SCJP 5.0 CX-310-055

[Swapna Sharma]

Hi,
Iam about to take the SCJP exam in in a few days to be precise 18 days. And Iam still a little ambigous on the topics involved. Most of the mock exams available for free are for 1.4 and 1.2 and Iam confused a lot. Though Iam able to score around 90% on the average level exams I still don't feel confident enough to face he exam. Can anyone please tell which topics to lay more stress on. And also any helpful tips are welcome, infact deparately needed

[Niranjan Deshpande]

my condition is similar to you. i too prepared for the 1.5 exam but i think, since the kathay sierra & bert bates book hasnt arrived yet, it would be suicadal to appear for the exam. the heller roberts book is OK but incomplete. i think its better to go for the 1.4 exam.

the topics like "generics", "wildcards" etc are quite deep to pentrate into.so you will be testing you luck if you appear for the 1.5 exam.

you may go thru the expeiences posted by other members in thsi group

[Mathavan Balakrishnan]

Hi Swapna,
I finished the SCJP 1.4 exam last month and got 86% marks. I am now preparing for SCWCD 1.4 exam. My strong advice for you is to take the 1.4 exam instead of 1.5 exam. i am NOT discouraging you. its a matter of being wise.

U might think that taking the latest version is good (i also thought in that way at first). But having the certification is more important than to think about the versions. There is no real good book available for 1.5 exam. The syllabus for the 1.5 exam is huge when compared to 1.4 exam. Further the exam pattern is somewhat new and strange to many people - you can't find any good mock exam from the net.

I don't know with what intention you are taking the SCJP.
If you intend to search for jobs having the certification as an highlighting point, then its wise to go for 1.4 exam.
Or if there is a company which compulsarily requires people with SCJP 5.0 certification, then go for 5.0 exam.

The arrival of JDK-5.0 does not mean that JDK-1.4 is old or out-of-date. JDK-1.4 has been used in many companies and professionals. There is an estimate which shows that usage of JDK-1.4 is more than JDK-5.0.

After finishing SCJP 1.4, if you decide to have an SCJP 1.5 certification in the future, then there is an "upgrade exam" available for you to have the SCJP 1.5 certification. The cost of the upgrade exam is low.

For preparing SCJP 1.4, the book written by Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates is great. That book is truly amazing. After reading that book, you will have 100% confidence (and 100% mark is possible too).

The mock exam given at the end of each chapter in that book almost resembles the real exam question. I didn't try any other mock exams for preparation - i just studied the Kathy sierra & Bert Bates book for 1 month and got 86% marks with ease.

- Mathavan
[ July 04, 2008: Message edited by: Mathavan Balakrishnan ]

[Patrick Williams]

I agree with Mathavan and I have also been on the same journey. I started to study for the Tiger exam and waited for better study material to come out. I studied (although not seriously) for the v1.4 waiting for the v5 books to come out. I decided that I really wanted to take the SCWCD so I got serious about v1.4 and finally took the test yeaterday and passed without any problems (95%). I figure that I can take the upgrade exam after taking the web component test. I am also potentially interested in doing the SCJD and was waiting for the updated book to come out for that as well (to help me understand the Tiger stuff better). I do understand the new components for Tiger, but I find that the K&B books help me understands the uses for the components. I hope that helps.
[ November 15, 2005: Message edited by: Patrick Williams ]

[Palu Sing]

Hi Mathavan: Thanks for the tip for the exam. I am also planning on taking the SCJP 1.4 exam. For this, I am trying to get sufficient resoucres for preparation. [piracy deleted - Jim] Are there any tips you'd give for first timers? I have one year of college Java experiece and am currently working in core Java.

I still need to study a lot though. I tried to start studying the Java Complete Reference book. However, I decided that I'll study the Certification guide first and then refer to the Complete Reference book for clarifications.
Is there any advice you can give me on preparation?
[ November 15, 2005: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[Swapna Sharma]

Hi all,
Thank you for the advice. Actually even I was thinking about going for 1.4 instead of 1.5. I have prepared very well for genrics and wildcards etc, but still don't confident because there aren't many resources available to practice and Iam taking SCJP for job purposes. Iam a fresher with no practical experience in Java except for the college projects. So I thought it's better for me to go for 1.4. i ahven't read any certification guides. I just read complete reference, Java in a nutshell by david flangan and a few topics from sun website. I did a few mock exams. So is 2 weeks from now enough for me to take the 1.4 exam?

[piracy deleted - Jim]

- Swapna
[ November 15, 2005: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[Bert Bates]

Hey Guys!

This is one of those good news / bad news kind of threads for me

The good news is that we're happy that the 1.4 book has helped those of you who have bought it!

The bad news is that we really hate to hear about people distributing the soft copy, which amounts to theft

We put months and months and months of work into each book, and the royalties we receive are our only income For our sake, and for other author's sake also, please don't pirate copyrighted material!

Thanks,

Bert and Kathy

[Swapna Sharma]

Hi Bert and Kathy,
Sorry, believe me or not I dint know that. Now that I know, I will buy it.

[Mathavan Balakrishnan]

Hi Palu sing,
Since you have 1 year experience in Java, its easy for you to be an SCJP.
I suggest you to first study the reference books and go for certification book. If you do that, it will be easy for you.

Regarding SCJP, getting marks is not so important - its a matter of how much you learn and how much you gain knowledge from it.
(your mark is NOT shown in the certificate)

Try to work out programs. Write your own programs - even if you know that it will have errors, just try it and see what & why are the errors so that you can correct it.

Mathavan
SCJP 1.4
[ July 04, 2008: Message edited by: Mathavan Balakrishnan ]

[Stefan Wendler]

Hi there,

so you guys are pretty sure the 1.4 exam is still most wanted for the employers? I ask because I need that exam to become a job in the bizz again. And 160euros per exam isn't that cheap for me. I'm pretty done with the 1.4 book yet. I only need the threads chapter and the Math section to finish. Oh, yeah, and some overall preparation again after finishing the book.

Regards
Stefan
(a frustrated male nurse that stuck in that wired nursing place after his alternative service because his Sun certs got too old *grr*)

[Barry Gaunt]

Stefan, you wrote "because his Sun certs got too old *grr*". There is no expiry on Sun's Java Certifications. Sun reversed all that crap with expiry dates, the certifications are just version based now. You can request a new certificate from Sun without the date limit. Having a SCJP 1.2, 1.4 certification does not mean you cannot take one of the more recent advanced certifications such as SCJD, SCBCD, or SCWCD.

[Stefan Wendler]

Hi Barry,

I've Sun certs about Solaris Administration, and Oracle certs aso with date on it, when I did them. And the Bosses always tell me: "what, you did the alternative service for 10 month ... so you don't know anything after that too long time, come back later!" I've heard that dozens of times. So I want to do the SCJP to get another chance. And the question is, if I should wait till the 1.5 book is out here in Germany around January or do the 1.4 exam within the next month? The problem is - and thats the opinion of lots of fellows here that have the same problem as me - that the german bosses want the newest certs which must be warm from printing and the ink must still be a little wet

Stefan

[Arjun Sridhar Ulaganathan Rajeswari]

Dear Bert,
Don't wory for the illigal softcopy.
I used your soft copy to read One month I'm not able to read in computer.
So I purchased 4 Books

SCJP 1.4 K&B Book Rs 375
SJ2C 1.4 Khalid Mugal Rs 375
Head First JSP/Servlet Rs 545
Head First EJB Rs 375

I'm Searching Job But Its costly for me. there is no way so I brought It.
I finished Studing Khalid Mugal
Its Very wast, Quite Intresrting but Some Concepts I read several times to understand[more than 15 times in different places], some concepts Even now I didn't understood.
Now I'm Studing 1.4 K&B Book Its easy to study Bucause Khalid mugal helps me lot to understand K&B book easly.

Even I got confused in declarations and Access Control, in K&B Book
But I read several times to understand the concepts.
I plan to BUy Head First Java

SoftCopy is one of the marketing trend to buy books.
About Softcopys of Book
Pro's
1. Easy to Search
2. Reach any page in a second
3. We can look overall
Con's
1. Its not possible to read all the pages contiounsly
2. Our Mood Chage if the topkis if bored we see any other window we forget to see the book
3. Its not possible to take notes using pencel in the software.
4. Reading books get some time to think But Reading Softcopy there is no choice to think because We are always reading Books hasty
5. I can take the book and ask the doubts to my friends or others when I see. But Its not possible to use Softcopy.

Its not possible to study softcopy book
Because Our mind changes always Computer is also like Tv
If we don't like we change other channels Like wee scrool to other pages
and finally we won't study

But Hard Copy Of Books Is Easy to study
Understand time to think, Taking Notes, Share with friends,taking notes
Lot more.......
I suggest Better is buying Hard copy of books is good insted of studing softcopy.

But I need Sun Materials like SL-275
But Its not possible for me to pay Rs 7500 For each Course
I'm tring for the hard copy of Book. Its easy to understand SL-275 SUN Book

If I get Job I'll but Lot Of Books to Refer
woww......

[Rupali Ray]

Hello.... I have prepared for SCJP 1.4, but i cam to know that SCJP 1.5 is the latest one. should i go for it or giving SCJP 1.4 is owrth now. Also please let me know in the Certification is the score given anywhere.

what are teh new topics added in 1.5, plesae throw some light over it.
please sent a mail at [email protected]