study for OCPJP JAVA SE 8

[Alexander Curvers]

I managed to pass the OCA JAVA SE 8 exam today. :-) Hoara! Success after hard studying!

I want to go ahead to OCP JAVA SE 8. I am aware that there is not even a beta exam for it yet.
I thought i might go ahead and prepare for it anyway. Now that all the OCA java topics are fresh in my brain. That might be usefull to pass the OCP too. Or isnt there many overlap normally between OCA and OCP exams ?
Anyways its hard to prepare for an exam without a study guide and knowing the exact exam topics.
I thought ill just use Java 8 books to study like Lambda and all the other new features.

1. Do you think its adviseble to start already to prepare for the OCP Java se 8 or should i wait.
2. Can i savely assume that the upgrade exam topics as listed here are probably on the exam oracle exam 1Z1-810
3. If i studied all of that and after that time.. still the new exam topics are not published. I could just use the OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide (K&B7) to study the topics of OCP SE 7 Programmer II. Probably most of the topics will still be on the new exam?
4. Any other advice?
5. Any expectations for when the OCP Java SE 8 beta exam will be ready? weeks, couple of months? or even more?
6. Any expectations about when there will be study guides available.. I hope there authors planning on writing the guide.
7. Does OCP cost more preperation time then OCA.. if so.. what %??

Based on OCA8 I think it will take me 2 to 3 months to prepare, i hope the beta will be started by then. Many thanks for reading and your advice!

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Alexander,
Congrats on passing the OCA 8!

1. Do you think its adviseble to start already to prepare for the OCP Java se 8 or should i wait.

While the OCP doesn't cover the OCA topics per se, it is cumulative. And the idea of multiple choice questions, strategies, etc still apply. The OCP is a good deal harder than the OCA and there are a lot more topcis to study. Starting now is reasonable since you aren't in an urgent rush. Plus it will take time to study.

I recommend "Java 8 for the Really Impatient" to learn about lambdas, streams and JavaScript. Make sure to do the end of chapter coding exercises. They will strengthen your grasp of the material.

2. Can i savely assume that the upgrade exam topics as listed here are probably on the exam oracle exam 1Z1-810

Yes. The upgrade covers the new topics. So the OCP 8 will be the OCP 7 + upgrade topics - anything they decide to remove. One caveat: some of the topics on the upgrade exam (dates in particular) were on the OCA and therefore will probably not be in the OCP.

3. If i studied all of that and after that time.. still the new exam topics are not published. I could just use the OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide (K&B7) to study the topics of OCP SE 7 Programmer II. Probably most of the topics will still be on the new exam?

Yes. I was going to recommend K&B 7 before I got this far in your post. I actually used K&B 6 + a Java 7 book when I took the OCP 7 exam. (I had never bothered to get certified before that even though I had read the cert books)

4. Any other advice?

Practice writing programs.

5. Any expectations for when the OCP Java SE 8 beta exam will be ready? weeks, couple of months? or even more?

I feel confident it isn't weeks. I think a couple months is likely. I suspect they will want to focus on the upgrade beta first. The good thing is that the beta is only $50. So if you start studying now, you'll probably be ready when the beta comes out.

6. Any expectations about when there will be study guides available.. I hope there authors planning on writing the guide.

Scott and I are working on one. We don't have a release date yet since the exam objectives aren't out yet. We are probably about a third done at this point. I'm sure Kathy and Bert are updating their book as well.

7. Does OCP cost more preperation time then OCA.. if so.. what %??

Yes. I'm thinking at least twice as much. It depends on your experience with the topics. If you've never seen threads or JDBC before, it's going to take longer.

[Alexander Curvers]

Oef about twice as much. Thats rathar much, i thought that OCA already was costing much time. Then probably i guess it will take me 4 to 6 months to prepare. Well by then surely atleast a beta will be available and hopefully still available.

thanks you very much Jeanne taking the time to answer all my questions!

Thanks also for recommending the book (Java 8 for the Really Impatient)
do you also know th book "Java 8 in action" ? Is that a good book too? If you want me to proof read your new book, let me know ;-)

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I haven't read "Java 8 in Action". In general, I find the "in action" series to be good, but I can't comment on this specific title.

[Abhay Agarwal]

Hi

What is the oracle exam code of OCA JAVA SE 8 exam ?

Thanks
Abhay Agarwal

[Alexander Curvers]

here it is: lmgtfy

no need to thank me

[Mathias Bader]

Great question, Alexander Curvers - thank you for that. It helped me a lot since I am in the same situation. Just ordered the two books

- Java SE8 for the Really Impatient
- OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide (Exams 1Z0-803 & 1Z0-804) (Oca/Ocp Java 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide)

These are 240 and 888 pages - will probably keep me busy for the next few months ;-). Good luck for everyone preparing for the OCP!

[Loukas Andreadelis]

According to Oracle, the approximate expected production exam release date for "1Z1-809
Java SE 8 Programmer II" beta exam has been 10 weeks from beta close date, which works out the end of August '15. You may find more here.

Moreover, Oracle has now provided the exam topics here, under Exam Topics.

[S G Ganesh]

Post 8/7/2015 6:22:57 PM Subject: study for OCPJP JAVA SE 8
According to Oracle, the approximate expected production exam release date for "1Z1-809
Java SE 8 Programmer II" beta exam has been 10 weeks from beta close date, which works out the end of August '15.

It went into production today.

[Loukas Andreadelis]

S G Ganesh wrote:It went into production today.

And it seems to be very challenging as opposed to part 1 (OCA).

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Loukas Andreadelis wrote:

S G Ganesh wrote:It went into production today.

And it seems to be very challenging as opposed to part 1 (OCA).

Yes. It is a far more difficult exam.

[Alan Oliveira]

Hey guys, this is my first post here on coderanch. I've finished college and I'm really motivated to work with Java. So I'm gonna study hard to take a Java Certification. I've read a lot recently and I've found some good books, one of them is by Jeanne Boyarsky about OCAJP 8. Well, I would like to know If I had better study K&B OCA/OCP 7 guide and after study Jeanne Boyarsky OCAJP 8 book and another for OCPJP. Or you think I'd better study hard Jeanne Boyarsky's book and wait for a OCPJP book.

Really thank you guys!

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Alan,
Welcome to CodeRanch! Obviously I'm biased so shouldn't be giving you an answer. I do want to mention that our OCPJP 8 book comes out in late December. It is in fact on schedule. We got the very final PDFs this week so it is off to the printer shortly. So if you want to take the OCPJP 8 exam, it'll be out before you are ready to read it. It takes a couple months to study/take the OCAJP exam and you have that first.

Good luck!

[Dipan Chokshi]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:Alan,
Welcome to CodeRanch! Obviously I'm biased so shouldn't be giving you an answer. I do want to mention that our OCPJP 8 book comes out in late December. It is in fact on schedule. We got the very final PDFs this week so it is off to the printer shortly. So if you want to take the OCPJP 8 exam, it'll be out before you are ready to read it. It takes a couple months to study/take the OCAJP exam and you have that first.

Good luck!

Hi Jeanne
I am supposed to go for OCAJP8 and after that OCPJP8. As you said your book is about to come in December, now I ll go for OCAJP8 certification and it will take 2-3 months and by that time we will have OCPJP8 book available. Before this I was supposed to for for OCA/OCP JP7 but thanks.

Regards