new commer kid needs advice on scjp

[Deependra Sharma]

guys,
i m new to the forum.bout my self 1 year doin java programmming...and have a passion for core java prog...don like much of advanced stuff like J2EE J2ME.
plz instruct me
1.which book is better phillip heller or khalid mughal?
2.which is the book haveing only mock exams.(best of all)?
3.how do u know that u r well prepared?
i am currently reading gosling...i have read complete refrence.
plz help

[Andres Gonzalez]

1.which book is better phillip heller or khalid mughal?
Can't tell you my opinion on this one since I haven't used them. I've heard Khalid's name quite often around here though.
2.which is the book haveing only mock exams.(best of all)?
Most books have a thorough explanation of the SCJP topics and come with a set of questions for you to answer. I haven't heard/read about a mock exam book yet. My advise is to study from whichever book you feel comfortable reading and do many mock exams from the web.
3.how do u know that u r well prepared?
The only way to know this is when you feel you can answer mock exams with minor complications. Doing mock exams tells you how good you are prepared, and which topics you should study more.
good luck

[Vivek Nidhi]

Dear Friend,
My humble opinion is that you can start your exam preparation with K&B, free tutorial from Sun and Texpad(editor)
Regs
Vivek Nidhi

[Dan Chisholm]

In my biased opinion, I think that this mock exam is very good.

[Deependra Sharma]

thanks a lot all u good pals (Andres,vivek and dan)... i really don believe such a fast responce.....javaranch is a real cool place
i have heard a lot bout dan's mock exam and i have the habbit of keeping all the good things for the last (once i feel confident i am gonna start bombarding all mocks) right now i am studing java programming language by gosling and have taken up mocks at javapreperec.com and rules round up at both places i scored 75% and above. what do u think how much more is it to the destination like ( i am not too ambisious just 90% plus would do).
vivek can u give me the link to the mock exam on the sun's site.

[Thomas De Vos]

If you really want to be prepared well then check the following free site with plenty of mock exams and an online certification centre.
Good luck!

[Deependra Sharma]

Thanks a lot thomas ..... but should i straight away go with the mocks or wait untill i finish reading my java programming language by gosling .. i have finished reading java complete refrence.
again as andrae has suggested for khalid mughal book for java prepareation what book do u suggest thomas? actually i just wanna be sure that i have got the to best book b4 investing
another short question for all the more experienced...but a silly question ....cant i do it(scjp 1.4) without any certification guide book i.e just by taking all mocks and reading gosling and java lang specifications ? (though i would never attempt the big one without reading some certification guide book but i am just curious to know)

[Vivek Nidhi]

hello friend,
The SUN Mock exams Links are avail here, this is a paid one.
Sun Practice exams
If u want free mock exams Maha Anna's List is a fine one
Maha's Mock
If u complete all these u can go for jan's mock
also whiz labs mocks is also nice(my personal opinion)
regs
Vivek Nidhi

[Thomas De Vos]

Deependra,
I highly recommend reading the JLS, and study the terminology. Try to do as many examples as you can based on the JLS. I have been through the JLS a few times now and every time I can find something new.
int \u0041 = 10;
System.out.println (A);
This does print out 10.
Go through a SCJP study book (Kathy Sierra) and do as many mock exams as you can.
The mock exams of Dan Chisholm and Marcus Green are very good and as mentioned above also have a look at javacertificate.com. Study and practise each objective individually and keep focussed on your weak points.
Hope this helps.

[Marlene Miller]

Hi Deependra,
There are a lot of different ways to study for the SCJP certificate. I cannot say what is best for you. But since you are reading The Java Programming Language, as I did, I would like to tell you a few things that I learned.
The Java Programming Language was my primary teacher. I choose that book because I wanted to learn from the best teacher - from the creator of the language. TJPL provides correct and trustworthy explanations and insights. I also skimmed Khalid Mughal�s book and worked the exercises.
I was going to wait and finish studying both books before working Dan�s mock exams, but Dan encourages us to study his questions AT THE SAME TIME we are reading other books. So I did that. I wish I had started working Dan�s questions earlier, right from the start.
It took me a long while to figure out that reading and reading is not good enough. I must also code and code. I learned that for every sentence, every rule and every concept, I must create code examples to demonstrate the concept and other examples to demonstrate the errors.
Even though I read the exam objectives, I completely misjudged the scope of the exam. I did not realize this until I worked the three Sun practice exams. That is one drawback of using only The Java Programming Language and the JLS.
[ November 03, 2003: Message edited by: Marlene Miller ]

[Deependra Sharma]

thanks a lot again for all the gr8 advice, all u guys (marlene,thomas and vivek) now i think i am pretty well started in prepareations, and feel i m no more a new commer kid going on well with TJLS and JLS , also doin some mocks that are rated as a lil bit easier by all u guys and getting more than 75% in all of them consistantly. of course programming live is my charm and i am on to it on daily basis.
but only one last confusion is to trust in which author for java certification guide ...i am really tied up between khalid and kathey, equally. and i really want the best
all reading this,plz mention ur pick
thanks,