Dan's Exam!!

[Ashok Paulraj]

Hello All,
Itz not a post reg. Dan's Exam question but about Dan's exam. Just a little inquisitive one, nothin' to your brain but requiring ur honest answer to evaluate myself.
I had read full K&B book and looking to take the test in another 10 days and I had been solving some of the question papers around the NET. I had been taking Dan's comprehensive exam lists. To my surprise (in certain compre. exams), I get frustrated as certain(not certain), most of the questions are teaching me new concepts that weren't focussed on the K&B book.
Just want to know, I should carry on doing the exam and learn from wrong answers, or should I need to re-read the K&B book !!, Were u ranchers also felt the same first time when taking some of the Dan's compre. exams.
My confidence of taking up the exam soon is going down by working out Dan's exam but my confidence on learning new concepts in Java is going up!!
~ Shalini

[Andres Gonzalez]

Just want to know, I should carry on doing the exam and learn from wrong answers, or should I need to re-read the K&B book !!, Were u ranchers also felt the same first time when taking some of the Dan's compre. exams.
I was scoring 40-50% the first time I took Dan's exams. I felt the same. You can re-read your K&B book if you want, specially the weak points you're feeling at (I read it twice too), but complement them with Dan's test.Some of the questions are out of scope for the exam objectives, but take them as a learning guide. If you score well on Dan's, you'll do ok in the exam.
good luck.

[dennis zined]

Hi Shalini. Dan's exam is great but generally difficult. You can try Marcus Green's exam. It's comparable to Sun according to those who've already been certified.

[Dan Chisholm]

Taurean,
Yes, my exam is more difficult than the real exam. I developed my exam by reading the sections of the JLS that are relevant to the exam objectives. Of course, the JLS covers each concept in more detail than the exam, so my mock exam has also exceeded the detail of the real exam. After I took the real exam in November of 2002, I started removing questions that are beyond the scope of the real exam. Each version of the exam since then has had fewer questions and has been easier than the previous. Believe it or not, this latest version of the exam is much easier than the one that was available last year.
I think the most valuable part of the certification process is the new knowledge that is obtained. With a deeper and broader understanding of Java, you are able to write better code and write it faster. Furthermore, you will have an easier time answering questions at an interview. For those reasons, I think that learning more is better than learning less.
Having said the above, I still recommend using the Marcus Green exams when you reach a point where you want to measure your level of preparation. In contrast, I view my exam as a learning experience. Some view it as a humbling experience, but that was never the intent.

[Harvinder Singh]

Hi,
If u can manage to get the Simon's CD that comes with the certification
book. Then u can try those exams because I think those question are quite close to the real exams. Also the explanation is also very good.
Thanks