Barkat-- if you are familar with how computer science programs are structured at universities, then those courses were the extent of my experience with Java, C, and C++. But I HONESTLY felt like my Java experience going into the test was very little; basically a one-semester course on basic Java three years ago (semantics, basic OO) and then a two-semester course on Software Engineering principles a year ago (emphasis was NOT coding) where I developed a Java-based app (used the MIDI api and a few design
patterns). I also did read through O'Reilly's Java in a Nutshell series (minus the large reference sections, ARE YOU INSANE!?!

), but that was two years ago as well. I'll cite K&B's book again as my primary source of information (and enjoyment; their small jokes came just at the right times in the text).
Asha -- Since I have K&B's book, I am now moving on to the Developer exam. After reading about what the programming assignment will be like and reading the sample spec provided in the book, I am really excited to undertake this project. This sounds like the perfect addition to my *very* small (maybe "almost non-existent" is the phrase i'm looking for) portfolio of software apps. I loved my Software Engineering course in college and I see
alot of what I enjoyed learning then being put to the test (literally) for the
SCJD. But yes, I plan on taking all the certs from Sun. After completing the SCJP and reflecting on the amount of knowledge gained from just studying for that test, I see the knowledge gained from all the areas the Sun Certs cover as being very beneficial to the development of my app dev skills. Also I figured, as long as I can afford to, why not take the tests? Even if I failed an exam, I'm still going to learn a boatload of cool stuff (yes i was saying this to myself a million times as I was walking in to take the test yesterday

) .
Cathy -- Yes, K&B's book was my primary source for all the topics on the exam. I wish I could say the book covered exactly what my exam covered in those areas, but how the score report came out for the exam it's hard to say.(They don't tell you which problems you got wrong.) But while i took the exam, i don't remember thinking that any threading or GC question covered concepts that I hadn't seen before from K&B's book. Maybe it'd help to say that I scored 100% for the Threading section and 66% (my lowest score out of all sections) for the Garbage Collection section. The scores may hint that the material was insufficient in the garbage collection area but I say it's just me

! I know going into the test I didn't have a 100% grasp of all the different ways you could "isolate a reference" to make its object eligible for garbage collection -- i have a feeling that's where I might've lost the most points.
Oh, about my 1-month time, this is what I did (which i don't think is feasible for people with full time jobs)
For each chapter I did the following:
* Read the chapter up to the 2-min Review
* Took a break for a half-hour to an hour
* Read through the 2min Review, making flashcards for the points
I couldn't remember on my own
* Then skimmed through the chapter again making flashcards for the
little tidbits of info that the 2minReview didn't cover and I thought
were useful
* Took a break (ranged from a couple hours to alot of hours

)
* Quizzed myself on the notecards
* Took the chapter self-test
* Checked what I got wrong and made flashcards on those questions/concepts
that I had forgotten/misunderstood
I did this daily (or i guess i should say _consistently_) for the month. It wasn't until the last day before the exam (i HATE how i have a month to study and i STILL end up cramming -- yes I just graduated from college in mid-August) before i learned I needed to code up examples that satisfied the Exam Objectives to really solidfy all the concepts in my head (by that time I had gotten pretty average scores on the self-tests and failed the MasterExam). Coding and successfully compiling my code(important!!) really gave me the confidence (which might have been what i need all along?) that I really did understand what K&B's book taught me.
Thanks for all your praise!
Paul