Hi everyone, I would like to share my OCA story with you all.
I've been working with
Java for about two years. I started working as a Java EE programmer and I still am. Thanks to the training on the job I gradually became confident with the language, but I wasn't able to take the OCA exam, since it really goes deep into the theory, which you don't learn on the job, having your beloved compiler doing all your dirty work.
I don't hold a degree, so a few months ago I decided to earn an Oracle certification to give consistency to my CV.
I studied on the OCA Study Guide by Jeanne Boyarsky and Scott Selikoff, which I truly recommend (it's absolutely sufficient). I found it amazing: fluid, clear, precise.
My preparation has lasted about three months, because I could study only sometimes in the evening and on weekends because of my job.
After reading the book twice, just before Christmas I bought the Enthuware mock tests: another pleasant surprise. You must get them, they're crucial. They give you a solid preparation to the real exam, because they have an identical structure and similar contents. They're also harder: if you pass them, you'll pass the real exam.
Both book and Enthuware tests contain sneaky questions, and that's good because also the real exam contain them, although I must say they're less than I thought (two or three, and one of them was one of the only two questions I got wrong).
As for the exam, beware of shadowed or hidden variables: the exam tries to trick you. However, I repeat that real exam questions are easier than Enthuware tests questions.
What surprised me about the exam was the total absence of questions about default methods and overloading implementation.
I took the exam (the new version with 80 questions instead of 77) yesterday, and I earned a satisfying 97% (two errors...). My Enthuware average score was something like 80%.
Greetings.