Finally, I did it! Passed it with an 83%, of which I was thrilled with.
I studied with the famous Sierra and Bates book. Its been almost 20 years since I have been in school, so picking up a book like that and trying to learn it turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated. I have always been a c++ programmer (I never programmed in
Java before), and I thought learning Java would be easier than it was, but sometimes I think being a 20 year c++ programmer was to my disadvantage. I spent a total of 5 months reading and studying, but there were a lot of breaks in that time period (like for the holidays).
I practiced all 3 mock exams by Sierra and Bates. I scored low on these...65%, 45% and like 50%. I was devastated. So I made sure to understand
WHY I got every problem wrong, and that is what really counted. I wish I had done more research and done other mock exams WHILE I was studying each chapter. I did the free exams on scjptest.com, and I also had access to the ORACLE practice exam. I told myself if I failed this exam, that I would have bought WHIZLABS.
If anything, studying for this exam really sharpened my mind and taught me
HOW to read a book like that and to absorb it properly. This will be helpful since I plan to pursue more certifications (maybe mobile Java, C#, etc...).
Anyway, THANK YOU MUCH for answering all my stupid questions!!
P.S. there was NO drag and drop. 60 questions. I took the ENTIRE time frame of the exame, and just kept reviewing it.