SCWCD 100% :)

[Bassam Zahid]

Hello Ranchers,

Just joking...
Only scored 86%

Its been a good day today. Thank God I cleared SCWCD with 86%. I am fully satisfied with my result as I acheived score according to my hard work.

Test Experience:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Test experience was really nice. Test was not much difficult but this does not mean that the test be taken lightly. It tests your depth of knowledge. Time given is sufficient for the exam. I had 54 minutes left when I answered all the questions, then some time was spent reviewing. There were 70 questions instead of 69, perhaps the extra question was for beta-testing.

Here is a summary of what I observed of the test:

1) EL is used "freely" in test questions. Make sure your grip on EL is solid before appearing for the test.
2) JSTL is used in combination with EL, this makes the answers confusing sometimes, so this section needs thorough understanding as well.
3) Custom Tag Handlers need your considerable attention because the test does not hesitate asking anything about them.
4) JSP standard actions must be cramed through practice as they as well are used with EL which really makes you think.
5) Questions on J2EE patterns were easier than expected.
6) Drag-n-Drop questions were fairly simple. Moreover, I faced no problem placing items over the required boxes, though you have to make sure that when you drop the item over the box, the mouse pointer must be showing a rectangle above it.
7) Servlet API and DD elements were on the easier side. You must also learn the rarely used web.xml elements related to environment and ejb.
8) Questions about Security, web application deployment and web container model were of average difficulty.

Books / Material Used:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Core Servlets and JavaServerPages by Marty Hall (2nd Edition)
2) Professional JSP 2nd edition from Simon Brown (Wrox)
3) Servlet 2.4 & JSP 2.0 specifications.
4) Study notes from Mikalai Zaikin. (Thanks a lot for these notes)
5) Other such study notes from www.javaranch.com
6) Material from http://scwcd.freecoolsite.com/scwcd/

Websites Used:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) http://www.javaranch.com
2) http://www.jdiscuss.com (very close to real exam)
3) http://www.j2eecertificate.com
4) http://www.javaprepare.com

Mock Exams Used:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Enthuware JWebPlus V4 (very identical to real exam)
2) Whizlabs SCWCD 1.4 Trial Version (difficult than actual exam)
3) CertGear SCWCD Demo Version (difficult than actual exam)
4) Mock Exam from www.javaranch.com
5) Mock Exams from www.javaprepare.com

In the end I would say that practice is the key for clearing this certification. You should by coding small web-apps for different exam sections. This is the best way to learn. After all, practice makes a man perfect.

I hope my tips are useful for those preparing and best of luck to all future Web Component Developers.

[Bassam Zahid]

Please not that I did not use HFS&JSP despite its great popularity because it was unavailable to me.

[Jose Esteban]

Congrats!!

I think your score is good, but I'm sure that there's a lot of people with much less knowledge on the subject than you that has gotten similar or even better score.

In this forum you have demonstrated your deep knowledge on the subject. Sometimes exams are not totally fair.

I'm really glad for you.

Thanks for telling us your experience.

[Bassam Zahid]

Whatever it takes, I am really contended with my score and quite happy. I think the score is reasonably good. I can prove my worth when it comes to "work". Thanks.

[Sanjay pts]

My heartly congratulation for your success!!!.

[Bert Bates]

Congrat Bassam!

It's a great score on a really tough exam!

- Bert

[Saket Barve]

Congratulations, Bassam on your achievement. Thanks for a whole lot of information you've provided in your message there!

Good luck with all your future endeavours.

Regards,
Saket

[Nicholas Cheung]

You did a cool job!

What's next?

Nick

[chowdary Thammineedi]

Congratulations Bassam
I'm Hoping that we wont miss your thoughtful answers for some tough qustions on this forum. Rock On

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Congratulations !!!



Great score !!!

regards,
MZ

[kapil munjal]

Congrats Bassam,

Its a very nice score and your views on the exam are really helpful for those who are going to appear for the exam very soon.

Thanks for your input.

Kapil

[kapil munjal]

Hi Mikalai Zaikin,

Do you have your scwcd notes on one single page to be printed.

I need to have a printout of all your notes, so that I can read them on my way to the office.

If they are available then please give me the url.

Thanks
Kapil

[janne s]

congrats! Bassam

[Bassam Zahid]

Thank you very very very much to all of you.
I feel very proud receving such appreciation and congrats.
Thank you from deep of my heart.

What's next, well now I have to make a "business" decision. Whether to go for SCMAD or SCBCD. Think, think, think.............

I'll try my best to be around this forum.

Thank you all ranchers.

[Bassam Zahid]

Mikalai Zaikin thanks a lot for your greath and really helpful study notes for SCWCD. I used these notes as my primary source for certification preparation. I found the study material very very helpful. Thanks a lot for your great effort. God Bless You.

[Deb Sadhukhan]

Bassam,

First of all congratulations!!!

You specifically mentioned you have NOT used HFSJ. I'm preparing for the exam. and using HFSJ as primary book. So, I'm sorry I cannot take you tips/advice...

By the way, subject of your posting would have been perfect for today, April 1st, posting. Because I don't see that many 100% scores for this exam, I clicked on this with lot of energy. Don't misunderstand me, 86% is a very good score.

[Bassam Zahid]

Well, its your sole wish to use other's experience or not, its upto you to learn something from my tips or not. In both the cases, best of luck to you and all for SCWCD.

[rakeshBhatia]

Congrats Bassam,

Definitely a good score on a really tough exam.

And I must say you are very good in marketing ... you wrote 100% in your subject, thats definitely going to draw a lot of attention. and for one sec I thought someone has finally cracked it ...

All the best for your future endeavours ...

Regards,

Raj

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Originally posted by kapil munjal:
Hi Mikalai Zaikin,

Do you have your scwcd notes on one single page to be printed.

I need to have a printout of all your notes, so that I can read them on my way to the office.

If they are available then please give me the url.

Thanks
Kapil

Sorry, no single page URL.

However somebody wrote some script to grab pages and create one page document. Please, do a search.

regards,
MZ

[kapil munjal]

Thank MZ,

I am trying to search it on the net now..

if I happen to find it can I post that page to some forum to be available to others(with your permissione).
Kapil

[Jesus Angeles]

congratulations! good luck on ur next journey

[Leo Sam]

Well done, congratulations.

[Ami Goop]

Kapil

In point # 6 of Bassam's post, there is web
link (http://scwcd.freecoolsite.com/scwcd/),
which contains SCWCD 1.4 Study Guide.zip.

This file contains what u r looking for.

Cheers

ami

[ April 02, 2005: Message edited by: Ami Goop ]
[ April 02, 2005: Message edited by: Ami Goop ]

[Bassam Zahid]

I am very happy to know that so many people are finding my post helpful, it really makes me feel happy.

Keep it up ranchers !

[Vishwa Kumba]

Congrats!

[Lukas Alamar]

hi Bassam

congratulations!!!

good score...good job...

(ehm...just started studying for SCWCD, im not working on any j2ee project right now but maybe studying for the exam is going to be a good way to learn developing j2ee apps)

thanks a lot for ur tips

[Bassam Zahid]

Thank you very much to the last 2 posters above this post.