Passing score for SCJP2 1.4 - 52% !?!

[Radu Zaharia]

Hi all,
I just received the result for my 1.4 beta test. I passed it with 80% (which I think isn't a great score) because I only could prepare for the test in the 2 weeks before it. Anyway, I scored a little higher than I was expecting in this situation.
But what really bothers me is this: on the paper I received, the passing score is said to be 52%! Isn't that too low? Or the passing score was set so low only for the beta test, to compensate the bigger number of questions and the fact that some questions had potential errors?
Does anyone know if this will be the passing score for the final exam? Because if it is, I think the value of this exam will be too low to be considered by employers! I think a passing score in the range 60%-70% would be more apropriate, don't you?
Radu

[Dave Vick]

Radu
I'm not sure if they have announced the details of the new test yet.
As for what makes a reasonable passing score, that is relative to the difficulty of the questions, the harder the questions the lower the score needed will be.

[Radu Zaharia]

Hello Dave,

As for what makes a reasonable passing score, that is relative to the difficulty of the questions, the harder the questions the lower the score needed will be.

I agree with you on that. But from what we learned in this forum (and from what I saw in the beta test), I think the new exam doesn't seem to be harder than the previous one. Sure, the requirements are different, but on the average the level of difficulty seems the same. So that's why I said they seem to lower the bar, which in my opinion will do no good to those that certify.
Radu

[Corey McGlone]

The details for the new exam haven't been released yet (at least not that I've seen), but I would expect that the passing score would be roughly the same as it is now (61%). My guess is that the low passing score was only applicable to the beta exam.
Corey

[Mike Adams]

According to the Sun Certification page, the new pass rate is 52%. I found the following on their site:
"The new Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform 1.4 exam pass rate will be 52% (32 of 61 questions)."
The site I found it at is:
http://suned.sun.com/US/certification/faq/#java
Regards,
Mike

[Dave Vick]

They must have made the questions harder, or else people did not do so well on the beta exam. Either that or that page is talking about the beta and not the actual test as it will be when it comes out.
[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: Dave Vick ]

[David Brafford]

61 questions and 52%
That is for the real exam, not the beta.
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