Difficulty level of Dan's tests ?

[Harpreet Kaur]

Hi
I score real bad on Dan's tests (around 40%)
Marcus Green tests however are a little more encouraging (70 - 80%)
Does anyone else have a similar experience?
With the limited time at my disposal, my objective is to pass the certification test(ie. not to aim for high scores).
Considering my humble objectives, am wondering if spending a lot of time on Dan's tests will help
Any feedback appreciated.
PS: Kudos to both Dan and Green for preparing the tests and making it freely available.
Dan you rock

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Harpreet Kaur:
I score real bad on Dan's tests (around 40%)

I am sure you learn a lot after the test.

[Harpreet Kaur]

Originally posted by Don Liu:

I am sure you learn a lot after the test.

Ya learning part is correct. However, am not sure if I need to go into this detail for the certification. Learning will always be there - with or without certification :-)

[John Lee]

You can always use memorizing, which is more cost-effective than learning.

[Harry Kong]

I was wondering the same thing. His questions are very detailed and tough. Also, I found some of the wording not too clear, albeit there are very few. I had to read a few questions several times to figure out what it is that the question is asking for.
Harpreet, my objective is the same as you. Just pass.

[Sarma Lolla]

Some how I felt that the certification books are not really enough for passing the exam. They are dealing with very fundamentals. Even though I am also getting 40% only in Dan's exam I am getting confidence after taking them.

[Harry Kong]

Many of Dan's questions make you think more. If I am going to have to think this much I might run out of time on the exam
Marcus's questions are somewhat of no brainer as long as you watch out for some tricky questions. They enforce you to read the questions, choices, and code snippets very carefully. I have one suggestion to Marcus though. It is quite difficult to read the code snippets. It would be super great if they were indented nicely.
Hopefully the real exam is mixture of these two.
In any case, thanks to all the people keeping the free stuff up, Dan and Marcus in this case. It is great for people like me who are in tight budget plan (don't have a job yet ).
[ December 31, 2002: Message edited by: Harry Kong ]

[Dan Chisholm]

Thank you for using my exams.
Two hours are provided for the real exam. I completed it in about one hour and scored 91% without checking my answers. If you know the material, then time won't be a problem. If you don't know the material, then all the time in the world won't be enough.
Although I have not discussed code indentation with Marcus, I suspect that he is trying to simulate the bad indentation that occurs on the real exam. Be prepared for horrible code.

[Salim Mohamed]

Dan,
Are you saying that the code indentation wont be there in the real exam ?

[Harry Kong]

Originally posted by Dan Chisholm:
Thank you for using my exams.
Two hours are provided for the real exam. I completed it in about one hour and scored 91% without checking my answers. If you know the material, then time won't be a problem. If you don't know the material, then all the time in the world won't be enough.
Although I have not discussed code indentation with Marcus, I suspect that he is trying to simulate the bad indentation that occurs on the real exam. Be prepared for horrible code.

Thanks for replying.
Would you say that your exam questions are more difficult than the real exam? I understand that this question is quite subjective and may be irrelevant to exam preparing. However, I am trying to gauge the difficulty of the exam as many people are. It is hard to get an idea how difficult the exam is going to be because some mock exams are quite easy.
Again thanks for the great review questions.

[Jessica Sant]

Check out some older threads on this very same topic:
Mock exams?
level of difficulty?
Mr.dan's mock VS Mr. Marcus' mock VS scjp1.4 VS scjp1.2

[Harry Kong]

Thanks! There are really only nice people here. Other forums would have have shot me to do search. Well, I guess I should have. Thanks again!

[Dan Chisholm]

Originally posted by Salim Mohamed:
Dan,
Are you saying that the code indentation wont be there in the real exam ?

Salim,
The code indentation on the real exam is very bad. I assume that the bad indentation is intended to be an additional challenge but I suppose that it coulde also be unintentional.

[Dan Chisholm]

Originally posted by Harry Kong:

Thanks for replying.
Would you say that your exam questions are more difficult than the real exam? I understand that this question is quite subjective and may be irrelevant to exam preparing. However, I am trying to gauge the difficulty of the exam as many people are. It is hard to get an idea how difficult the exam is going to be because some mock exams are quite easy.
Again thanks for the great review questions.

So far, no one has complained that my exam is too easy so it is safe to assume that it is probably more difficult than the real exam. I have already simplified many of the questions so the December 4 version is closer to the actual level of difficulty than were the previous versions.

[Harry Kong]

Thanks again Dan!