Quite discouraged from mock exams

[Emanuele Ghe]

Hi,
I am preparing for SCJP 6.

I've read all the 10 chapters from K&B and I've done also all the self-tests at the end of each chapter.

Now I am doing mock exams, but I really get bad scores from them...Does this happen to you too ?!


I've noticed that I don't remember things, tips, from chapters, simply because there is a lot to do.

Do you have some advices for me on how to go on with my preparation ?

Should I read all the book again or just re-read 2min drills and go back to mocks ?

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Hello,

I believe this happens initially. How many times you have read K&B book? Have you made any notes about important
tips inside the book?

Yes going through two minutes drills is very important. If you have not read K&B twice, i will suggest another revision.
Well, don't get discouraged, make the note of where you are mistaking and i think so if same situation arises in another
mock exam, you won't repeat the mistake.

What exam simulator you are following?

Best Regards,

[Harpreet Singh janda]

Questions in the mock's are very tricky and difficult than the actual exam. So don't get disappointed if your score is not good in those mocks.

Just take them as a learning tool. These mocks are just to sharpen you mind against the little tricky questions. But real exam questions are not that much tricky. Exam will check the fundamental and your knowledge against the topics, not your aptitude and smartness to pick the tricks.

Just go for 2 min drills again and revise the mock because they are a vital part of SCJP preparation.

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Harpreet is correct.

Don't get discouraged. Do onething, whatever mock you can't answer, of course there is some little trick
which you don't know, thats why couldnt solve it. Just make a note of that tip and burn it in your head and
you are through i think so.

Best Regards,

[Larry Chung]

Pritvi and Harpreet gave excellent advice. There are many tricks and traps in the real SCJP exam, but the mock exams have more. The writers of the mock exams did us a favor by:

1. Training us to recognize the tricks and traps by exposing us to a very high density of them. As Prithvi said, learn them after reading the solutions.
2. Training us to be humble, so that we do not incorrectly assume that we can read the Java code carelessly.
3. Training us to work efficiently and with stamina by tackling 72 questions instead of just 60.

Besides the two minute drills, the K&B book's Exam Watch sections are terrific sources for tips on the tricks and traps. Study all of them.

One last thing, mock exam scores are usually 20 points lower than the real SCJP exam scores. Assume no more than 20 points lower.

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Exactly,

Larry is 100% right.

Larry is back and yes mate you were missed by people in this forum.

Best of luck,

[Larry Chung]

Prithvi,

Thanks, mate. It's good to be back.

[Emanuele Ghe]

Thanks all mates ;)

I will study harder, integrating my notes with the tricks / errors I get from wrong questions.

And, ofc, I will go through the book again (2 min drills and some deep inside hard thing in chapters).

[Larry Chung]

There is one more thing. I always forget to bring up this one more thing.
Be sure to get at least 7 to 8 hours sleep every night when you are studying for SCJP exam. Taking a short nap after 4 hours of study is a good idea too. Doing that will help you learn more efficiently. Doing that will help you work faster during the exam because the answers will come to you faster.

So, do not study so hard that you lose sleep.

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Yea Larry,

You are absolutely correct. Even i am getting a headache today. So taking your advice and going
to beach for sometime to relax myself.

Best Regards

[Larry Chung]

Beach? Which beach and on what ocean? Beaches have been my most effective places to study!
It could be the serenity of the beach, endless chanting of the waves, or the relatively lack of distractions that helped me learn in short time.

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Larry,

It is a beach in Dubai. Known as Mamzar beach. Very pleasent. Yes i love oceans myself and make it a point that over the weekends
i regularly visit. The calmness really excites me.

Warm Regards,

[Larry Olson]

All excellent advice/tips. Here are a few more:

• Don't get stuck in a particular question with an ego of wanting to solve it. Remember the exam is timed and all questions carry the same weightage. So you have to use your time smartly. The questions are randomly distributed and easy ones are mixed with the most difficult ones. So attack the easy ones first and ensure that you cover your bottomline. Use another round to come back to the more difficult ones and even use another round to come back to the most difficult ones (about which you have no clue). Using one's time wisely is very important (as it applies to any other exam). It is good that you can navigate the questions back and forth - take advantage of it!!!
  
  
• Learn the art of elimination. it is powerful, particularly for some questions like Threads (where they ask for how the result will look like). You can eliminate few obvious choices and quickly work on the rest of them to choose the right answer.
  
  
• My experience is that your Reading Comprehension skills are as important as your java skills to attack each question. You need to come up with a way you are most comfortable in reading and trying to understanding a question. Given the intentional way in which all the code is bunched together in a few lines this is very diffucult. You need to master this art. Devise a strategy. Sometimes it helps to quickly glance the answer first before reading the code. Sometimes it helps to start reading from the main function. It depends. This is one part unfortunately no book seems to teach i.e. how to best attack a question.
  
  
• Use drawings and pictures for certain questions to solve the problem (for example how many objects are eligible for garbage collection). Sometimes writing things down can quickly clear up the confusion you have
  
  
• While learning, try to program as much as you can i.e. don't simply read the K&B book. When you study a concept in the book, immediately write a sample java code, compile and run it. Experiment with the code to see what happens under different scenarios. Just reading the theory will make you happy, but writing the code will make you smart Remember the SCJP is an exam that is more geared towards someone who is already an experienced Java programmer (that is the built-in assumption). So writing code provides you that much additional experience.
  
  
• And finally always always revise all questions and learn from your mistakes, take notes and enjoy learning from your mistakes !!!
  

Good luck

[Prithvi Sehgal]

Great bunch of advice Larry. You rock champion.

Best Regards,