its gettting tougher day-by-day

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Hi all,

just ended ( sowehow ) chapter 10 mock. it was a disaster. actually i had read the chapter properly. but i never was able to revise it properly before i gave the mock. out of 21. i attempted 17 questions - Q

1,2,4,5,6,8,9,11,13,14,15,16,12,18,19,20,21. got 10 wrong and 7 correct.
questions that went wrong - 5,6,8,9,13,14,17,18,19,20,21.

wel..the preparation is getting tougher day by day. hurdles in preparation are -

1) health problems - currently suffering from back pain, had temperature twice.
2) my neighbours are troubling me. Reason - i live in an apartment on rental basis and bachelors are not allowed to live on

rental basis in an apartment.. so most of the weekends are spent negtiationg with the committee.

i am in such a bad frame of mind that i even dont feel like reading the explanation to questions for the mock 10.

BEING POSITIVE -

well, what i think is that i sould move on, finish the reamaining 4 chapters - chapter 14 is all theory. chpater 11 seems to

have very less API to remember, chapter 12 and 13 seem to be interesting ( with a moderate API to remember )

i think i will feel more comfortable when i read the book 2nd time. still i need to give whizlabs practice and mock tests and

also enthuware mocks.also lined up in the queue are david bridge water's + Deshmukh's mocks and chapter tests

i think this should give me enough practice and confidence to appear for the real exam

i started my preparation ( reading HFSJ ) on 8th may. its almost 3 months now. my job involves working on struts, and the

project is mostly enhancement project i seldom get to SEE what i READ. and more ever i come home late and hence find very

little time to study. mornig time is spent at the gym. or jogging,

with the above state of affairs, i think i will need 3 more months to study HFSJ properly, give mocks and be confident and

the get the ccertifcation.

but i m not going to QUIT . i will prepare as and when i get time. OR
SHOULD I PURCHASE THE VOUCHER AND FIX A EXAM DATE ? that way it would be like working AGAINST A TARGET. but there is risk

involved here

hope that i finally get the certification. certifications in the queue are BCD, then some certifications from Oracle side (

on must know database stuff also ) and finally SCJEA ( the last in the JAVA list )

the main challenge in WCD is that there is lots of API + web.xml + life cycles etc etc to be remebered. unlike SCJP where one

can quite a large number of questions ( questions on loops and alike ) using LOGIC, WCD needs REMEMBERING the API

wwell.
anyone wants to say something? please do. hope your posts make me feel better.

thanks
niranjan

[Theodore Casser]

Well, the thought that perhaps purchasing a voucher and setting a date would put you more into a mode to get ready is certainly not a new idea. You can always delay the date once you've set it, so don't worry so much on that account. (Though, once you do that, I would admit to not knowing how many times you can push it off.) So, if you think you will be ready at some point, set a realistic goal and buy the voucher. It's what I typically do.

[Leigh Parsons]

Hi Niranjan,

You're not alone!
It's a tough exam to prepare for (though I hear the exam is not that tough - don't take my word on that - I haven't sat the exam yet, it's only what I've heard! :-)

But I agree, the Head Fisrt books are great for readability, but even then you can lose focus half-way through the book and drift along for a while without doing anything.

Setting a target date is always good for any goal, it gives you something to aim at and focus on, then the work becomes a little bit easier.

As for no time - ditto! I have two kids, work full time, and my wife works evenings, so I get less time, and even less sleep. Add to that, I'm "trying" to brush up on SCBCD, Design Patterns, general OOA/D and other related technologies (JSF, Hibernate, AJAX etc.) that I need for work - FUN!

What I try to do, is one hour of study a day (generally in the morning before work - if not, on the train, even at lunch-time), if I can do more - great. This one hour every day adds up fairly quickly - if you can't do one hour - surely you can find 30 minutes somewhere - even that is better than nothing - chip away at it, and before you know it, you'll be there.

Good luck,

[Christophe Verré]

Don't overstudy. You only need to study (I mean not only read) your book carefully.
Reading too much here and there might confuse you more than it will help.
If you want to get more confidance, go for commercial mocks once you've finished with your book. I think that they are good at pointing out one's weak points.

Sorry to hear that you have problems with your neighbours. If you can, find a place where you can concentrate fully, like a library. Study the book and take notes.

There's no hurry to buy a voucher. Once you buy it, you can take the exam as soon as you wish. Do itr at your pace. You're busy, so buying a voucher now might not be a good idea.

To remember things like API, or web.xml, make little reminder cards and bring them to work

Hope your back will get better, and good luck for the exam.

[Pallavi ch]

Hi Niranjan ,
your "Don't Quit" spirit will help you.
I think when we get less scores in chapter mock exams, then only we can know our mistakes and learn from it. generally we don't pay much attenction to the correct answers explanation.
So...Don't worry abt the scores.
Gud Luck for the exam.

[Vikrant Pandit]

Hi Niranjan,

Set a date for every chapter or mock exam to want to complete.
Put up the dates on a calander or a time table where you can see them easily.
Give yourself a small treat when ever you are able to complete your targeted date ....
Push harder when you miss one .....

This worked for me in SCJP .. and its working in SCWCD till now ....

Try and see if it works for you ... and remember whatever happens , it happens for the good ... and as you said ..THINK POSITIVE

[Amit Batra]

2) my neighbours are troubling me. Reason - i live in an apartment on rental basis and bachelors are not allowed to live on

Niranjan There is unfortunately a perception In india that bachelors are not allowed to live on in a rented accomodation after a set period of time and that the landlord may terminate the lease at will, this is false, a landlord tried to oust a friend of mine in similar terms and would constantly try to find excuses to get him to leave who was living in rented accom, using the same excuse that he could terminate the lease anytime he wanted on the grounds that the rental laws arent in not favour of the tenant if the lesee doesnt have a family, but this law applies only to foreign students from neighbouring countries or if the landlord finds you indulging in immoral activities or you are using the flat for any illegal purposes, I would suggest to you the same what my friend did, take a copy of the lease and file a complaint at your nearest consumer court.

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Thanks a lot

your posts were really nice

I will somehow finish the chapters.

give mocks

remember the stuff well

then only purchase the voucher and give exam

i will take time

its all about persisiting when you feel like quitting

niranjan

[Abhishek Dharwadkar]

Hi Everyone,
Just joined the forum. Well i am very new to SCWCD but still am planning to complete it in another month and a half. Have started from mannings 2nd edition. The book looks good.
I have one thing to say here. Its more important from the exam point of view to give as many mock exams as possible. This gives your the different views of papers that might come up in the exam (afterall its a exam!!!) . Thats what helped me in my SCJP certification. But on suprising thing i see in the SCWCD exam is that i didnt find as many mock papers as for the SCJP exam. Giving mock exams is what gives you confidence and thats when you go ahead and get your voucher and fix up a date.
Please give me suggesions as where to find these...

SCJP 1.4 - 96%
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by" - by Douglas Adams

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Originally posted by Niranjan Deshpande:

2) my neighbours are troubling me. Reason - i live in an apartment on rental basis and bachelors are not allowed to live on
rental basis in an apartment

Ouch !

Where bachelors are supposed to live ?

[Sathish Nagappan]

Read my blog , you might get the inspiration.

http://discreet.blogdrive.com

Ashwanth