
No Way.....
Impossible....
So what will be your next step. I think you will have to extend the date.

[Radu Zaharia]

After seeing this figure, one thing is sure you are not going to reach 600 beta taker on 7 July.
No Way.....
Impossible....

Don't be so sure. I think a lot of people have booked the exam as late as possible, so in the last 2 or 3 days we will see a lotof beta takers.

[Raghuveer Rawat]

hi soto
confirm with your prometric center that it is not closed or their site is not down in these last 2 or 3 days. as I have seen in some message here that prometric ceters are closed 6 or 7 July.

[Rob Jefson]

After seeing this figure, one thing is sure you are not going to reach 600 beta taker on 7 July.
No Way.....
Impossible....
So what will be your next step. I think you will have to extend the date.

I think Sun has the original magic 400 number needed for a statistically significant sample already in hand. I think the 400 number was bumped to 600 to generate a greater number of testers and ensure the 400 number would be reached. If this is in fact the case, I see no reason or rationale for the beta being extended. I think Sun has gained valuable experience in dealing with some of the problems of this beta and I'd expect the next beta's to go more smoothly.

[Ashik Uzzaman]

Evelyn, at least you crossed your initial target of 400

[Erik Kaellgren]

Hi all,
I've just cancelled my registration for the 7th of July since it's not certain that I'm gonna be able to take the exam (as Evelyn pointed out) and I just don't want to study the hole week-end in vain!
So I'll guess that I'm gonna do it later this fall.
I can't say that I approve the policy of Sun in this case, but I accept it and therefore cancelled my registration.
Though, I'm still gonna study and work on my exam simulator with own questions. That one will be available in 3-4 weeks time I guess and will have at least 140 mock exam questions ( I'll hope so anyway)
So see you soon and good luck for everybody who's gonna take the beta before it ends!
Ciao
/Erik

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Good Morning,
That is correct I already reached my 400 mark for beta takers, but I extended the beta to 600 and I am waiting to reach that number to close the beta, that gives you all who have signed up for this weekend to take it.
I will tell you that alot of candidates have signed up for the last day of the beta, Monday, July 7th to take it, so I think I will meet the 600 number.
Good luck to all of you and thank you for participating in the beta.
Evelyn

[Paul Wadmore]

Hello Evelyn,
I'd be grateful if you could clarify if Sun have any strategy for handling the marking of tests that encountered the "out of system resources" error.
Obviously I can't speak for other people, but I typed in my answers to the Drag and Drop questions manually in the comments.
Will these be marked?
Additionally, have the uploads for these tests been checked for corruption (i.e. Do the Drag and Drop questions we answered before running out of resources upload intact?)
Thanks in advance
Paul

[Ann-Lis Hermansson]

Hello Evelyn,
I have not understood what you meant all times (that is why I waited to register until very late...). Is it so that more than 600 have registered for the exam, and only the first 600 will be able to take it, or are there only allowed to register 600? I know you have sent out more than 600 vouchers, but how many are allowed to register?
I have registered for monday 7:th as many others, and would like to know my chances of taking the exam... ie how seriously I should study this weekend... Here in Sweden, we must register or change date latest 2 workdays before, so changing date is not possible anymore ...
Thanks in advance.

[guyvincent]

Bonjour Evelyn,
I passed the test on july 4th.
I think I failed, but it's really a good exam. Next time i'll get it !!
Drag & drop is a very good idea.
What more ? Nothing but one advice : DO READ SPECIFICATIONS. For a french educated people, it seems logical....
Next : Cathy book will be GOOD if all the text look like examples she gave us. My next purchase !
"Enterprise javabeans" and "mastering enterprise javabeans" are good too, but must be read with GREAT ATTENTION.
Cheers from France to everybody on JavaRanch !!!
Bravo et merci,
Guy

[Kathy Sierra]

Originally posted by Paul Wadmore:
Hello Evelyn,
I'd be grateful if you could clarify if Sun have any strategy for handling the marking of tests that encountered the "out of system resources" error.

Howdy -- I don't know what the exact strategy will be, but there WILL be one! We are very aware of the problem that many people had with the Drag N Drop questions not working properly.
We are working on how to deal with this in the beta analysis, but if there is a question that did not work for a majority of the beta-takers, it will probably *not* be counted. That's true for poorly-worded questions (not that were very many of those ), or any questions that were much too easy or much too difficult.
It will take some time to get through the beta results, so you'll need some patience here. I do not expect that we will really have any specific feedback or results for at LEAST six weeks. Often, the final scores don't come out until just before the real exam is released, because most of what happens now is the analysis to determine what the real exam will look like (which questions, how the topics are 'weighted', the mix of easy and difficult questions, etc.). Once that's complete, the passing score is determined, and the exam is released very shortly after that.
Hang in there. I know *exactly* what this feels like. Before working for Sun, I was in the same boat taking exams. Waiting for beta results can be painful!
Cheers,
Kathy