Have you looked at the OCP Wall of Fame (https://coderanch.com/wiki/659976/Ocpjp-Wall-Fame) ?
You can see what others have used and how they prepared which may save you time, money and frustration.
From what I understand there is a significant more material that is covered with this test including streams, collections, inner classes and more.
Regarding how easy or how hard it is? That does depend on your experience programming in Java. Some people have spent years programming in Java and they may find the exam was not too hard.
As to if you should do it or not? That depends on what you goals are.
If you are doing to advance your career then you know that some companies does not care at all about certifications.
In fact, if you have many certifications it could look like you have no experience and you are just 'book' smart.
With OCA done, you may want to branch off into something like Hadoop or maybe something with regards to SAP Hana development.
Both of which your Java knowledge will be an asset and both of which there are certifications for.
The answer for me personally? Well I'm going to take the OCA test soon and after that I'm going to spend some time getting into Android development.
You may not know this, but Google does offer Android certification and it cost $150 USD to take that exam. I figure that this will be a nice break for me.
Edit: Grammar fixed
Jeanne Boyarsky
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author & internet detective
staff
Lilou,
It's not that you are more likely to fail! It's that you need to spend more time studying for the OCP. That's why we warn it is hard. So you allow enough time and do pass when you take it!
@Jeanne , but in the OCP there are 85 questions to be completed in 2.5 hours as compared to the OCA.
On the OCA itself, I would finish just on time and literally at the very last second, on mock exams and the real exam.
So how to deal with that ? Since the number of questions are increased, will some questions be smaller and easier to answer , I mean less time consuming .
Jeanne Boyarsky
,
author & internet detective
staff
Thodoris Bais wrote:Right now, there are only 65 questions for 2.5 hours.
Just curious, what is your source for this?
This does sound a much better then when Lilou was referring to.
I think that Lilou is referring to the 1Z0-809: Java SE 8 Programmer II exam.
Thodoris Bais wrote:Right now, there are only 65 questions for 2.5 hours.
Just curious, what is your source for this?
This does sound a much better then when Lilou was referring to.
I think that Lilou is referring to the 1Z0-809: Java SE 8 Programmer II exam.
Interesting...oh well I'm in it for the Java 8 exams. I would much rather have 65 questions instead of 85 questions.
However for me this is still more then seven months away and who knows maybe by the time I'm brave enough Java 9 exams could be out.