SCPJ2 New Beta Exam

[rajsim]

SCPJ2 New Beta Exam is being offered free.
Register July 25-27, take exam Aug 11-23
Go to sun's web site for details

[rajsim]

SCPJ2 Beta Registration (Free)
I was wondering whether there will be just a new set of questions
or the format of the questions will also be changed.
Sun has not changed the objectives but witin the objectives,
there is some scope of introducing new materials.
Hence it would be advisible for people who are preparing for
the exam to take it before the new exam takes effect.

[Aparanji Raju]

Hi rajsim,
Thanks for the suggestion.
Regards,
Aparanji

[Marcela Blei]

Thanks Rajsim, I�ve send the mail, what goes then? They response you?
[This message has been edited by Marcela Blei (edited July 25, 2000).]

[arswami]

Thanks for the vital info guys,
i've registered,
Swaminathan.

[Vivek Shrivastava]

I�ve send the mail. what next???
what if i passed. do i still need to take the actual exam?
does it have same value like actual exam? because i am planning to take the actual exam on 21th of Aug.
should i go for it?
your help will be valuable for me and other alse.
waiting for reply.
vivek
[This message has been edited by Vivek Shrivastava (edited July 25, 2000).]

[jayesh bindra]

I too have sent a mail. Same question...
What next?

[Uvnik Gupta]

You'll get a reply mail asking for your Full name, address, company etc. Trust me I got one.

[Marcela Blei]

Vivek: If you pass the exam you don�t need to take the actual exam, that is clear in the page of the Beta Exam but I didn�t have any notice about the message I�d send.
If someone gets a reply, please comment to all for knowing what to do next!

[Ajith Kallambella]

IMHO, people who are ready to go for the regular exam should not sit for the beta exam. Remember, the beta exams are longer than the actual exam, covers more questions and are (usually)used to evaluate the quality of the exam for the purpose of improvement by Sun.
Just my opinon..
Ajith

[Bhasker Reddy]

Is beta exam much more difficult than the real exam. is the
exam pattern going to change from august. can you please clarify
if itis going to change in what way it is going to change..
please advise

[Ajith Kallambella]

Since the purpose of the beta exam is to get feedback about the questions and help the rewrite/reevaluate the contents, I would assume the exam is not going to be normal like the usual SCJP exams.
I have heard a lot of people talking about Sun changing the SCJP objectives and adding a few more topics. Until they publish some official communique to this effect, you can safely assume the objectives have not changed. They will not and they should not modify the contents overnight without informing about the changes well ahead of time.
Hopefully I am right.....
Ajith

[rajsim]

Ajith is right. If you are ready for SCJP exam, go for the real
one and not this beta.
There may be errors or the format might be different. They
haven't informed about passing score. Will it still be 71%?
If you fail you could get discouraged. Later on you might spend
more time than necessary for real exam.
However, if you are not at all ready for the real exam, and
not dislike failing, go for it. You could get to see the real
exam questions. This will help you in preparing for the actual
exam later on.

[Anonymous]

I believe if you take the beta and are given a failing score, this score will be recorded as a failed attempt in the Sun certification database (if that is important to anyone).
I also believe that the very easy questions (the ones almost everyone gets), the very hard questions (the ones almost nobody gets) and the ones with errors in them (even if you point out the error) are eliminated before the beta is scored. Even if you answered such questions correctly or discovered a mistake it won't help your final score. But, hell, the test is free if you have four hours to kill.

[Shiny]

IMO if one is pretty much through with his/her preparation, then, this is a good mock-cum-real test to take !
And remember- in developing countries, the exam fees (in local currency) are eqvt to a month's salary......If you save this money, you can buy three-four precious books on Java (EJB, JSP etc) for your future advancement. So go for it guys. All the Best!
regards
--Shiny

[Marcela Blei]

Hello! I got the reply, the ask for:
- your full name
- your email address
- your city and country
- your company name
- any certifications you hold with Sun or other companies
And within 48 hours they will reply with another email with a voucher number and instructions.

[Herbert Maosa]

My Opinion...
Just like Ajith said, I would strongly discourage anyone who is near ready for the exam to sit for the beta.If you intend to take real exam in say less than three weeks, then I would advise you just to keep concentrating on that exam and go for it at your planned time. If on the other hand you are far from taking the real exam, say in two months or more, then this beta exam will definately help you since in any case you are most likely to take the new exam when you are ready.It is free yes, but I think this certification exam is very psychological as well, and I doubt if anyone who is ready for the exam wouldn't be put down if he/she failed the beta and still be confident to take the real exam after a week.
Herbert

[rajsim]

There is a minor change in the objectives. Also, the results
will only be declared in October middle.

[Sargunam]

Hi,
Thanks for your info. on Beta Exam. I have registered for it.
Cheers.
Sargunam

[Anonymous]

I have just received a mail from sun confirming my registration.
They have given me a voucher number which I should use between August 11-August 23.
Guys, check your emails.

[Anonymous]

I too just received the confirmation and voucher number. Tomorrow I am taking real exam then I will concentrate on the this.

[Anonymous]

I just got the voucher number, too. Cool. I'm taking the real exam in one week. I'm certainly gonna be studying this weekend.

[Shiny]

I think Sun has made a mistake, which they may realise a little later. For this Beta Exam, they should have Opened it Free for the already/recently Certified (SCJP) people. They would have got better feedback & the questionnaire database would not have been exposed. It looks as if everyone is registering for this beta, for obtaining a certificate rather than giving any constructive feedback.
If I were a Sun Certification guy, I would give second thoughts on the feedback that I receive from the people who have never seen the earlier original exam.
I don't mean to belittle the feedback of Greenhorns or for that matter their sincere intention, but just this morning I came to know that atleast TEN have registered for this beta, from our organisation who do not know how to spell JAVA (it is free - you know ! ). So imagine the quality of feedback from them......
So guys/gals - those who will take this exam, please give some sincere & constructive feedback when you take this beta, keeping in mind that the same set of questions are going to decide the futures of many greenhorns in the offing...ALL THE BEST!
regards
--Shiny
[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited September 06, 2000).]

[Deepak M]

The probability of kinda ppl you mentioned is very little.
And I doubt if you really would have the time to include comments in the question coz every question would permit just 1.6 secs to attempt !


[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited September 06, 2000).]

[vivek rai]

well shiny, do u think many certified ppl wud have 4 hours to spare to give a beta exam, which is expected to have 2-3 variants of the many questions (wud have bored me), and give them (in 3 months time) a certification they already have? why?
also most SCJP's are likely to have moved on in life. they wont even constitute the typical examinee's sample for sun.. ( they might know it all too better, or might have forgotten it all ).
cheers,
vivek

[Sunita]

hi
I too registered for the beta exam.I didn't get any reply from them.Please let me know what I have to do next.
Regards
Sunita

[Jim Yingst]

At this point, that probably means that they lost your first e-mail, and it's too late. Try sending another e-mail to the same address (mention your earlier e-mail) - you will probably get a reply saying that all the available slots are taken. This is what happened to me anyway. Ah well, I would've liked the chance to help debug their questions...

[Jim Yingst]

As for the correct value of 1.6 minutes per question, yeah, that should be enough time to put comments on at least some of the questions. Most shouldn't need comments, unless Sun is doing a very poor job of creating questions. But if a question is unclear or ambiguous, there's time to say so. The regular exam has, what, 2 minutes per question, and most everyone agrees that time is not a limiting factor. 1.6 min/question + comments may be a little tighter, but not that much I think.

[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited September 06, 2000).]

[Shiny]

I reiterate that the guys who have undergone the real exam can only do some justice. On an after thought - 1.6 minutes is a very narrow way of looking at it. On an average, a FRESH guy completes the REAL 59ner in 70 minutes. If he were to review his/her answers for 20 more minutes, he/she is left with 30 minutes. Geometric analogy ( ) indicates that even if it is a fresh candidate he will be left with atleast about 90 minutes in this beta. But if it is a certified guy (who does not have a certificate in mind), then, in all probability, he will be able provide for, atleast 1 minute per question to give his feedback. (optimistic way....eh )
I expect Sun to be clever enough to have the profiles of the candidates (whether the candidate is fresh or already a SCJP or an SCEA..) recorded for their feedback assessment.
In any case...ALL THE BEST guys,
regards
--Shiny
[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited September 06, 2000).]

[Deepak M]

I wouldn't agree that fresh candidates are gonna think of getting the certificate coz the results are only gonna be announced in October ! Forexample, I am appearing for the real exam just a week after the beta.
Its not appropriate to claim that ONLY certified guys can do some justice. I think thats making TALL claims !
1.6 minutes was mentioned coz writing comments is NOT the same as answering a question.
Again, this exam is gonna have 150 + questions (3 times more than the real exam ). not to mention FOUR hours ! Thats something really tiring for a competitive exam !!!
So its gonna be pretty stressful for a certifited prefessional as well.
Looking at it "optimistically" everyone could do justice to the exam by providing answers !!!
anywayz, all the best to "EVERYONE"
;-)

[Satish Varanasi]

Hello everybody,
Anybody gave the beta exam.Do share the experience.
bye
Satish Varanasi

[Ravindra]

hi everyone,
I've read about this BETA EXAM first time here.
I'm going to give SCJP on 22nd august. sp pls give me suggestion about this BETA.
Whether SUN will change this SCJP 310-025. or will the importance and vale of SCJPO get reduced due to this.
thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Hi:
PLS share the experience about the beta exam.
bye
kuma

[Anonymous]

Hi
Can any one tell me what is this Reta exam & Can any one gave
me the sire address I am going for SJP in somewhere *th October
& I am going to be litte bit confuse that the curriculem is change or It remain same.
Help Me
Pankaj
My id is [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Deepak,
Why do'nt you clear these doubts for everyones benifit...from
exam point of view ...
1. Are we supposed to type {} if we have to typein some class declarations?.
2.What about " " for strings?
3.true,false, null can we select them as keywords?
4. Any ambiguous queries like
Range of weightx and weight y in GridBagConstraints?
- Thanks

[Deepak M]

Originally posted by Jumbo:
Deepak,
Why do'nt you clear these doubts for everyones benifit...from
exam point of view ...
1. Are we supposed to type {} if we have to typein some class declarations?.
No
2.What about " " for strings?
No
3.true,false, null can we select them as keywords?
No, they are literals
4. Any ambiguous queries like
Range of weightx and weight y in GridBagConstraints?
Non-negative integers. Range need NOT be 0.0 to 1.0
- Thanks