Urgent. Help me if you know about the real exam pattern.

[roopesh patil]

I am going to appear for my SCJP exam in a couple of days.
I have been doing hard study of SCJP since last 25-30 days.
I am now getting 85-95% in mock exams. My main worries are...
1. Will real exam be very tough than the mocks?
2. Collection and IO is a large topic. Having MANY classes and methods which are difficult to remember. Do they ask on class constructors ? and method signatures of IO and Collection ? I think then it would be difficult.
3. AWT also has many components. What type of questions would be there on AWT?
4. What about GridBagLayout and card layout? RHE doesnot explain that. Are questions asked on that?
I will be grateful if you can assist me and guide me on this. AS i am getting nervous.
[This message has been edited by roopesh patil (edited October 15, 2000).]

[Jonathan Jeban]

Hi,
Based on the feedbacks posted by those who have taken up the exam (after 4th oct), I have made a little document.
If u are interested I will send it to you.
(Hope that will help u in some way )
-Jeban.
PS : I have posted the Document in this thread itself. Please pagedown a little to read the Document.

[This message has been edited by Jonathan Jeban (edited November 08, 2000).]

[Sunitha Sounderrajan]

Hi roopesh,
Shall try to answer your questions.
1. Will real exam be very tough than the mocks?
-- Well, the real exam will cover the same objectives as the mock exams. So, it is sufficient if you are clear with the objectives and have written sample codes and understood the concepts clearly. My opinion is Theoritical knowledge alone is just NOT enough to pass the certification exam.
2. Collection and IO is a large topic. Having MANY classes and methods which are difficult to remember. Do they ask on class constructors ? and method signatures of IO and Collection ? I think then it would be difficult.
-- Yes, u are right. It has Many classes and methods which has to be remembered. especially IO Classes. Yes, the exam asks questions on different forms of Constructors and methods. This comes by practice by writing lots of code and reading the methods and constructor signatures repeatedly. !
Eg: Identify the FileInputStream Constructors from the following:
FileInputStream(RandomAccessFile RAF);
FileImputStream(InputStream stream);
FileInputStream(DataOutputStream Dout);
FileInputStream(String str);
I am just giving an example.
3. AWT also has many components. What type of questions would be there on AWT?
some of the questions AWT questions will be like what is the output ? one has to read the code and visualise how the output will look like. Need to have a good understanding on the Layout Manager concepts.
4. What about GridBagLayout and card layout? RHE doesnot explain that. Are questions asked on that?
--almost Everyone who attended the exam say that they get atleast one qstn from GridBagLayout. It is better to read about GridBagLayout and GridBagConstraints especially.

Hope this helps.! Good luck in your exam.
Sunitha. S

[DD]

Hi Jonathan,
I was wondering if you could send me the document to at
[email protected]?
thankx a lot
Deb

[shailesh sonavadekar]

hi , jonathan , i would also like to have the document that you have created with the help of the feedback that you have received from the people who have appeared for the test from 4th october onwards.
my e-mail : [email protected]
bye , regards & please do the needful.

[Raghvendra Sharma]

Hi jonathan,
I'd be grateful if could send me the document that you have prepared regarding details exam after 4th oct.
I am planning to appear in second week of nov.
my mail id is [email protected]
raghav..

[shanks iyer]

Dear Jeban,
Pleasse send the document to me also i am also appearing for the exam in first week fo nov. my mail is is [email protected]
Regards,
Shankar.

[roopesh patil]

Jonathan, Send me a copy of your document at
[email protected]
Sunitha, Your reply was VERY useful. Thanks for the pains taken to explain what type of questions will be there. Now i clearly know IO and Collection and such are very importants for securing good marks. Thanks a lot.

[Manish Joshi]

hi Roopesh its Manish. You need not worry for appearing for the exam as i feel if you are a person who is logical more then a good mugger then life for this exam has become more easy else you may need more tips If you are interested in more tips do send an email at [email protected]
[This message has been edited by Manish Joshi (edited October 16, 2000).]

[Anitha J.A]

Hello Jonathan,
It will be great help if you could send me the document that you have prepared regardingdetails exam after 4th Oct.
Planning to appear in the exam in nov..
u can send me the document to "[email protected]"..
Thanks in advance..
REgards,
Anitha

Originally posted by Jonathan Jeban:
Hi,
Based on the feedbacks posted by those who have taken up the exam (after 4th oct), I have made a little document.
If u are interested I will send it to you.
(Hope that will help u in some way )
-Jeban.
[This message has been edited by Jonathan Jeban (edited October 16, 2000).]

[Aryan Chowdhury]

Hi Jeban,
I will be happy if you send me the doc you have prepared.
Thanks
[email protected]

[P Prasad]

Hello Jonathan,
It will be great help if you could send me the document that you have prepared regarding details exam after 4th Oct.
Planning to appear the exam ..
pls send me the document to "[email protected]"..
Thanks in advance..
Regards,
Prasad

[Shakeel Mohamed]

hi jonathan,
kindly add my name to this growing list. could u pls. send the doc. at [email protected].
thanx in advance
bye
shakeel

[Ajith Kallambella]

Jonathan,
Why not post your document here at JavaRanch?? I am sure it will help a lot of other people and prevent your mailbox from being flooded with a zillion emails....
Just a suggestion
Ajith

[Ann , Varghese]

kindly include me also in the list .
Thanks

[Viswam Sarabu]

Hi Jeban,
One copy to me also...
Thanx in advance...

[Jonathan Jeban]

Hi Javaranchites,
Listening to Ajith's advice ,I am posting the Document here itself.I am a Mainframe programmer .I am visiting the Javaranch for the past 2 months and observing it and started particating lately now.It helped me a lot to understand java .I am planning to take the exam next month. My best wishes to ALL those appearing for the EXAM.

Feedback from those who took the Real Exam �..
I have collected this from both Javaranch and marcus site..
Difficult Level of the New Exam :

• easy
  
• average (most SCJP's choice)
  
• difficult
  




• Difficulty level: My personal impression that generally questions were similar to mock exams questions (Some are easier than mock exam questions of Marcus Green exams etc.,)Questions were good worded. They were not tricky. I feel that probably each section has 1-2 very basic simple question, 1-2 �advanced� and rest of them of average difficulty.
  

Ok, there were 3 categories of difficulty:



• 1 Simple
  Smth like �choose range of values for one of integer primitives�
  Or �define parameter #n if program was called as:
  Java progamName param1 param2 param3...
  
• 2. average difficulty
  You will have piece of code and asked to define the result. There are a lot of such questions
  im mocks, and I feel that on real exam you will get simpliest of them, not tricky, typical
  syntax.
  
• 3. �advanced�
  By advanced I mean something you do not typically use in your programs but requirements expect you to know, like System.exit() in try-catch statement, or
  strange label name for �for� or �while� cycle.
  I got only few such questions, I suspect questions in Sun�s database are ranged, and situation when John Unlucky will have only hard questions while James Lucky gets only simply will never occur. Hopefully. �Advanced� questions can reduce your scores about 10%, so do not worry too much. If you are well trained on average questions, you will defenitely pass and even with not-so-bad scores.
  




• First I would like to break the rumor that the new exam is
  tougher. NO NO NO..I cannot compare it with previous one since i have not attended it,but this one sticks to its Objectives. The codes are lengthier, but i guess definition of a
  superclass and a subclass will take 4 lines and a method in both
  will add another 8 lines atleast which is 12 lines..is this lengthy??..They are very straight forward. Do not fear about code
  


So what's the change then??



• As per my observation... earlier version had atmost 10-12 questions based on code... But the new version had more than 20 questions on code study and the questions are evenly spread with respect to the sections.. So people who are taking the exam.....work on code...
  
• According to the real test, Sun really focus on the language iteself and JSL will definately be very helpful, also the topic of "Thread" is really tough, I met 6 IO problems, also tough.
  
• Sun seems to test only on more occurring situations, i did not find even a single question asking about difficult situations like static initializers, instance initalizers, 3 level innerclasses, My study of JLS helped me in only one question, but seeing JLS is very good, afterall you are not going to showcase your certificate, study in learning java point of view and not exam point of view.
  
• The test was very code intensive on threads and i/o. There was still a lot of theory. Probably half the test was theory. The questions that were code was not very long. They just seem to throw some crazy things with casting that NO practice exams cover (trust me I have taken them all). Marcus's page is the greatest but even it lacks in the info we need for i/o and threads. My company sent me to the Sun SL275 and that class sucked. If you read this Marcus, please update both your threads and i/o with more code examples. Lots of synchronize and file writing. (Indeed Marcus has updated his IO section in his tutorial).
  
• Concentrate on fundamentals. Don't have to remember much except for the classes which are clearly mentioned in the exam objectives.
  


About Threads and Synchronization
( Jeban : this section really tough .So do more coding on this section)



• First bit of advice. STUDY THREADS. Out of the 59 questions about a dozen had to do with threads and critical section problems.(oct 15)
  
• I found the hardest section the section on threads. There are 7 questions here and most of them codes. I got 5 right here. There was one big code about synchronization which was 30 lines long.
  
• i think one should be solid on synchronization fundamentals.
  i found RHE very good in threads.
  
• Concentrate on Threads, java.io package, overloading and overriding, Constructors, .
  
• According to the real test, Sun really focus on the language iteself and JSL will definately be very helpful, also the topic of "Thread" is really tough, I met 6 IO problems, also tough.
  
• Slightly twisted in Threads and AWT. Practicing a lot in assignments & operators, passing the arguments between methods , if-for loop, will help a lot.
  
• i got 7-8 questions in thread,(mostly programs)
  
• 2-3 thread, wait() and notify().
  
• In Threads and synchronization I got a tough question.(oct. 11)
  
• It was heavy on threads and Overriding/Overloading. I didn't do very well on threads, mainly because I ran out of time.(oct12)
  

String and Stringbuffer :



• 4--5 about String and StringBuffer which you can get from maha's collection
  
• Questions on String immutability.
  
• results after a 'for' loop and also substring concatenation
  
• No need to gothrough API with so muc effort, by my experience
  API's of IO,string,stringbuffer should be gonethrough well,
  rest u can afford to take it lightly
  
• concepts are important.
  for ex. strings are immutable,imutable,immutable
  you should not forget this any time.
  like this, there are are many rules( so many!) in the java
  


Overriding and Overloading :



• I got 3 qns- overriding (need to be able to spot Ok signatures at a glance
  3-4 qns - overloading
  
  
• Work more on overriding, overloading, construtors.
  
• Concentrate on Threads, java.io package, overloading and overriding, Constructors, .
  
• It was heavy on threads and Overriding/Overloading.
  


Inner Classes :



• There are also 3--4 questions about inner class and anonymous class, go over it before you enter the test center.
  
• I got 2 - inner classes.
  
• Sun seems to test only on more occurring situations, i did not find even a single question asking about difficult situations like static initializers, instance initalizers, 3 level inner classes, My study of JLS helped me in only one question, but seeing JLS is very good, afterall you are not going to showcase your certificate, study in learning java point of view and not exam point of view.
  


IO :



• I got 5 on I/O
  
• No need to gothrough API with so much effort, by my experienceAPI's of IO, string, stringbuffer should be gonethrough well,rest u can afford to take it lightly.
  
• Also, AWT and IO need more preparation than usually suggested by mock exams. Especially, the constructors and signatures of the methods in these two packages.
  


AWT:



• I got 2 on collections (very simple), 2 on events, 2 on layout managers and I cannot remember any questions on AWT classes (components, containers and so on). No questions on MediaTracker, Socket or String append.
  
• 1 - AWT question
  
• Also, AWT and IO need more preparation than usually suggested by mock exams. Especially, the constructors and signatures of the methods in these two packages.
  


GridBagLayout :



• GridBagLayout questions did appear in real test.
  


MediaTracker and Sockets:
Jeban : Nobody has reported so far that they had questions on this one
Loops :



• Practicing a lot in assignments & operators, passing the arguments between methods , if-for loop, will help a lot
  
• results after a 'for' loop
  
• Also you must be able to correctly assess 'for' loops (i++ and --i) immediately, as there are many of them in the code examples.
  
• go thru all the semantics of loops like for, while and do-while. go thru the flow of if and switch condition
  
• results after a 'for' loop and also substring concatenation
  

Garbage Collection:



• Garbage collection questions are very simple, but learn the exact trick when exactly a
  member variable can be garbage collected and when a automatic variable is garbage collected.
  


Packages (math ,util):



• Tha packages, which are mentioned in the objective i.e. java.lang.Math, java.util etc. contains less wieghtage. Around two questions per package, I guess.
  


REAL EXAM Questions:
( Pls note ..its about the real exam question and not the Question itself!!!)



• The first question I got was confusing. I had to choose two method declarations, which prevented method from ActionXXX being performed. I had 6 options with method declarations. Some of them were incorrect and would not pass the compiler. If you cannot make a method compile, you cannot apply any action to it, including ActionXXX, right Worse, all of other choices would prevent ActionXXX! So I was totally confused, what should I choose finally, I decided to chose options, to which compiler would give explicit message �actionXXX cannot be performed�, and reject other options, to which compiler would not object and which could give you illusion that actionXXX is performed. I did not get 100% on this section, so I am not sure my answer was correct.
  
• One bad question. One of the first few questions I got on the new exam involved a code sample. I was queried as to what the resulting output would be on line 24. Line 24 was BLANK!!! None of the answers would have been appropriate as line 24 generated nothing. I had to guess that the result they were looking for was from the first line above the blank. Of course I can't know if this assumption was correct.
  
• One question seems to be was directly from Sun's examples!
  

The Final Say about the Exam...
Other than concepts do coding too!!!. For that only this new exam format has been formatted to test
Hope this helps to get a feel on what the real exam really is
Cheers,
Jeban.
[This message has been edited by Jonathan Jeban (edited October 16, 2000).]

[Ajith Kallambella]

Wow... that does help a LOT!
Thanks Jeban
Ajith

[Ann , Varghese]

Hi Jeban,
Thanks a lot, good luck to you too.

[DD]

Wow Jonathan...
thanks for all the feedback!
best of luck
-Deb

[sola yemi]

Dear Jonathan, Kindly send me the documents too, thanks in advance.
sola

Originally posted by Jonathan Jeban:
Hi,
Based on the feedbacks posted by those who have taken up the exam (after 4th oct), I have made a little document.
If u are interested I will send it to you.
(Hope that will help u in some way )
-Jeban.
[This message has been edited by Jonathan Jeban (edited October 16, 2000).]

[Marthi Sarma]

Hello Jonathan !
I would really grateful if you could send me a copy of the document you have compiled depending on the feed back of the members.
--- Marthi!

[Mapraputa Is]

Friends, sorry for the red color, but Jonathan has ALREADY posted notes here, in this thread! Please, read messages above.

[Roopa Bagur]

Could yo please mail me the document that you have prepared from feedbacks.
Thanks
Roopa.

Originally posted by Jonathan Jeban:
Hi,
Based on the feedbacks posted by those who have taken up the exam (after 4th oct), I have made a little document.
If u are interested I will send it to you.
(Hope that will help u in some way )
-Jeban.
[This message has been edited by Jonathan Jeban (edited October 16, 2000).]