Well,
just finished the
OCAJP exam.
I found it a very tough experience, much harder than I expected. But more on that later.
My preparation was:
the OCAJP book by Jeanne & Scott
Since I am not a professional programmer, but only a hobbyist, I did not want to spend too much money on books. A while ago, there was a book topic abot Mala Gupta's OCAJP book, and I was really impressed by it. But I could buy both OCAJP and OCPJP books from Jeanne and Scott at a discount at Amazon.de, so I decided to go for that. Well, I just started to read the OCPJP book, but the OCAJP book is excellent as well. I wnet through it twice, an when I scored well on the questions I thought it was time to start part two.
The Enthuware mock exams
I hinted it before, but just when you think you have mastered all things OCAJP, I failed
Test 1, scoring only 64%. Now, that was quite a shock, and my self confidence suffered badly. Would I ever get these nasty questions correct, with all these tricks and smoke curtains? Yesterday I did the "day before" test, scoring 84%.
Now, everybody tells you that the real exam is much easier than the Entuwares mock exams, so that should have given me peace of mind. Nevertheless, I had a good impression of my weaknesses, but these were in such an abundance, that I decided, yesterday evening, to close all books and tests, and go for it.
The exam
So, this morning it was reality: I was sitting in front of a PC with a very big monitor, and I started.
Question 1 was hard, I could not believe what I was reading. No clue about what the answer should be, and I suddenly got the feeling that I knew nothing anymore of what I had learned the past weeks.
After I finished question 10, one half hour was already gone, and worse, I had the feeling that I had all questions wrong.
I decided, while panicking, not to panick (easier said than done), and I decided to change my strategy. At home, I did the Enthuware exams as fast as I could, needing only 1.30 to 1.45 hours, and that worked very well. But here it didn't. I simply could not get any speed in answering the questions. So I decided to answer each question, taking as much time as needed, and giving up any attempt to review my questions later. As an aside, at question 41 I discovered I had forgotten to mark any doubtful question...
Most important part of this strategy change: do not panick if a question takes 3 minutes to answer, there will be also questions that will take less than a minute. Ypu could say that I gave each question just one shot. I mention this, because other people at the Ranch talk about other strategies. So, if you are struggling like I did, then my strategy might be helpful to some.
I finished question 80 with ony 10 minutes to go. I felt exhausted, also due to my physical condition, so I decided not to hesitate any longer and finished the exam.
Omn my way home, I felt very insecure. Unlike most exams I ever made, I really had no clue how I had performed, and actually, failing the exam alltogether was certainly possible. By the time I got home, Oracle had sent an email that my result was available. So, with shaking hands, I went to Certview, and there it was: 90%. What a relieve...
So, to all future OCAJP exam candidates: if you are well prepared, do not panick, you will pass the exam.
Thanks to:
* Jeanne and Scott for their excellent book. You certainly get the important things you need to know.
* the people from Enthuware. The questions they come up with really show you all of your weaknesses. The tenner (ex vat) is money extremely well spent. I think that Enthuware (and probably similar companies) are a true "conditio sine qua non"
* CodeRanch and all of its people: you certainly learn very much of
Java thanks to all the people raidsing questions or answering them.
Now, up to the OCPJP...