email to Sun:the new programmer test question & answers

[Anonymous]

With the topics on the Sun certified Java programmer exam be
changed?
Will Swing/Servlets be on the test?
sept 26 2000
Will the exam number ( 310-025 ) change?
Will the exam still be 2 hours long? or 90 mins?
Are the questions done in a similar manner ?
Will the exam administration style (ie multiple choice with
some fill in the blank) change?

Will the ratio of topics be the same?
Example : approx 4 questions on awt, ~1-2 on java.util, ~ 5 on overloading Overriding etc...

Will putting in information on how much programming
experiance one has have any affect on the level of
difficulty?
Will there be the same number of questions on the
test ( 59 )?
Comment: Shouldn't Sun only have Sun certified java progammers take the test because they have taken
the test before and passed and will give better feedback
to sun? In return sun should give them a voucher for
developer essay test and or the java architech multichoice test.

[Anonymous]

I sent this email to sun on sept 26th monday at 6:34 eastern time.
I will post the results of the email asap!
there is very very little information on the
test at suns site!
http://suned.sun.com/usa/certification/

[erich brant]

No answer yet. Also I am done with a mock of the developer test
the essay part only. In a few weeks it will be up

[ricky gonzalez]

Hi, this might be a bit off topic, but can you give us the url to the developer's mock exam?
Thanks!

[erich brant]

I did not type it up yet!
It is in one of my notebooks on scrap paper. Also
I did not setup my new site yet so it will be awhile.
( read a month or 2 )

[Shakeel Mohamed]

i got a mail from Troia Parson at Sun.
one of the FAQs is this -
Q- What are the new Certification requirements?
A-Certification requirements - Candidates must take one knowledge-based exam:
Prometric test number:
310-025
Exam type:
Multiple choice/Free Response
Number of questions:
59
Passing score:
61%
Pre-requisites:
None
Time limit:
90 minutes
Recommended price:
$150.00
should disperse a little bit of confusion.
bye
shakeel

[SRINI VASAN]

hai shakeel,
could u send the mail send to u from Sun to Mu id : [email protected].. i need to pass this to my friends... Also can i have the website whcih says abt the change of SCJp.

Regards,
srini

[Tejas Mehta]

hello ,
please forward me that mail from sun on
[email protected]
thanks.
tejas

[Ajith Kallambella]

"cipheroptic",take a look at this link: http://www.javaranch.com/ubb/Forum10/HTML/000180.html
Ajith

[erich brant]

This is the response and it a "canned" bot like response and
did not answer my specific questions.

Frequently Asked Questions for Revised Programmer 2 exam.

Q-Are the testing objectives different?
A- No. There may be some minor revisions for clarification but the testing
objectives will remain basically the same. We are still testing the same subject
matter
Q-Does the new exam cover the jdk 1.3?
A-There are no changes to the core programming language that we test on the
programmer exam.
Q-Is the new exam more difficult?
A-We have made every effort to keep the level of difficulty consistent with the
original Java 2 exam.

Q-Why is the pass score different?
A-To insure the level of difficulty is the same we needed to adjust the pass
score for the revised exam.

Q-What is a Borderline Survey?
A-There is now a survey at the beginning of the exam called a Borderline. This
survey allows us to collect information on the candidate's experience as a
programmer. That information is used to determine how are exams are performing.
In short, it allows us to create and maintain the highest standard in our
examinations. Giving honest answers to this survey is essential.
Q- What are the new Certification requirements?
A-Certification requirements - Candidates must take one knowledge-based exam:
Prometric test number:
310-025
First day to register: 3 October 2000
First day test available: 4 October 2000
Exam type:
Multiple choice/Free Response
Number of questions:
59
Passing score:
61%
Pre-requisites:
None
Time limit:
90 minutes
Recommended price:
$150.00

This revision of the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform does not
require an upgrade for candidates who have already certified for Java 2. The
subject matter tested on the examination has not changed. The candidate's taking
the revised exam will received the exact same credential as those
certified on the original Java 2 exam.

------------- Begin Forwarded Message -------------
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 08:34:36 -0600 (MDT)
From: Web Mail Response Team <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: A comment from esun4ad-fe. about [suned.sun.com] (WM#5989)
X-Loop: [email protected]
Hi,
Please have a representative in your organization respond directly to
the customer and cc: [email protected] on the response to the following email.
If your organization is not the appropriate one to answer this type of
customer/prospect question, please let me know.
Thanks,
Jennifer Herl
Internet Marketing
Enterprise Services
> User : [email protected] (erik , no phone # - student)
> URL : http://suned.sun.com/usa/certification/java_certification_news.html
> Server : www.sun.com
> type : Comment
> sort : override
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> With the topics on the Sun certified Java programmer exam be
> changed?
>
> Will Swing/Servlets be on the test?
>
> If sun does add topics it should do so
> +6 months before hand to be fair and it also
> takes time for news to travel.
>
> Will the exam number ( 310-025 ) change?
>
> Will the exam still be 2 hours long? or 90 mins?
>
> Are the questions done in a similar manner ?
> Will the exam administration style (ie multiple choice with
> some fill in the blank) change?
>
>
> Will the ratio of topics be the same?
> Example : approx 4 questions on awt, ~1-2 on java.util, ~ 5 on overloading
> Overriding etc...
>
>
> Will putting in information on how much programming
> experiance one has have any affect on the level of
> difficulty?
>
> Will there be the same number of questions on the
> test ( 59 )?
>
> Comment: Shouldn't Sun only have Sun certified java progammers take the test
> because they have taken
> the test before and passed and will give better feedback
> to sun? In return sun should give them a voucher for
> developer essay test and or the java architech multichoice test.
>
>

[erich brant]

Originally posted by erich brant:
[B]This is the response and it a "canned" bot like response and
did not answer my specific questions.

Frequently Asked Questions for Revised Programmer 2 exam.

Q-Are the testing objectives different?
A- No. There may be some minor revisions for clarification but the testing
objectives will remain basically the same. We are still testing the same subject
matter
Q-Does the new exam cover the jdk 1.3?
A-There are no changes to the core programming language that we test on the
programmer exam.
Q-Is the new exam more difficult?
A-We have made every effort to keep the level of difficulty consistent with the
original Java 2 exam.

Q-Why is the pass score different?
A-To insure the level of difficulty is the same we needed to adjust the pass
score for the revised exam.

Q-What is a Borderline Survey?
A-There is now a survey at the beginning of the exam called a Borderline. This
survey allows us to collect information on the candidate's experience as a
programmer. That information is used to determine how are exams are performing.
In short, it allows us to create and maintain the highest standard in our
examinations. Giving honest answers to this survey is essential.
Q- What are the new Certification requirements?
A-Certification requirements - Candidates must take one knowledge-based exam:
Prometric test number:
310-025
First day to register: 3 October 2000
First day test available: 4 October 2000
Exam type:
Multiple choice/Free Response
Number of questions:
59
Passing score:
61%
Pre-requisites:
None
Time limit:
90 minutes
Recommended price:
$150.00

This revision of the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform does not
require an upgrade for candidates who have already certified for Java 2. The
subject matter tested on the examination has not changed. The candidate's taking
the revised exam will received the exact same credential as those
certified on the original Java 2 exam.

[erich brant]

http://suned.sun.com/USA/certification/java_news_faq.html
There is a new format for multiple answer questions. Any question that requires more than one answer now states exactly how many responses are required.
the faq also says there is more code on the test.
http://suned.sun.com/USA/certification/progexam_intro.html

This is a Cool quote from Bill Brogden about the quote above
from suns site:
The most interesting thing in that announcement is:
"Any question that requires more than one answer now states exactly how many responses are required."
Since before the number required could be anywhere from
1 to all, that makes multiple choice questions a lot easier

[Bob Kerfoot]

I have to agree with Bill. I just took the original exam on the 29th. I got a 92% but it would have definitely been nice to know how many answers were actually correct on the questions with multiple correct answers.
Even though I already passed the SCJP, I figured I would try the new Sun sample questions to compare the dificulty to those previously posted. It seems to me that the new questions are much simpler. I think that if you have been programming for a while, the new test matches the dificulty level of the sample, and the typos in the new questions are minimal, the new test will probably be easier.
On a related note, the answer posted by Sun for the first Java 2 sample question is not correct:
1. Given:
public class ArrayTest {
public static void main (String[] args) {i
Object[] ov;
String[] sa = { "Green", "Blue", "Red" };
ov = sa;
System.out.println("Color = " + ov[1];
}
}
What is the result?
A. fails to compile
B. prints Color=Blue
C. prints Color=Green
D. generates an exception at runtime
Sun indicates that the answer should be B. However, the correct answer is A because the stray i following the opening curly on main prevents this from compiling successfully.
Looks like it's probably a typo but I sent the same comment to [email protected] anyway.
Bob Kerfoot - SCJP

[Binod]

There is one more typo. Right ")" is missing
in the last println statement.
System.out.println("Color = " + ov[1];
Binod.