Cleared SCBCD 5.0 with 85%

[sunnymet Metkar]

I am glad to inform you guys that I have passed SCBCD 5.0 with 85%.

@Resources I used for the preparation:
1. EJB 3.0 specs (core/ persistence)
2. Mastering EJB 3.0
3. EJB3.0 in Action
4. MZ's notes
5. Enthuware Mock tests

My experience with the Exam , mistakes I did and some suggestions for future Exam takers to avoid them:-

1. EJB 3.0 specs is a must
I started my preparation with Mastering EJB 3.0 book. But sooner I realised that there is no way you can appear for this exam without going through the EJB 3.0 specs. For getting a good score on the Exam, you have to go through entire specs line-by-line. A question can be asked on any line mentioned in the spec. Don't just rely on books.

2. Don't leave any topic in a state where you are not feeling confident
I got 100 % in the exam objectives except Java Persistence objectives like
Java Persistence API Entities , Java Persistence Entity Operations etc where I got 66%, 70% etc.
I was not feeling confident about these sections till last minute but still I became so impatient that I appeared for the exam.
If you are not confident about any topic, spare some more time on it. Otherwise it might cause a lot of damage to your score.

3. Mock Tests:
When I was done with the preparation and gave my first mock exam I got very less score. You can' predict/assume your score without giving mock exams (with complete 61 questions, not just 10 or so sample questions). As far as I know, there is very less free study material/ mock exams available for SCBCD 5.0. So its better if you buy a mock exam set. I chose Enthuware. I must admit its very good and many questions I got on the actual exam were exactly of similar nature of mock exams. Actually some questions appeared as if they were copy-pasted on the actual exam.

4. Read the question carefully
Whle giving the mock exams it happened to me many times that I knew the answer but because of misunderstanding the question I answered it wrong.

Please read the questions carefully and read all the options before answering.

5. "You know it or you don't know it" questions
The exam is knowledge based, not logic based. You will come across many questions which you can't answer by method of elimination.
You either know the answer or you don't. So again the same thing, read the specs carefully and be prepared for such questions.

Thank you all for your support.

Regards,
Sunny

SCJP
SCWCD
SCBCD

[Alim Atar]

Hi Sunnay,

Hey congrats man

Do you have any previous experience in EJB?
How much time you took for preparing SCBCD5?

Thanks for sharing your story and advising so nicely.

Regards,
Alim

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Originally posted by sunnymet Metkar:
I am glad to inform you guys that I have passed SCBCD 5.0 with 85%.

Congratulations !!!

[Collins Mbianda]

Congrats sunnymet !!!
Great job. Thanks for sharing your experience with us

[alejandro mclaren]

Great score, Congratulations!!!

[Elton Kuzniewski]

Congratulations Man!

How many time do you take to study?
Did you works with EJB3 before your studies?

Thanks a bunch!

[kumarsp kumar]

Congratulations Sunny. Do you think Mastering EJB covers all the exam topics of SCBCD 5 from the basics? Please let me know.

[Christophe Verré]

Congratulations

[sunnymet Metkar]

Hi Elton,
I used to study 1-1.5 hrs every weekday and 2 hrs on weekends for about 3 months. Last week I gave the mock exams.I don't have any experience with EJB 3.0.

Hi Kumar,
I think, Mastering EJB is not an exam oriented book. You can refer to it for your knowledge but as far as exam is concerned, its not designed for the exam. It contains lot of thinks which are not required for exam.
No escape from EJB 3.0 specs for the exam.

Best wishes!

Regards,
Sunny

[Benoît de Chateauvieux]

Congrats, Sunny !
And many thanks for sharing your experience.

[Krishna Srinivasan]

Congrats!!!

[kumarsp kumar]

Thanks Sunny. If Mastering EJB is not prescribed for the exam, which book do you suggest? I dont have any prior experience in EJB. Please consider this and suggest a good book for me.

[Joe San]

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[mohammad juma]

Hi "sunnymet Metkar"..
sorry to say that that your notes were the most frustrated notes that i read before going to exam...
I read your notes before 2 days, and after that i felt that my preparation for exam is very bad and the exam is very difficult and this was NOT true.

I went to exam and I got the certificate...
my notes are:
1)specs ARE NOT MUST.
2)focus on concepts, don't spend time trying to remember syntax and tags names.
3)The best book "in my opinion" is EJB3 in Action , specially for the head first readers.
4)"Mikalai" is very good, read it after you got all the concepts from EJB3 in Action.

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Originally posted by mohammad juma:

I went to exam and I got the certificate...

...
4)"Mikalai" is very good, read it after you got all the concepts from EJB3 in Action.

Hi Mohammad !

Congratulations !

Glad to know my notes helped you.

regards,
MZ

[sunnymet Metkar]

Hi Mohammad,
The notes which I mentioned were as per my personal experience.
Sorry to hear that it didn't help you.
Anyways congrats for the certification.
btw, how much score did you get?

[Narendra Dhande]

Congratulations