Warning for Exam Takers!

[Kathy Sierra]

Howdy all-- I wanted to warn you about an issue that has been causing confusion among some of our test takers.
You *might* see questions that involve API classes you do not know anything about, and that are not listed in the objectives. Do *not* panic about the fact that you did not study those classes/methods -- and just treat them as representing a class in a package. Period. They could be named com.foo.Foof and the question would be the same as one that, for example, might have java.net.SocketAddress.
You might hear people come back and say, "I got a question about something that was not supposed to be on the exam (like AWT or IO)" But that is because they did not understand what the question was really asking. In other words, you might have a question that *involves* a class from the API that you do not know, but the question does not *require* that you have any prior knowledge of that class. It might just be a syntax issue, for example, and so it really wouldn't matter WHAT class was used in the question code.
Bottom line: if you see questions with API classes/methods that aren't in the objectives, then just treat those classes and methods as you would our made-up ones like foo() and class com.sun.Bar.
Which gets back to another tip o' the day... (after the water) take your time looking at the question from all angles. Will this code even compile? (that would be my very first thing to look at, before studying the logic). Treat the actual code logic as meaningless until you've verified that the thing will compile. For example, you might be trying to work out:

private class Foo {
    int x = 10;
   public void go() {
       for (int i = 0; i < x++ && --x > i++; --i) {
             //do something complicated here
      }
  }
}

without noticing the class is marked private. Don't let difficult code distract you from evaluating the question with all your Java language knowledge. Nothing is what it seems... ; )
Cheers,
-Kathy
p.s. please don't try to work out the code sample above; I was just typing in nonsense
[ Jess added [code] tags ]
[ November 08, 2002: Message edited by: Jessica Sant ]

[Jessica Sant]

nice tip Kathy -
I took my SCPJ 1.4 test last week and I must say I took a double take when I noticed a java.io.something question on the test. And then once I looked back, I realized the question was about the syntax of the code, rather than the logic.
I can definitely see how it would freak some people out if they don't take the time to do as you said... and just breathe -- and read through it, and see if the thing would even compile.

[William Brogden]

I would say that the first thing to examine carefully is the options you have to choose from, NOT whether the code will compile. People can get all wound up in analyzing the code when the question is really about something else. Remember, all you have to do is choose the right answer. Take your time, don't panic.
Bill