1Z0-816 Exam Subjects Seem Overwhelming

[Bruce Phillips]

I've passed the 1Z0-815 Java 11 Developer Part I exam.

I'm now using OCP Java SE 11 Programmer II Study Guide (really excellent book) to study the MANY 1Z0-816 exam subjects.  I'm only on Chapter 4 but feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of knowledge I'm expected to memorize to prepare for the 1Z0-816 exam.  If I read one more statement from the book "Memorize this table" (the table has 10 rows and six columns!) I might jump out my window.

I wonder how many people have taken and passed the Java 11 Part II exam and what the average score is.

Is it possible that Java has become so big that it's not realistic to expect developers to have such detailed and comprehensive knowledge about all the nooks and crannies of Java 11?

I've been a Java programmer for over 10 years and was previously certified on Java 6.  Now we have two different tests to take and pass to get certified on Java 11.  

The good news is that I am learning a lot about Java features I don't use much (e.g. bounded wildcards, annotations, functional interface default methods).  

Anyone who has passed Java 11 Part II exam please weigh in.  I especially would like to hear from people who took the 1Z0-816 exam and did not pass the first time.

Thank You,

Bruce

[Charles O'Leary]

Bruce, I have not passed Java 11 Part II.  But, please allow me the opportunity to say I echo your concerns.  It also points out the ridiculousness of 815 + 816 = 819 in my humble opinion.  My brain can only hold some many minute details about everything at one time.  To that end, of course, the argument will be that certification is not a (universal)  requirement.  Rather it's an individual decision (when its [often] not required by your job of course).  But, BIG thanks to Jeanne and Scott, we have Study Guides!

[Adrian Pop]

Yeah, it looks ridiculous to me as well, but in the same time it's an opportunity to learn about things that we don't use that much on our jobs, like you said.

I have the feeling that 1Z0-815 is a walk in the park compared to 1Z0-816...

Oh, and by the way - you may want to rush your learning because 1Z0-816 is being retired since 1st of October. You might also consider going for 1Z0-819 directly (this is also what I am doing).

[Campbell Ritchie]

Good point that the learning may be more useful than the exam. And I am not sure that you will find any of the exams easy. It isn't so much a case of hard versus easy; more like hard versus very hard

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Adrian Pop wrote:I have the feeling that 1Z0-815 is a walk in the park compared to 1Z0-816...

Actually no. While the 808 was far easier than the 809 (Java 8 exams), that isn't the case for Java 11. The 815/816 cover different things but the questions aren't more difficult on one exam.

While there is more to learn for the 816 exam, the questions are more likely to be testing what they appear to. So if you get a question on IO, you can focus on IO. Not a problem with a loop.

[Edmund Yong]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:While there is more to learn for the 816 exam, the questions are more likely to be testing what they appear to. So if you get a question on IO, you can focus on IO. Not a problem with a loop.

In your book and the online test bank, I have come across a fair amount of questions that I thought were testing you about one thing, but turn out to be something different. It's really a testing of one's attentiveness.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Edmund,
Yes. *we* do that to make things harder and get you to learn the material better. (which allows you to get a better score on the real exam.) The real 816 has less of those questions. Moot point now though as the 819 is coming!

[Edmund Yong]

Jeanne, you're right. The questions did test what they appear to be. They were quite straight forward. I passed with 88% today, better than the 82% I did for 1Z0-815. I actually think it's easier than 1Z0-815 as there were many easy questions which didn't take much time to answer. What I think is difficult about your study guide questions is that a lot of them have a "The code does not compile" in their answer choices. I only encountered two or three questions with such a choice, which made answering them much easier.

[Charles O'Leary]

Bruce Phillips wrote:I'm now using OCP Java SE 11 Programmer II Study Guide (really excellent book) to study the MANY 1Z0-816 exam subjects.  I'm only on Chapter 4 but feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of knowledge I'm expected to memorize to prepare for the 1Z0-816 exam.  If I read one more statement from the book "Memorize this table" (the table has 10 rows and six columns!) I might jump out my window.

I wonder how many people have taken and passed the Java 11 Part II exam

After reading this thread again, I noticed that the "Memorize this table" notation does not appear for every table.

To the point of feeling overwhelmed, for those that passed by using the Sybex 816 book mainly, do you actually advise that I "only" have to memorize the tables that specifically say "Memorize this table"?  Or rather, the tables where it specifically says "Memorize this table" are tables that  I should ensure that I have 100% recall on, in addition to the other tables that I may not have as much recall on but would obviously add value otherwise?  (I use Java 6 everyday for work, although I did obtain OCA 8.)  

[Edmund Yong]

Charles O'Leary wrote:After reading this thread again, I noticed that the "Memorize this table" notation does not appear for every table.

To the point of feeling overwhelmed, for those that passed by using the Sybex 816 book mainly, do you actually advise that I "only" have to memorize the tables that specifically say "Memorize this table"?  Or rather, the tables where it specifically says "Memorize this table" are tables that  I should ensure that I have 100% recall on, in addition to the other tables that I may not have as much recall on but would obviously add value otherwise?  (I use Java 6 everyday for work, although I did obtain OCA 8.)  

I didn't actually do any hard memorization of any table. When you already know a topic well, there is no need to memorize. I passed with 88%. The only tables that would really require pure memorizing would be tables 6.4 to 6.6 on the Java modules. The book says there is no need to memorize, but you should be able to pick them up from a line up. But to me, that's the same as memorizing. Athough I can remember table 6.4, I didn't actually bother about 6.5 or 6.6. It is just ridiculous to memorize these. In the exam, I didn't encounter any questions requiring knowledge of tables 6.4 to 6.6.

Which tables are you having problems remembering?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Edmund: Yes. We have way more "does not compile" choices in our book than on the exam. (The exam does have some though.) We want our questions to be hard so people are better prepared for the exam.

Charles: You do need to memorize the functional interfaces. Sorry. Questions are luck of the draw. But you can get a number of questions in one exam that requires you to know them. Or none. It's random.