Hi,
I know this question is asked here a hundred times a day
(so far I have just been reading other ppls postings),
but now I myself feel like I have to ask it.
I am studying for the
SCJP (first for the SCJP 1.5, now I switched to 1.6)
for about 10 month now - even though it's said it would be possible in 2 month or so. Well, I am working full time, and sometimes I even have a life, the SCJP stuff is REALLY hard, and I would like to get a score of 90+, 95+ would ne NICE! :-)
What I've done in the past 10 month (in this order):
- read Sierra & Bates SCJP 5 4 times ( the book is REALLY fucked up now! ;-)
- took all mock exams 3-4 times
- read another (bad) SCJP book for the SCJP 1.4 and 1.5
- wrote down all stuff I wasn't so sure about
- Made some
cards and studied the stuff I had to improve on
- bought Wizlabs 1.5 Simulator and did all its tests, re-did the
test I failed.
- bought Entuware 1.5 Simulator, did all its tests, studied the questions I failed.
- worked some time with Eclipse, played around with the API classes I did't know so good (Wrapper,
String, StringBuffer, Calendar, Locale, DateFormat, NumberFormat, Console, NavigableMap & Set...),
- bought the Entuware 1.6 Simulator and did all tests containing the new 1.6 stuff, plus topics I still have to improve.
- read the new Sierra & Bates SCJP 6 book and did all it's mock exams.
About the mock exams, I think they are REALLY hard, and I have to concentrate a lot not to miss something, so much that so far I was never able to do one test without taking a break - in fact it takes me an entire weekend day (e.g. 11am - 19pm) or 5 working days with 30 minutes each day.
Therefore I also never did the S&B final mock exam, because you can't pause them.
Anyway, here are all my scores so far:
My wizlabs 5 scores:
69%
71%
53% :-(
71%
74%
75%
87% (incorrect questions)
My Enthuware 5 scores:
76%
76%
72%
78%
69%
72%
My Enthuware 6 scores:
74%
79%
73%
My scores of the S&B 5 Mock exams:
First time (all together): 57%
Second time: 67 %
Third time: 81%
My score of the S&B 6 Mock exams:
70%
BUT:
chapter 10: 33% :-(
chapter 7 (generics!!!): 44%
Chapter 3: 62%
Chapter 9 (Threads): 65%
Chapter 1 (Declarations): 67%
The other chapter's mock exams are above 70 percent,
from what I've read was enough.
I don't know if I already start to forget the things I knew before, after such a long study time, or if the S&B 6 Mock exams (some were altered / added) just got a bit harder (or if before I just had memorized the answers to well), but I don't like the fact that I once scored 81%, and now I only got 70%..
Next I am planning to repeat the generics and development questions, and then I guess I just have to somehow manage to do the S&B Final mock exams at once, without taking a break.
Anyway, the longer I study for this DAMN exam, the more hopeless I get - my colleagues must already think I am stupid (and so will you!), last October I said I will take the test in december, then I said January, then February, and from the on only "when it's done".
The damn thing is - the SCJP tests so many things you hardly ever need when programming, like the development stuff of chapter 10 - using Eclipse,
Maven and so on, this console stuff is all done for you, so why in hell should I bother knowing EVERY detail of it???
But I wouldn't really like it if I took the SCJP and would get a score below 90% - it's expensive, so I don't want to do it twice, plus besides all the expierence I gain by studying all these details - another reason of course is to gain an awesome score to show off in interviews and to impress colleagues! :-)
...But how could you show off if you studied 1 year for a 2 month exam and then you get a score below 90%?!
:-(((
Shit. I am hopeless. SCJP - the never ending story...
Thanks for your thoughts.
Marcus