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Whizlabs SCJA Preparation Kit v 6.0.1: Beware and Enjoy

 
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Hello Horns;

I recently passed SCJA (96%);
I used Whizlabs SCJA Preparation Kit v 6.0.1
http://www.whizlabs.com/scja/scja-details.html

I'd thought that you might find this useful;

FEW FYI:
* out of 153 questions about 12 contain errors;
* quick revision notes contain about 5 errors;
* software will not run w/o admin rights on win xp;
* 2 questions were impossible to select from list at all (they would quickly skip to the next question; I was too slow for that to catch
* drag and drop for UML multiplicities was not there, although directed to use;
* they have apparently never compiled any of their java code snippets to see what the actual results looks like;
* tech support email support@whizlabs.com is as good as dead;

In other words, for a software that is supposed to train you to be a better software maker it is an outstanding piece of crap;

Regardless, if you happen to get into this "Whiz", I urge you to turn all of the source of potential frustration into a source of real fun and treat this as an also-got-for-free stress simulator;

And for the vanity-conscious, it will make you feel really good that your are so smarter then a couple of your java-challenged brothers somewhere in India;

Cheers,

Nathan.
 
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Well, congratulations on your certification. That was a great score!

The SCJA certification is relatively new, and no doubt, their SCJA certification simulator may have been a tad rushed. Whizlabs seems to have a good reputation on SCJP, so this is a bit of a surprise to me. I'm sure they'll get things fixed up.

Not to promote my competitors too heavily, but I do hear that JAss+ is an excellent resource to use after reading my two SCJA Certification books. This is their boast:

QUALITY THAT YOU CAN RELY ON
We are so confident of the quality of our product that if you find any 3 mistakes in our material, small or big, we will refund your money.



My SCJA Questions Guide has 350 question, but I must admit, in my original rush to get it on the market, I can't say it was 'error free.' Of course, the good thing about self-publishing is the ability to shoot out updates and revisions with relative haste. My second editions are always much improved.

Frustrations aside, you should be very proud of your accomplishment. It's a tough exam, and you got a great score.

-Cameron McKenzie
[ April 03, 2008: Message edited by: Cameron Wallace McKenzie ]
 
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I would add that Whizlabs works only with Windows.
 
Nathan Levi
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Hello, Cameron;

Thank you for your words of encouragement; yes, the exam was hard for me, I finished only 3 minutes before the time was up.

Your nice self promotion trick worked just fine on me, so I went ahead and clicked on your link:

http://studyguides.scja.com/ExamScam/get.jsp?link=mockexams

and "took the exam", again;

To my surprise, I scored 73 of the 76 questions that you have available, which is 96%, again. Must be a curse.


In case you want to hear what I have to say about your site and your exam, here it is:

* the site would benefit form an automated link checker; for example when you click on "Get SCJA Certified Fast!", you would actually you get: "HTTP Status 404 - /sunjavascjaexambooksstudyguidesmockexamsfreetutorials.jsp.jsp"

* you still seem to have few question/answer errors, for example:

++++++++++++++++++++++++

in the UML exam:
http://studyguides.scja.com/ExamScam/get.jsp?link=testuml

question number:
11

your question:
"Which of the following are not valid code snippets that could be placed to the right of the equals sign: Alpha male ="

your answer:
"... and only Crew fits this bill, making c) correct. ..."

my answer:
"a) or b) or d)"

(This question I got right - "according to me")

++++++++++++++++++++++++

in the SERVER exam:
http://studyguides.scja.com/ExamScam/get.jsp?link=testserver

question number:
1

your question: Choose the 3 most correct answers
"Which of the following technologies typically work together to provide email capabilities? SMTP JAF JMS JavaMail"

your answer:
"Options a) b) and d) are correct. JavaMail is the API for sending emails, and SMTP is the Simple Mail Transport Protocol, which is used for sending email. JavaMail is also commonly associated with JAF, the Japanese Air Force, which is used for delivering complex attachments along with email. I doubt you'll see much about JAF on the exam, but make sure you know that JavaMail and SMTP are like two peas in an email iPod."

my answer:
"Options a) and b) and d) are correct. A good comedian should always first judge the context of his audience before attempting to make a joke. Since in the context of a java exam, JAF probably stands for JavaBeans Activation Framework, which, unlike Japanese Air Force, is indeed relevant to the JavaMail, and since and JavaMail is Sun�s generic Java API for email and since SMTP is stands for the Simple Mail Transport Protocol for exchanging email, then: a) SMTP b) JAF d) JavaMail is a good choice."

Here is what your Canadian brothers think about this:
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jaf.html"

(This question I failed and had to do some research. Misleading a greenhorn who can barely stand on his feet is probably a poor joke.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

in the SERVER exam:
http://studyguides.scja.com/ExamScam/get.jsp?link=testserver

question number:
7

your question:
"Which of the following two are associated with distributed EJBs? (Advanced Question) ties stubs skeletons marshals"

your answer:
"Options a) and b) are correct. Ties Stubs are provided to the client invoking the EJB, and skeletons ties sit on the server side. Messages back and forth from the client to the server are marshaled back and forth through these two objects. Options a) and b) are correct. Skeletons are associated with other distributed technologies. "

my answer:
"Even based on your own answer, the following 3 combinations should fit your question: a)ties b)stubs; a)ties c)skeletons; b)stubs c)skeletons;"

++++++++++++++++++++++++

* few features of your exams can be rather confusing for a greenhorn like me; the following I think would greatly help to reduce the confusion, and make it more like the real exam:
+ add line numbers to your code snippets;
+ have just one "save for review" check box instead of 4 radio buttons;
+ have question number shown;
+ have "a), b), c), ..." actually shown next to answer options;
+ have "next" to navigate across "marked", not just across "all";
+ add timer;

* when I started preparation for SCJA I went on internet to look for books and actually stumbled on you site; but with all the kid's stuff like blinking, and claims like "THE ULTIMATE CERTIFICATION ...", and links like "Is This Site Crap?" my immediate conclusion was that yes, it is, and so I went to see the nearest Borders, which also did not have any of your books.

* in fact the 2 Borders books stores that I visited had no books at all on SCJA, but had SCJP, SCBCD, and SCWCD instead, and which all indeed seemed like not crap at all; so I prepared for SCJA in a bizarre way of studying a SCJP book with various resources on the net to meet Sun's objectives; hence I have no idea how good your book is, sorry.

But hey, if you email your book to me, I can probably share a thought or two.

I wish this essay will help you to improve your site, exam, and sell more books;

Thank you for your post and for you site - it was fun!

Cheers,

Nathan.
 
Cameron Wallace McKenzie
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Sheesh....Whizlabs charges $$$ for 150 questions. I give away 96 for free and get a public flogging for it!!!

(This question I failed and had to do some research. Misleading a greenhorn who can barely stand on his feet is probably a poor joke.)



I've never boasted about being a good comedian. In fact, I think it's public knowledge about how bad a comedian I am. Nevertheless, I'll never apologize for making a greenhorn do some legwork.

* few features of your exams can be rather confusing for a greenhorn like me; the following I think would greatly help to reduce the confusion, and make it more like the real exam:
+ add line numbers to your code snippets;
+ have just one "save for review" check box instead of 4 radio buttons;
+ have question number shown;
+ have "a), b), c), ..." actually shown next to answer options;
+ have "next" to navigate across "marked", not just across "all";
+ add timer;



Wow, I didn't realize how lacking my free site was? Perhaps a better approach would be to just remove it and not let anyone take the online exam at all?

I thought the colored buttons are actually a great idea. They not only allow to mark a question, but you can also mark your confidence, so when you get a grade report, you can know which questions you got right, and also which questions you weren't overly confident on. I thought that was a great way to allow people a new way to judge how well they're doing. I mean, how good is an 80% test score if you weren't confident in your answers? I'll remove it.

The 404 errors are a manifestation of my hosting service switching servers and erasing all of my subdomains. As my book royalties hardly cover my hosting fees, I've gotta work hard during the week, and haven't been able to fix all of my bumbling hosting service's foul ups. Up until Monday, they were compiling my JSPs with a Java 5 JDK, and trying to serve them on a 1.4 JVM. It's pretty annoying when a Java tutorial site keeps spitting out compiler, not runtime, but COMPILER, errors.

The Is this site crap? link is actually pretty amusing. Google keeps equating examscam with breast examination and colon examinations. They've put up a number of ads for some very curious and intimate examination procedures and tools, which in my opinion, have no place on a good Christian Java site like mine. What exactly is a speculum, anyways?

If you'd privately emailed me this feedback, I probably would have sent you a complimentary copy of the book. I probably give away more than I sell. I really appreciate feedback from the Java community, which anyone on this board knows, is very kind and incredibly helpful. The information you provide is good, but when it's posted like this, it feels more like a public humiliation than a kind hearted attempt at constructive feedback.

I prefer Randy Jackson to Simon Cowell, but then again, it is a 'bully society' we live in, where we praise "Hells Kitchen" and "Simon Cowell" and then wonder why kids are getting beaten up and bullied on the playground.

All my punishment for giving stuff away for free, I guess. One day I'll learn.

Enough editorializing. I'm heading back to work on my free Hibernate website. Eventually, when my spirit it totally crushed I'll stop helping people. Maybe Hibernate is popular enough to do just that?

-Cameron McKenzie
[ April 03, 2008: Message edited by: Cameron Wallace McKenzie ]
 
Nathan Levi
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Cameron hi;

Yes, I understand your pain.

But I was merely trying to help people as well,
and I am sorry if you think I am the source of all your grief.

I hope we are still friends?

:roll:

Nathan.
 
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I passed the SCJA Certification exam today with 96% score.
I followed the two books by Cameroon.
Sun Tutorials & References mentioned at Sun site.

Frankly speaking, Cameroon's books helped me to clear my concepts and at the end of the day I was confident to answer any questions on those topics.

Thanks!
[ April 25, 2008: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]
 
Cameron Wallace McKenzie
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Thanks Astid. I needed that.

Congratulations! It's a really tough exams, and covers more concepts than any other Sun exam there is, except perhaps for SCEA. It's quite an accomplishment!

-Cameron
[ April 09, 2008: Message edited by: Cameron Wallace McKenzie ]
 
Cameron Wallace McKenzie
author and cow tipper
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Just to show that I do take feedback seriously, I've updated the look and feel of the site. I hope it finds approval.

-Cameron McKenzie
 
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