OK, I'm going to have to give my same speech I've given a hundred times, but it really matters here: 74% is a good score!!!
You have no idea how many people attempt to take the exam and do not get scores anywhere *near* that. To everyone here... please understand that on javaranch, you see people getting these fantastic scores in the high 80's or 90's... but that is extremely rare if you look at all of the people who take the exam.
I'm telling you, at Sun, even the people who work on the exams and who are engineers and even engineers of some of the specifications, just don't care what their score is -- as long as they pass. Remember, your score is NOT on your certificate! You are as certified as anyone else who gets a 99%.
The difference between someone who gets 74% (which means you are a Sun Certified Business Component Developer) and 98% (also just means you are a Sun Certified Business Component Developer) is often more about things like the person's ability to take exams, and also memorization which varies from person to person. It can also be a factor of how much time that person had for studying. It does not mean that a 98% passer is somehow smarter, or even more knowledgeable than a 74% passer. True, the 98% definitely knows a LOT -- and *may* know more about some of the topics than you, but it can also mean that you know the same amount but simply weren't able to reflect that in this particular set of exam questions.
When I was first hired at Sun in 1998, I had to take the
SCJP before I was even allowed to interview for the job. I just *barely* passed. I mean *JUST BARELY* squeaked by. I was just thrilled to have passed, and my boss or co-workers did not have the slightest care to even ask what my score was. And if they had, nobody would have been bothered.
I'm sorry that you didn't get the score you were hoping for... but the goal really is to learn and to pass the exam. If you feel that you've learned, then you have achieved the important things from certification!!
So, if I were you... I'd be celebrating. And in fact, Bert and I -- since you mentioned our book as part of your studies -- are going to have a beer
in your honor because hey, YOU PASSED, and you are a Sun Certified Business Component Developer. And it is NOT an easy exam. Heck, the SCJP is *not* an easy exam, and obviously you made it through that one as well
Enjoy it!
cheers,
Kathy
*very* proud of her 1998 70-something score...