If You successfuly passed SCEA 1

[michael turner]

Readers:

BOTTOM LINE: I took the SCEA exam on 11 Feb and was not successful. I used resources listed in various areas of this forum to prepare including purchasing “Sun practice Exam(s) WGS-PREX-J052C: Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for the Java Platform”.

I prepared using reference materials for at least a solid 2.5 - 3 months. I practiced using Epractice Simulator, Sun Practice exams, and other available on-line exams CONSISTENTLY scoring in the upper 80% range. NOTE: I am a Software Engineer with over 18 Years of Industry Experience.

It is not my nature to complain, however, THIS was without a doubt the worst exam I have ever taken based on time limits. ACTUAL Exam questions were NOT EVEN CLOSE in nature to Sun Practice Exam(s), Epractice labs simulators, or any other available online exams . The questions were VERY long , Scenario based, and VERY Subjective. This was a very, very, tough exam .

Currently, I am performing an assessment of all sections and do plan to retake the exam at a future date. I Can’t be the only one. It would be interesting to know the percentage of applicants that were successful passing this particular exam on the first try.

Question: Honestly, How many of you were successful on your first try? Please Respond truthfully.

NOTE: Per the exam version I took there were 64 questions with a minimum passing score of 57% . My Score was slightly below 57%.


Thanks. "A man determined to succeed"
SCJP, SCWCD, SCBCD

[Hong Anderson]

I've passed in the first try for SCEA 5 Beta part 1.

[Ashwin Pai]

I passed too on the 1st attempt.

Ashwin

[Steve Yau]

I've passed in the 1st attempt too. The exam is tough. Preparing for the assignment now.

Steve

[Rogerio Kioshi]

I hope you pass next time.

By the way, what was your score?

[Jose Luis Iturbide]

Hi.

I scored 71% in my first attempt, but I have experience in previous certification exams.

I passed the old SCEA at the first attempt too, I didn't pass the Beta Exam but I could to see the kind of questions of the exam.
You need to know that the time available to answer is a very important factor, (less than 2 minutes per question)

For the SCEA candidates that have not purchased their vouchers: Do you now that in this moment there is a Retake Promotion?
Retake Promotion

Don't give up.

[Theodore Casser]

I passed both the original SCEA Part I and SCEA5 Part I on the first try.

I do think this is very likely the hardest exams that Sun offers (as it should be, seeing as it's the highest credential they figure they have in the Java certifications scheme). I find the programming exams to be easier, if only because they handle concrete subjects that have a very well-defined range of questions. The programming exams deal with the minutiae of what does and does not work, given the information that's presented (ie, look at this code and tell us what the output is). This exam, on the other hand, tends more towards theory - What does X represent? Which of the following describes this pattern?

I know that when I did the SCEA original, I ended up having to unlearn quite a few things that I'd taught myself wrong in the first few years of my practice developing software, some of those being matters of where theory and reality did not perfectly mesh. This made it easier for me when I took the beta of the SCEA5 Part I - I already knew what to expect.

If you missed it by only a little bit, then I wouldn't let it discourage you. Good luck on your next try - you'll get it then!

[Leonardo Pinho]

I passed too on the first attempt.

Regards,
Leo

[Sharma Ashutosh]

I will say hard luck to Michael. I am also appearing into SCEA5 - part 1 and let's see how it goes. I have around 9.5 years of IT experience and what i heard from lot of people that it's not that difficult. Anyway i have a retake option in my voucher so if i fail i will try again.

[Maheedhar Aluri]

Hi Everybody,

Sorry if I asked unwarrented question.My question is what is the syllabus for the new SCEA 5 Part -1.I saw in the sun site,but it was not indicated clearly.Please let me know the differences in syllabus for SCEA 5 in Part -1 and previous version.

Anticipating your extended support.

Thanks
Maheedhar

[Hong Anderson]

Hm, why do you want to know the different? SCEA old version is already expired.

Anyway, SCEA 5 part 1 has no objective about UML, and it adds Core J2EE patterns.

[Lann Lu]

I scored 78% in my first attempt.

[Pavel Kubal]

Hi Michael, I would like to add my experience from taking the first part. After I've done several certification, whereas the most difficult for me has been the SCJD, I ordered a voucher for SCEA. At first I didn't know how to start so I kept postponing the perparation. I've read John Wetherbie notes and they seemed pretty obvious (I mean I had known everything mentioned). And this time I said to myself, that it's time to do something crazy, 'cause I paid so much attention to previous certifications (more than most of my collegues) and assigned for taking the exam. I didn't read any books for SCEA, I didn't do any mock exams for this particular certification. As long as I'm not native english speaker I had slight problems with those long scenarios, but surprisingly I scored 76% if I remember correctly. It was quite a surprise for me to pass with such a short preparation. Maybe I have required knowledge from the previous certs, 'cause I have quite short carreer (you can have a look http://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelkubal), or it was simply luck.

But speaking about your case. There's a very subtle difference between pass and not pass. To me the questions seemed that I could vindicate three answers out of four were only one could be applicable. You could have many of those questions! The failure doesn't mean that you are not suitable for this role, it could simply mean that you were (at that time) unnable to answer questions how Sun would like to hear it. Don't be disouraged by one bad day, don't give up and try again!

[Cyrill Ruettimann]

Hi Michael,

I just returned from my Exam today where I scored with 67%. I did a very bad job in the Patterns area with 37% percent! And that was the area which I know very well compared to the Security which I do not know very well and scored very good. The questions are sometimes not that precise (in my opinion) to choose the correct answer. Especially If you are not a native english speaker. And the spectrum is immense, ranging from the Syntax of the expression language in JSP's and JSF to the integration of an old legacy server.

And maybe you have answered the opening questions (not the exam iteslf) about your experience wrong and received the most complicated questions? I assume, that everyone here succeed in a different exam. Meaning, that the exam consists of 64 questions from a pool of about 200 questsions. So we can not compare each other, right?


Regards,

Cyrill

[jeff mutonho]

Cyrill Ruettimann wrote:Hi Michael,

And the spectrum is immense, ranging from the Syntax of the expression language in JSP's and JSF ....

Regards,

Cyrill

Huh? Syntax of EL in SCEA exam? Is this true?

[Jose Luis Iturbide]

Hi.

Yes I had a question about two different forms of EL

#{...} For reading and writing, evaluated in a multi-phase request life cycle, used in JSF
${...} For reading, evaluated only when rendering output, used in JSP

Any other experience about JSP and JSF?

Regards