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A question on Kathy's SCJP 1.4 book.

 
Greenhorn
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Kathy's SCJP 1.4 book also contains a disk that contains a free product called "MASTEREXAM" which I believe is an exam simulation for exam 310-035. I would like to know more about this.
1) How many exams are there in this simulation?
2) How many questions are there per exam?
3) Currently there are other commercial exams simulations for the 310-035 certification like J@Whiz and JCertify . But is it necessary for these other commericial products after going through the "MASTEREXAM" that comes free with Kathy's book?
 
author
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Saumendra -
I will try to answer some of your questions concerning 'Master Exam' , the CD that comes with the scjp 1.4 cert book. The CD has two tests:
Sun Certified Programmer.....
and
Master Exam for Sun Certified...
The first one is a practice exam, you can choose 'open book' or 'closed book' format. 'Open book' allows you to ask for hints, and get explanations for answers, and references back to the correct section of the book. 'Closed book' is closer to the real exam.
With the first exam you can take short versions, you get to choose how many questions you want.
The second exam 'Master Exam...' is the closest thing to the real exam. It has a timer and everything. (very stressful )
Each of the two exams has 65 questions, so in addition to the ~160 questions printed in the book itself you get an additional 130 questions.
Total questions book + CD ~= 290
My review of the Master Exam product:
It's ok, it's got a few flaws, but if you are just worried about the big picture it's pretty good.
Minor Flaws:
- I don't like the font they used for the questions. (I think a courier font is best.)
- They included the question title at the top of each screen. This is like a BIG hint - when using the software I recommend:
"don't look at the top of the screen" !!!
-They don't handle exhibit questions like the real exam - there is no separate window for 'exhibit code'. When a question has a long code sample you have to scroll up and down - not my favorite.
-They say you need 80% to pass. We feel these questions are very, very close to the real exam in terms of complexity (some of ours are maybe just a tiny, tiny bit easier). So I think if you are taking the CD exam closed book, you could probably squeak by and barely pass the real exam if you get a 70% on ours. (Sticking my neck out here, any feedback?)
-The 'Exam Results' report is incomplete - it does not produce a 'section by section' breakout of your results.
- The print report dialog does not allow you to only print certain page ranges.
Other Facts:
- When you have finished the test you can save your results and you can save the detailed answer report.
- The system prints out a detailed review of every question that you miss (about one page / question), which includes the question, the correct answers, the answer explanations (for all the possible answers!), the reference to the book section, and the Sun objective being tested. I wish they had printed all the possible answers, but all in all I think this is a good report.
-They do mix up the question order every time, so you can retake the tests and kind of get a different test every time... kind of
Overall Summary:
The actual test experience is pretty good: A-
The detailed report is good: B+
Other Features - fair: C
I'm sure you guys will find lots other issues, let us know! :roll:
-Bert
 
Saumendra Poddar
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Thanks Bert for this nice information u shared
 
hangman
Posts: 220
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That is what I love about the javaRanch!

I can always find someone who made the same mistake I did! HA!

Tonight, I made the same mistake Saumendra Poddar did back in Jan 2003!
I went to take what I thought was the two hour version (Master Exam for Sun Certified...) and ended up taking the "Closed Book" version of the 90-minute exam and just took the default "65" questions, then wondered why I failed (less than 80%)

Tomorrow night I will try the real exam where I get two hours! Hopefully I can get into the ballpark with the magic 70% Bert speaks about.

Thanks, Bert! For giving me, Saumendra Poddar, and probably some others, the explanation at https://coderanch.com/t/240457/java-programmer-SCJP/certification/Kathy-SCJP-book. Because of this, I now know what happened...
 
Consider Paul's rocket mass heater.
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