Test Prep for Certification

[Jakub Olszak]

Have you taken any, other than Enthuware, test preps for Java certification?
I am thinking of Kaplan, or Whizlab etc.
Were they worth it?

[Roel De Nijs]

Hi Jakub Olszak,

I have not taken any other mock exams than the one mentioned in the study books (so no Enthuware as well).

But I can tell you (from hanging around in this forum) that Enthuware offers great value for money and that WhizLabs gets some bad comments/reviews. You can always use the search enging to see if people posted comments about Kaplan and/or WhizLabs. Enthuware is definitely the most popular one. You can always check the OcajpWallOfFame and have a look at the stories/experiences of other ranchers who passed the OCA certification and see which mock exams they used.

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel

[Jakub Olszak]

Hi Roel De Nijs

Thank you for answering my question :-). For some reason it went unnoticed for a long time.

I am going to buy Enthuware exams. Almost everyone using them says they great. I was just thinking of buying other exams as well to have more practice.
Unfortunately, it takes me like 150-160 minutes to answer 70 questions 95% correctly. (There are a lot of traps to look for in the exam). On OCA I will only have 120 minutes.

My plan was to pass OCA 7 then OCP 7 and in the future upgrade to OCP 8.
From what I see, OCA 8 gives you 150 minutes to answer 77 questions. The ratio is better here. (Are the questions that much trickier?)
So now I am thinking of passing OCA 8 in 3 weeks (I believe I am already prepared to OCA, there shouldn't be that much new things in OCA 8) and OCP 8 before the end of December ( already reading Sierra/Bates OCP 7 book).

I am trying to be up to date with the forum but for some reasons I must have missed the answers to the questions:
OCP 7 is 90 questions/150 minutes. Do you maybe know, the ratio for OCP 8?
Will we be able to pass normal (non-beta) OCP before New Year's Eve ( I would like to be able to use the discount)?
Is it a good idea to study for (for example OCP 7) using materials/tests from older versions?
After passing OCA and OCP with a good score, should one be able, theoretically, to get a Junior Programmer (lowest level ) job ?

Thanks in advance for answering :-)
Jakub Olszak

[Roel De Nijs]

Jakub Olszak wrote:Thank you for answering my question :-). For some reason it went unnoticed for a long time.

That could happen. Everyone answers questions on a voluntary basis.

Jakub Olszak wrote:From what I see, OCA 8 gives you 150 minutes to answer 77 questions. The ratio is better here.

True! For OCA7 you have 102.86 seconds per question, for OCA8 you'll have 116.88 seconds per question. Don't forget the passing score for OCA8 is slightly higher than for OCA7 (65% vs 63%).

Jakub Olszak wrote:(Are the questions that much trickier?)

Not many people have already taken both exams. This thread has (as far as I know) the only opinions about the difficulty of both exams: one says it's harder/trickier, the other one says there was no big difference...

Jakub Olszak wrote:So now I am thinking of passing OCA 8 in 3 weeks (I believe I am already prepared to OCA, there shouldn't be that much new things in OCA 8) and OCP 8 before the end of December ( already reading Sierra/Bates OCP 7 book).

You'll find a mapping between the exam objectives for OCA7 and OCA8 here.

Jakub Olszak wrote:OCP 7 is 90 questions/150 minutes. Do you maybe know, the ratio for OCP 8?

If even Oracle doesn't know, it's impossible for us to know

Jakub Olszak wrote:Will we be able to pass normal (non-beta) OCP before New Year's Eve ( I would like to be able to use the discount)?

Again that depends on Oracle's decision. But the exam is currently listed under "upcoming production exams" so it's likely to be released in one of the next months (and before the end of this year).

Jakub Olszak wrote:Is it a good idea to study for (for example OCP 7) using materials/tests from older versions?

That's not a problem. But probably the exam objectives for OCP8 will be different from OCP7, so you'll need to do some additional studying of the new (and/or changed) exam objectives.

Jakub Olszak wrote:After passing OCA and OCP with a good score, should one be able, theoretically, to get a Junior Programmer (lowest level ) job ?

No! A certification (even with a good score) will not get you a programming job (not even an entry-level). But it might make the difference between some equivalent candidates. It shows different positive aspects for a programmer: eager to learn, want to study and improve your knowledge (in your own time), you are up for a challenge, you have an eye for details,... But you probably not get a job just because you are certified. So a certification is never a guarantee for a job, but it may help turn the scale in your favor.

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel