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Passed SCWCD... Now I'm DEPRESSED!

 
Greenhorn
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Hi All:

First I would like to thank Bryan, Kathy, and Bert for their wonderful book HFSJ!! Without the book I would have ABSOLUTELY NO chance of passing.

I'm seeing everyone here getting 80+ or even 90+, I'm feeling really depressed . Because I only got a 72%. (My crappy mark has nothing to do with the book!) I mean, am I just the dumb kid on the block?

I've seen alot of good posts here teaching people the things to do for getting a GOOD mark but I'm here to tell people the things I did (or didn't do)resulting me getting a BAD mark.

Anyways, here's my story, and I hope no one here will make the same mistakes as I did and are getting much better marks than me~~

My only study materials are:
1)the Bible: HFSJ
2)Enthuware mocks: which was very helpful. I was getting 70-80% for the 7 mocks. And the advance exam functions did let me find out my weakpoints.(but I didn't do anything about them)
and 3)This forum!(Thanks guys!!)

It took me around 8 weeks to prepare, and average 20hr/week.

I never read the SPEC; the only hands on practice I did was the MVC exercise in HFSJ. (NO WONDER!)

I got 50someting percent in the final mock in HFSJ so the 20+ rule did work.

For the cert exam, I got 100% for EL, JSP related topics and patterns. But only got 50% for Servlet.

Some questions in the exam caught me completely off guard, I remember there's a question asking about the method to get the IP address & Port number etc.

So.. My recommendation for anyone who wants to get a higher mark than me is:

1) read HFSJ more than twice! in my case, I only read 1.5 times.
2) for Patterns, the HFSJ chapter was helpful enough for me to score a 100% in that section.
3) try to remember ALL the elements and their subelements in the DD and TLD!I mean ALL, that even includes the env resource ref ones! Practice until you can write one up from the scratch with your eyes closed. (obviously this part of the exam cost me alot of points since I didn't do it. )
4) remember ALL the implicit objects of JSP and EL! (which helped with my 100% mark for those topics)
5) Things you didn't expect to be there IS there! know what the other methods apart from GET and POST do! (which I didn't)
6) participate in this forum as much as you can! don't just read! (I have to confess, this is my 1st post.)
7) Did I say read HFSJ many many times?

Now I'm gonna start with my SCJD project! Thank all of you again! Really! Your posts here answered a lot of my questions! For people who are preparing, wish you the best of luck, and hope ALL of you can get a mark better than me! See you guys in SCJD forum!!
[ March 13, 2007: Message edited by: Richard Kot ]
 
Rancher
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Welcome to JavaRanch.

I never read the SPEC



Hmm, might this be an explanation for the low score in the servlets area?
 
Sheriff
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Congratulations

I've seen alot of good posts here teaching people the things to do for getting a GOOD mark but I'm here to tell people the things I did (or didn't do)resulting me getting a BAD mark.


Few people have the courage to explain what went wrong, especially those who failed.


3) try to remember ALL the elements and their subelements in the DD and TLD!I mean ALL
4) remember ALL the implicit objects of JSP and EL


Yes, that's right. A real pain. Remember the API too, for servlets and custom tags.

I never read the SPEC


There's a lot of debate around that.
I think that Servlets and JSP specs are well written, and nice to read.
 
Ranch Hand
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Originally posted by Richard Kot:

I'm seeing everyone here getting 80+ or even 90+, I'm feeling really depressed . Because I only got a 72%. (My crappy mark has nothing to do with the book!) I mean, am I just the dumb kid on the block?


What you've obtained is not bad by any standard(it's well over the percentage required to pass)....You should be proud to be an SCWCD rather than feel depressed about the obtained score....so cheer up....and you must understand something--the certification is not aimed at luring people to hit the 100% mark....its primary purpose is to ensure that you understand the concepts completely and, most importantly, implement them when required.
[ March 14, 2007: Message edited by: Sayak Banerjee ]
 
Greenhorn
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Hi Dude,

You are done a great job... It's realization for others who will going to take the exam from now onwards. I also have similar symptoms lik you.


Congratulations Dude ... you done it...

Thanks & Regards,
Raghavendra.M
SCJP,SCMAD,SCWCD(progress)!!!
 
Ranch Hand
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Congrats man. A pass is a pass!
 
Bartender
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Congratulations.
Your score does not matter.
Passing is great.

Regards, Jan
 
author
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Wow Richard!

You've fallen into the horrible JavaRanch trap!

I think the SCWCD is the toughest exam, and your score is quite solid!

I offer my reservation-free, heartiest congratulations!

Bert
 
Greenhorn
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^congratulations..that's a decent score, ,the exam is really tough though...
[ March 16, 2007: Message edited by: Ed Gaya ]
 
Don't get me started about those stupid light bulbs.
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