Just cleared SCWCD today with a score of 67/69 =) Got a question wrong on web container model and another on session management (which I now found out I changed my initially correct answer when I revisited the question :/ )
I started preparing about two months ago, mainly using HFSJ. Here's what I did:
Read through HFSJ once and did exercises and chapter mock exams. I knew a little bit about HTTP but most of the concepts are new to me, that took a couple of weeks to get through the book (I read a couple hours per day).
Went through HFSJ again, writing down the deployment descriptor elements separately as I encounter them in the book.
The search tool in this forum very powerful, I can find most of the answers for my questions! I also browsed through this forum to look at how others prepared for the exam.
Read the specs: servlet, JSP and JSTL. They are a must! (as everyone else has said) The documents seem to be huge but it turns out I can go through the relevant materials fairly quickly after I am familiar with the materials from reading HFSJ.
Searched this forum for a list of mock exam links and tried the questions. I didn't buy any commercial mock exams. The mock exam links on the javaranch site are all very helpful. J2EE Certificate is an excellent source for topic/chapter-wise mock exams. Highly recommended!
Took the HFSJ mock exam. I only got 68%, the actual score comes out better than the norm +20%, but I won't complain
I think HFSJ is an excellent book to prepare for the exam. Some suggestions I think "might" be useful to make it better:
An overall example/sample showing all the elements in the DD, especially whether an element should be put inside the <servlet> tag. This would be very useful as a refresher before the exam. I have to write down the elements myself as they are mentioned in the book.
Some listings or diagrams to show which attributes or elements are required/optional would be extremly helpful too. Many mock exam quesions I encountered ask whether some particular attributes are required.
Maybe consolidate the "bullet point" pages at the end of each chapter, like the "two-minute drills" sections in the SCJP study guide book. I can use the summary sections before the exam for a last-minute refresher instead of flipping through all the dialogs and graphics in the book again.
Thanks Bryan, Kathy and Bert for another excellent book!
Unfortunately I write the notes out myself on scratch paper to help me remember...no electronic form It works out better for me to help memorize the keywords by writing it down (I was probably old school to believe reading the book + writing notes is better than just reading the book alone ^_^)
Not sure what to do next...both SCBCD and web services look attractive
I am too preparing for SCWCD..and i am completed new to this topic. I have got HFJS book, but i feel i should hv prior knoweldege of Jsp & servlets. What do u think...would it suffice to study from the book or should i get any other book for Servlet & JSP?! if yes then which one?
How did you read the specs? Did you just take the spec reference mentioned in the HFSJ chapter-wise exam or did you scan the entire specs right from the start?
I am too preparing for SCWCD..and i am completed new to this topic. I have got HFJS book, but i feel i should hv prior knoweldege of Jsp & servlets. What do u think...would it suffice to study from the book or should i get any other book for Servlet & JSP?! if yes then which one?
Please sugguest
Thanks. Seema
Hi Seema,
Having prior knowledge definitely helps, but using HFSJ alone should be fine too. I have no prior experience on servlets/jsp, so most of the topics are new to me. For me using HFSJ alone is sufficient if you become really familiar with it (go through several times)! I think the book does an excellent job on introducing the main ideas (which is what I needed to get started on the topics). Many other posts on this forum recommend several other books, I am sure you can find the recommendations in other posts.
Another thing I feel would be extremely helpful is to do more hands-on practice, HFSJ starts with a sample project so I tried it out, it would be nice if there are more practical exercises that I can code and try out myself (of course you can type in the examples and change some settings to see the difference).
How did you read the specs? Did you just take the spec reference mentioned in the HFSJ chapter-wise exam or did you scan the entire specs right from the start?
Thanks!
I did both...when I don't understand the answers in the chapter-wise mock exams, I read the relevant spec pages. Then I scan the entire spec after I'm done with reading the book.
What I did was that I downloaded a copy of servlet, JSP and JSTL specs and put them on my "desktop". (I did the same on my computer at work too...shhhh...it just "looks" like I'm hard working when I have these word-filling documents opened when someone else walked into my cube =D )
I only read the specs after I went through the HFSJ book. The HFSJ outlines the important topics that I should know about, as well as omitting stuff that won't appear or less important on the exam. e.g. only the "core" JSTL tags will be on the exam, so when I read the JSTL spec, I skipped other sections (SQL, XML etc). That helps a lot since the documents are long and many sections are not on the exam.
Again I like the free J2EECertificate best - topic-wise questions, comprehensive exam, "difficult" questions exam, with statistics (need free registration).
Other free mock exams that I found:
Jiris: one comprehensive mock exam
JavaPrepare: Some topic-wise questions, pretty straightforward
JavaBeat link: Contains links to two mock exam engines. Its mock exam questions are the same as JavaPrepare.
hi, Congrats ...great work.. i want Mikalai Zaikin as a whole single Document.. Anyone have the link for that.. if anyone have personally mail me that to kesavaraaj@inbox.com regards, vazanth
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It works out better for me to help memorize the keywords by writing it down (I was probably old school to believe reading the book + writing notes is better than just reading the book alone ^_^)