SCJP6 + Upgrade to 7 or Ocajp 7+OCPJP 7

[Ayushi Sharma]

Hi All,
Now that the beta exam for OCAJP 7 and OCPJP 7 are out, i was wondering what would be the right way to get OCPJP 7 certified. the options are:
1) Give OCPJP 6( 5845 INR) and then give upgradation exam for OCPJP 7(5845 INR)
OR
2) Give OCAJP 7(5845 INR) + OCPJP 7(2338 INR)

Considering the cost 2nd option seems better but these exams are in beta phase. Could anybody please explain me the pros & cons of both the options.

[Anayonkar Shivalkar]

Hi Ayushi Sharma,

Welcome to CodeRanch!

Apart from cost, if I had to give those exams, I would've chosen either OCPJP 6, or OCAJP + OCPJP instead of OCPJP 6 + OCPJP 7 upgrade.

The reason being, upgrade exam only gives emphasis on what's new in Java 7 (or at least what's new in OCPJP 7 - e.g. JDBC is not new to Java, but Oracle has added it to OCPJP 7). But with OCAJP 7 + OCPJP 7 you get one seperate exam just for basics (OCAJP) and another exam for little (ok, not little) advanced topics - and the exam is in general for Java, instead of some specific version of Java.

Btw, have you already completed SCJP 6? In that case, personally, I don't see much value in going for OCPJP 7. I myself have cleared SCJP 6 and I'm not going for any Java SE 7 certification.

If you haven't completed SCJP/OCPJP for Java SE 6, then I would suggest you can think of that also. It'll cost even less money (because in any case you'll have to give only one certification) and since differences between SE 6 and 7 are not astronomically large (like they were during 4 and 5), OCPJP 6 is not 'outdated'.

I hope this helps.

All the best.

[Lucas Smith]

Is there a final version of the exam available?

[Anayonkar Shivalkar]

Lucas Smith wrote:Is there a final version of the exam available?

I assume that by final, you mean to say non-beta.

No. As of now, there's no final version for OCPJP 7. However, final version of OCAJP 7 is available.

I hope this helps.

[Anayonkar Shivalkar]

Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:As of now, there's no final version for OCPJP 7

Another reason to go for OCPJP 6