how much java experience before taking SCJP?

[Tom Pimienta]

I would like to know from those of you that have taken the SCJP about how long you programmed in java before taking the exam? I'm just curious to know how much hands-on you had before diving into the SCJP exam.

[Dan Chisholm]

Tom,

Based on the posts that I have read here at the Ranch, I think it is safe to say that a lot of people don't have any professional experience with Java when they take the SCJP exam. A lot of people are trying to use the certification to get their first job.

The SCJP certification is really just an indication that you understand the language and understand the basics of OO programming--inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism. That can all be learned without professional experience.

The material that you learn by reading a typical Java fundamentals textbook such as Core Java or any of the others is more than you need for the certification. If you have recently read such a book and have most of the information fresh in your memory, then your next step is to just focus your studies of the subset of information that is relavant to the exam. You could do that by reading a SCJP study guide, but you will find that most of the content is a review of what you have recently learned. A second approach would be to just try some mock exams to see where you need a little review. If you try my mock exams, then please keep in mind that my exams are more difficult than the real exam. Your score on the real exam will probably be higher than your score on my exam. Since the passing score on the real exam is only about 51%, you can get a very low score on my exam and still pass the real exam.

My book just became available earlier this week. For that reason, it can only be found on the retail web site for the company that prints it. It won't be available on Amazon until some time in August. Please click on the link in my signature.

[Valentin Crettaz]

Moving this thread to the SCJP forum. Please continue this discussion there. Thank you for your comprehension

[peter wooster]

Originally posted by Tom Pimienta:
I would like to know from those of you that have taken the SCJP about how long you programmed in java before taking the exam? I'm just curious to know how much hands-on you had before diving into the SCJP exam.

I've programmed for many years in C, C++ and Java, my first Java system was 1.0. That experience didn't really help that much with the SCJP test that I passed today. The problem with experience is that you use most of the same tools out of habit. I got 100% on Declarations, OO, java.lang and collections, because I use those all the time. I didn't do as well on garbage collection and exception handling, since gc is automatic and I alway catch explicit exceptions as close to their source as possible and haven't really used asserts. This test might even be easier for someone without experience, since you won't be distracted by your own bad habits. VB, C and C++ experience is a definite disadvantage!

My advice, read K&B, do Dan's mock tests until you can score over 80% on the comprehensive tests, do the Sun practice exams if you can afford them (I did these first, you should do them or Marcus Green's mocks if you can't afford the Sun stuff last), then write the exam.

One last piece of advice, don't get your voucher and prometric registration until you are nearly ready to go.

Good luck!

[Kitty Dayal]

Hi Peter,

My advice, read K&B, do Dan's mock tests until you can score over 80% on the comprehensive tests, do the Sun practice exams if you can afford them (I did these first, you should do them or Marcus Green's mocks if you can't afford the Sun stuff last), then write the exam.

I have two questions...

Did you do the sample tests(chapter wise one's) and then attempted the comprehensive one's OR did u directly do the comprehensive tests?

The comprehensive ones only contain 28 questions on each exam (Not full).

One last piece of advice, don't get your voucher and prometric registration until you are nearly ready to go.

Is there any way to look the availability of schedule's of exam's at prometric centers. I tried prometric website where they asked me enter all my personal information first, I stopped there and did not continue.

Is there a way to look the schedule availability before? Is it Ok if I book on 15th if I want to take the exam on 20th.

BUT roughly how many does it take?

Thanks.
Kits

[peter wooster]

Did you do the sample tests(chapter wise one's) and then attempted the comprehensive one's OR did u directly do the comprehensive tests?

The comprehensive ones only contain 28 questions on each exam (Not full).

I did a few of the chapter exams early in my studying, I should have done more. I started doing the comprehensive tests about a week ago, doing 2 per day. Each is like half an exam, they mostly have 28 or 29 questions. They are harder than the real thing. You should study the answers for all the questions, including the one you get right.

Is there any way to look the availability of schedule's of exam's at prometric centers. I tried prometric website where they asked me enter all my personal information first, I stopped there and did not continue.

Yes, their web site is terrible. You select a site and go to the "schedule appointment" option for that site. You need to get a User ID, they will ask for a lot of personal info at this point. The user name is your email address. Once you have the user id it takes you to the schedule for that location. You should not schedule a test until you are sure you can take it, the cancellation policy is draconian, if you cancel within 24 hours of the test you lose your Sun voucher.

Is there a way to look the schedule availability before? Is it Ok if I book on 15th if I want to take the exam on 20th.

BUT roughly how many does it take?

Thanks.
Kits

The web site will let you schedule up to one day before the test. If you call Prometric, they can do a same day appointment over the phone. But be careful to confirm everything and get the email confirmation before you let them off the phone, they sent me to the wrong test site, luckily it was only 10 minutes away where I thought it was supposed to be, so I started the test an hour late.

How many days notice you will need is very dependent on the size of the test location and the activity there. You can call the test centre and get an idea from them.

Good luck!

[Alan Ford]

I had none. 0. Nada.
But I had K&B book and armed with that scored decently.
Dan's testes are good but I lost patience (to much details)
Markus has excelent test take it before you go for it (not earlier)
and you will know what will be your score on real thing.

[Alan Ford]

Woow thanks Dan for
Java Programmer Certification Mock Exam

[kavya krushi]

Kitty,

Is there a way to look the schedule availability before? Is it Ok if I book on 15th if I want to take the exam on 20th.

BUT roughly how many does it take?

From what i know, you can schedule the exam one week prior the actual date with out any problem ... I live in the US and have some friends in different states who have done so many times ...

Kavya Krushi
[ August 02, 2004: Message edited by: kavya krushi ]