Exam preparation IZO-815 vs IZO-816

[alex jo]

Hello
I have a couple of questions for Jeanne and Scott regarding the exam preparation.
I'm currently preparing for the IZO-815 using the 1Z0-808 book written by by Jeanne and Scott and exploring the added topics. I'm really looking forward to your new IZO-815 book!

The plan is to try to pass the IZO-816 exam as well, after hopefully passing IZO-815 first. As you are already working on your next book for 816 I have a couple of questions:
How much harder is to prepare for the 816 exam compared to the 815?
I already looked the topics for both, so I know that there are a lot of things to cover.
Is there a great difference in the depth of the needed knowledge?
Is *a lot* more thorough topic coverage needed?
Would preparing one exam after another be easier?

Thanks!
Aleksandra

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

aleksandra jovanovic wrote:How much harder is to prepare for the 816 exam compared to the 815?

Like many things in programming, it depends. Specifically, it depends on

How much Java you knew coming into the 815. If you knew a lot, preparing for the 815 isn't as hard because you are "just" learning gotchas. If you are new to Java, preparing for the 815 is very hard

How familiar you are with the APIs covered on the 816. If you are an expert in Files IO or Concurrency, you'll find those parts easier

aleksandra jovanovic wrote:Is there a great difference in the depth of the needed knowledge?

There are some topics that are deeper like inner classes and exceptions. But it's more about APIs and not depth.

aleksandra jovanovic wrote:Is *a lot* more thorough topic coverage needed?

I found the 816 to be a little easier than the 809. The focus was more on APIs and less on trick questions about elements of Java. So learn the APIs well!

aleksandra jovanovic wrote:Would preparing one exam after another be easier?

Yes! Less time to forget the things you learned in the first exam.

[alex jo]

Hi Jeanne
thanks a lot for answering all of the questions! I really appreciate it!

[Scott Selikoff]

This might help.  I blogged about my experiences taking the 1Z0-815 exam and the 1Z0-816 exam a few months back.

TLDR version:  For Java 8, I found the 1Z0-809 (Programmer II) to be significantly more difficult than the 1Z0-808 exam (Programmer I).  For Java 11, though, I thought they were both at the same (harder) difficulty level.  So no, I don't think the 1Z0-816 is any harder than the 1Z0-815 exam, because the 1Z0-815 is pretty difficult!  All of this is subjective though, and depends on what you have existing experience with.

[alex jo]

Scott Selikoff wrote:This might help.  I blogged about my experiences taking the 1Z0-815 exam and the 1Z0-816 exam a few months back.

TLDR version:  For Java 8, I found the 1Z0-809 (Programmer II) to be significantly more difficult than the 1Z0-808 exam (Programmer I).  For Java 11, though, I thought they were both at the same (harder) difficulty level.  So no, I don't think the 1Z0-816 is any harder than the 1Z0-815 exam, because the 1Z0-815 is pretty difficult!  All of this is subjective though, and depends on what you have existing experience with.

Tnanks a lot for your answer!
A lot of questions I had and even some I didn't remember to ask were answered here! Those posts are really helpful!
Regards,
Aleksandra