Time required and Study Notes

[Neeraj Vij]

I have very strong deadlines for my project in the coming 4-5 months... at max I will be able to put in 1 hr daily and 3-4 hrs on weekends for scwcd1.4 exam..

can anyone tell...on average how much time it takes to clear scwcd 1.4 exam for a full time working professional..

It will be a great help, if somebody can share his or her study notes..Experiences and tips.


Regards,
Neeraj.

[Bin Gao]

If you have experiences in web application development, I think 40-50 days is enough for you to pass the exam. Please pay attention: JUST PASS, instead of high score. Be careful --- choose the right books for your preparation.

Good luck

[Neeraj Vij]

Thanks Bin...


I will be using HFS for my preperations..

Regards,
Neeraj

[Philippe Maquet]

Hi Neeraj,

As you don't tell us whether your current experience is or not about Servlet/JSP, it's difficult to reply your question...

But as you chose Head First Servlet/JSP for your preparation, you're in the best possible hands anyway.

Here's how I'd proceed:

Start reading the book once. Contrary to most technical books, and as all other books in the Head First series, you'll see that this one is very pleasant and funny to read. You'll be "studying" of course, but without even being aware you are doing... It's like a magic!

While reading, you could take quick notes of all the topics to which *you* think you should come back later (simply putting page numbers on paper, writing short summaries, etc.).

At the end of that first reading, you *will* be surprised of how much you know already: "brain-friendly" is no Head First marketing slogan: it's a *reality* as far Head First books are concerned.

Then you could spend the *little* time needed to review what you noted in 2) above.

And finally, you should end with the final mock exam printed at the end of the book. And if you get a reasonable score on it, simply go to the exam in total confidence: you'll get a *high* score on the real exam, because the mock one is *much* more difficult (on purpose).

Good luck for your prep, and enjoy reading!

Regards,

Phil.
[ September 23, 2004: Message edited by: Philippe Maquet ]

[Neeraj Vij]

Thanks a lot Philippe..

My current project is with servlets/jsp...But I feel the certification exams r quite different from the project work...this is the way I felt when I cleared my scjp 1.4 in June 2004.I got very low score (77%)..It could have been better. If I could have given continuous time for studying.. Which I will give for scwcd�

Kathy & Bert have an effective writing style .. lot of credit should go to Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates for my scjp..It is especially helpful for people who are working..

I hope I feel the same for HFS.

Regards,
Neeraj,

[Philippe Maquet]

Hi Neeraj,

My current project is with servlets/jsp...

That's great news then, because you should know half the exam contents already.
You'll probably have to mainly focus on the new stuff (especially JSP 2.0: SimpleTag model, tag files, Expression Language, ...).

Kathy & Bert have an effective writing style .. lot of credit should go to Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates for my scjp..It is especially helpful for people who are working..

I hope I feel the same for HFS.

If you enjoyed their writing style in Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide (Exam 310-035 & 310-027) as I did myself, you should enjoy their Head First series even *more*... (I know it's difficult to believe, but well... you'll see it by yourself ).

Regards,

Phil.
[ September 24, 2004: Message edited by: Philippe Maquet ]

[Neeraj Vij]

Thanks for all the inputs Philippe.