Which book should I refer?

[dolly shah]

I have Head First for Servelet & JSP. This book is enough or I need to read another book to take exam.

[Christophe Verré]

It should be enough. Don't forget to check other stuff you need at the SCWCD Links page. Especially things about dynamic attributes, and design patterns.

[Tarun Yadav]

HFSJ will be enough to clear the exam ( if you study it properly ).

But if you really want to know the topics in detail and get some different approaches to topics and score really well on the exam, I would suggest you also read Mannings SCWCD Study Guide ( but be careful, lots of outdated stuff even in the new edition ), skim through the specifications whenever you feel you need clarification, go through the API docs for important classes and interfaces ( HttpServletRequest etc ), practice and take lots of mock exams.

Like Christophe said, go through the links page to get more resources.

Good Luck!
[ October 26, 2007: Message edited by: Tarun Yadav ]

[Jan van Mansum]

I study from this book. It really focuses on the knowledge you need for the exam. Make all the Self Tests and from your incorrect answers deduce which things you need to memorize. After the exam, throw this book away (or give it to a friend who wants to take the exam).

The downside, my copy had quite some typos in it, but they were easy to spot.

[Charles Lyons]

If you really want to know the topics in detail and want to score well on the exam, I would suggest you also read Mannings SCWCD Study Guide (but be careful, lots of outdated stuff even in the new edition)

My book does essentially the same - detailed explanations of all the exam objectives (and a little more too); best of all it's still in date with very few errors/typos. See my signature or Links for some independent reviews (you might find the "3 Steps to Success" review helpful in particular).

[dolly shah]

You guys put me in confusion. Please anyone suggest me the right book to read after HFSJ.

[Michael Ku]

dolly, HFSJ is enough. Just code as much as possible and work with the things that you learned in HFSJ. The more you code, the easier it will be to pass the exam. If you come across something in a mock exam question that you are not sure of (for example - dynamic attributes in tags) either look it up on the net or post a question here

[Charles Lyons]

You guys put me in confusion. Please anyone suggest me the right book to read after HFSJ.

That is such a wrong statement - there is no one single book which is the "right" book, just like there is no Web container which is the "right" one, nor any particular restaurant which is the only one you should go to. People on these forums (read, anywhere) can only provide you with recommendations and it is your decision what you purchase and read based on the information you receive.

This book is enough or I need to read another book to take exam.

Once again, no-one can say if that one book is enough, or if HFSJ is in fact the book best suited to your learning style - it's totally your decision and yours alone.

I think everyone here has given you plenty of advice, provided you recommendations to other books they have found helpful and links to reviews which you might find useful to read. I agree with the post above: you should definitely 100% without-a-doubt do code examples and design your own Web applications before you go to sit the exam as you will uncover new questions and will never truely understand what's going on unless you do. However, you may still find inconsistencies which you cannot resolve, or areas which you really don't understand and find your resources don't cover, in which case another book or resource may be appropriate.

Based on all the information above and other reviews elsewhere you can find, you should now make your own decision which path you follow which may require more research by reviewing tables of contents, sample chapters etc. No-one can tell you how you should study, it's a personal thing...

[Tarun Yadav]

Charles is absolutely right; it all depends on you, how you like to study, what style of learning suits you best.

Some people can simply mug up the API and clear the exam, some need lots of practice to actually get it. Some people like studying from reference books, some like non-linear styles as in HFSJ. Take a look at the books ( I'm pretty sure there are sample chapters to be found, check out Google Books ) and see which suits you best.

And Charles, sorry about not mentioning your book earlier. I wasn't really aware of it till after the exam so I haven't read it, but I've heard it mentioned at quite a few places and people had good things to say

[Bert Bates]

I agree with everything said above, except I can't remember ever saying that HFSJ covers only 80% of what you'll need for the exam. Did we really say that? Where? I do know that we forgot to discuss dynamic attributes, but Bryan wrote up a nice tutorial for that and it's available for free here at the ranch. Other than that I'd be very grateful to anyone who can let us know topics that we missed.

Thanks and good luck,

Bert

[Tarun Yadav]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
I agree with everything said above, except I can't remember ever saying that HFSJ covers only 80% of what you'll need for the exam. Did we really say that? Where? I do know that we forgot to discuss dynamic attributes, but Bryan wrote up a nice tutorial for that and it's available for free here at the ranch. Other than that I'd be very grateful to anyone who can let us know topics that we missed.

Thanks and good luck,

Bert

Yikes! Sorry Bert, I just opened the book again. What it says it

We used an 80/20 approach. We assume you're that if you're going for a PhD in JSP, this won't be your only book. So we don't talk about everything. Just the stuff that you'll actually need.

For some reason, that stayed with me as "we cover 80% of what you need for the exam. That's enough to get you through. Go read the 20% elsewhere!"

Again, sorry about that. Will edit it out of my reply earlier.

P.S. When I was preparing for the exam, I thought that a 'Quick Exam Review' section would be welcome addition to HFSJ.

[Bert Bates]

no worries - if you misunderstood what we said it's likely that other people might misunderstand it too, so we'll fix it when we update the book.