Failed in mock exams.. :(

[Aboli Joshi]

Hi,
I am parallaly trying some mock exams alongwith studying. But I failed in all of them although I hv finished 1st reading of almost 500-600 pages from K-B book [ ]. I am going for SCJP6 exam and reading thr' SCJP5 book since the latest one is not yet available in India. Please guide me ppl...
Thanks in anticipation.

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Read again, get comfortable, get the topics into your buffer.
You failed, means you tried !! and yes, failure has to be the first step of success..

[Milan Sutaria]

600 pages isn't enough. you need to complete all 800 pages before you can test yourself. I failed thrice in mocks (getiing 56-65%) even after reading the K&B. All i can suggest you is keep practicing. This will make you aware of the various pitfalls & your weakpoints. GO through the exhaustive links of mocks available at this site. Go through the K&B once again ... i am sure you will have forgotten many of its vital points. And then try giving the mock again ... you will succeed.

[Deepak Bajoria]

Studying SCJP 5 Book and giving SCJP 6, it isnt too wise thing to do.

[Deepak Bala]

You need to go through the book once or twice and practice a lot. Only they should you attempt mock exams. Practice a lot more using an editor like Notepad. Good luck

[Aboli Joshi]

Ok.. will keep these things in mind..
Thanks again..

[Jesus Angeles]

Keep trying.


Stick to your plan.


Do mock. Review both correct and (especially) wrong answers. Do not repeat one mock more than once. Know exactly 'why' you got it wrong. Mock exams + the book you mentioned, should be able to get you to a good score.

Hands on will make your quickness in answering questions much faster.

[Jamie MacDonald]

Working through the book is great for understanding the concepts. But let's face it--the SCJP isn't just about understanding the concepts--it's about knowing the APIs. And that includes ones you may not have used enough in your professional life to know them without a little nudge from the compiler and/or checking the API reference from time to time. Unfortunately you can't bring that API reference into the exam and that means that you are going to have to memorize them. The book typically has tables for the classes/methods you'll need to know. Putting those into flash card format and just going through them until you have them memorized is a good way to do it.

[Sumit Bisht]

that means that you are going to have to memorize them

Does this means we have to cram the contents (specially java.text classes) for each and every member as specified in the api ?

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by Sumit Bisht:

Does this means we have to cram the contents (specially java.text classes) for each and every member as specified in the api ?

You have start up in the right direction.

'Memorization' is definitely going somewhere, but not towards scjp.

I advise you to take a look at Kathy Sierra's book.

That book is great, not like other useless books out there.

[Jamie MacDonald]

Originally posted by Sumit Bisht:

Does this means we have to cram the contents (specially java.text classes) for each and every member as specified in the api ?

You do not have to memorize every member of every class. You do have to memorize many members of some classes. As I mentioned, if you have the Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates book (K-B in the original post) they have tables of the classes and methods you'll need to know for the exam. For those, memorization definitely is going towards the SCJP.