Hi guys!
After 5 weeks of hard work, yesterday I took the OCA 8 exam, getting a score of 97%!!
Since I've benefited so much from other ranchers' experiences, it's only fair that I share mine as well.
Resources:
- OCA 8 Study Guide by Jeanne Boyarsky and Scott Selikoff
- Enthuware mock exams
- Coderanch
- The internet
I started studying the book on 13/12/2015 and got the following scores on each end of chapter test.
13/12/15 - Chapter 1: 78%
14/12/15 - Chapter 2: 80%
20/12/15 - Chapter 3: 78%
23/12/15 - Chapter 4: 68%
26/12/15 - Chapter 5: 70%
27/12/15 - Chapter 6: 80%
After reading the book for the first time, I decided to take the trial mock exam (free) from Enthuware.
27/12/15 - Sample Test: 59%
I couldn't finish the sample test in time and left 15% of the exam unanswered. So I decided to review the whole book and take all the exercises once again. Here are the results.
27/12/15 - Chapter 1: 100%
30/12/15 - Chapter 2: 85%
31/12/15 - Chapter 3: 85%
02/01/16 - Chapter 4: 76%
02/01/16 - Chapter 5: 85%
02/01/16 - Chapter 6: 95%
After I had finished reviewing the book I decided to buy the full Enthuware mock exams. I took all of them and here are the results.
03/01/16 - Foundation Test: 82%
03/01/16 - Test 1 : 80%
06/01/16 - Test 2 : 81%
09/01/16 - Test 3 : 81%
10/01/16 - Test 4 : 91%
12/01/16 - Test 5 : 87%
16/01/16 - Test 6 : 92%
17/01/16 - Last Day Test : 90%
Some important things that helped me while studying:
- Highlighting the key points and what you think is most important while reading the book. (This is really helpful for reviewing the book for a 2nd time).
- I've created 7 java files, one for each chapter and another "general.java". Here you keep everything that is important and those silly gotchas. (The file won't compile, it is just for a quick review)
- After each mock exam quickly see the questions you got wrong and why. And then afterwards review every question with more time.
My only complaint is about the resolution of the monitor, which is quite low, but after 30min I got used to it.
My strategy on the exam was:
- Skip a question that looks very time consuming (Left ~8 unanswered).
- If I wasn't sure about a question, I marked it to review (~13).
- Answer all time consuming questions.
- Review all marked to review.
- Still had 40 minutes, so I reviewed every single question (Changed only 1 that I was 100% sure).
I'd like to thank everyone in this forum for making such a nice community. And a special thanks to Roel, for putting so much effort on every one of his answers. Thanks for being so helpful to everyone, Roel!!
After 5 weeks of hard work, yesterday I took the OCA 8 exam, getting a score of 97%!!
Since I've benefited so much from other ranchers' experiences, it's only fair that I share mine as well.
Resources:
- OCA 8 Study Guide by Jeanne Boyarsky and Scott Selikoff
- Enthuware mock exams
- Coderanch
- The internet
I started studying the book on 13/12/2015 and got the following scores on each end of chapter test.
13/12/15 - Chapter 1: 78%
14/12/15 - Chapter 2: 80%
20/12/15 - Chapter 3: 78%
23/12/15 - Chapter 4: 68%
26/12/15 - Chapter 5: 70%
27/12/15 - Chapter 6: 80%
After reading the book for the first time, I decided to take the trial mock exam (free) from Enthuware.
27/12/15 - Sample Test: 59%
I couldn't finish the sample test in time and left 15% of the exam unanswered. So I decided to review the whole book and take all the exercises once again. Here are the results.
27/12/15 - Chapter 1: 100%
30/12/15 - Chapter 2: 85%
31/12/15 - Chapter 3: 85%
02/01/16 - Chapter 4: 76%
02/01/16 - Chapter 5: 85%
02/01/16 - Chapter 6: 95%
After I had finished reviewing the book I decided to buy the full Enthuware mock exams. I took all of them and here are the results.
03/01/16 - Foundation Test: 82%
03/01/16 - Test 1 : 80%
06/01/16 - Test 2 : 81%
09/01/16 - Test 3 : 81%
10/01/16 - Test 4 : 91%
12/01/16 - Test 5 : 87%
16/01/16 - Test 6 : 92%
17/01/16 - Last Day Test : 90%
Some important things that helped me while studying:
- Highlighting the key points and what you think is most important while reading the book. (This is really helpful for reviewing the book for a 2nd time).
- I've created 7 java files, one for each chapter and another "general.java". Here you keep everything that is important and those silly gotchas. (The file won't compile, it is just for a quick review)
- After each mock exam quickly see the questions you got wrong and why. And then afterwards review every question with more time.
My only complaint is about the resolution of the monitor, which is quite low, but after 30min I got used to it.
My strategy on the exam was:
- Skip a question that looks very time consuming (Left ~8 unanswered).
- If I wasn't sure about a question, I marked it to review (~13).
- Answer all time consuming questions.
- Review all marked to review.
- Still had 40 minutes, so I reviewed every single question (Changed only 1 that I was 100% sure).
I'd like to thank everyone in this forum for making such a nice community. And a special thanks to Roel, for putting so much effort on every one of his answers. Thanks for being so helpful to everyone, Roel!!