So like the topic said, I passed the OCA 1z0-808 with 71%, not exactly happy with this result but I guess it's still a pass.
Preperation went about as follows:
1. I kind of programmed with
Java before in the past but haven't touched it in most than 5 years, but I knew the basics of coding at least, I did an online course on java basics and finished that in about a week (honestly didn't know all these things about java until studying for the OCA, i just did everything on an
IDE and when there was an issue, i literally bashed words into methods and fields to make them work). I didn't expect the OCA to be difficult at all since I thought it was an entry certificate, that it would be easy, so i scheduled the exam for a week later and then went about as follows:
2. 1 week preparation with "OCA Java SE 8 Programmer I Study Guide: Exam 1Z0-808 - by Jeanne Boyarsky & Scott Selikoff" (starting to realise it's not easy at all and how much I didn't actually know, so i pushed my exam forward by another week)
3. 2 weeks preparation Enthuware mock exams (Here's where i pushed my exam further by another week after see'ing my results)
Test 1: 49%
Test 2: 65%
Test 3: 59% (pushed exam by another week)
Test 4: 78% (Started to feel better about everything)
Test 5: 59% (Was really starting to stress again)
Test 6: 69%.
Went back and did retests of 1,2,3 and got ~80%+ for all 3 of them. So i figured I was ready for the exam (clearly not with my low result). That's kinda my story and thought I'd share, going to try practice more coding/try more online courses and then start preparing for the OCP next! I think I could have done better in the exam, I didn't really sleep well, couldn't sleep at all to be honest until around 6am, woke up 11am (wanted to wake up earlier to revise a little). Finished the exam in around 2 hours.
p.s. No way I would've been close to passing without Enthuware mock exams.