Passed IBM486..

[Merlin M Koppula]

I took IBM486 exam today and passed with 81%.
I read OOAD with applications by Booch, OOAD with UML and Patterns by Larman, OOAD by Page-Jones and UML distilled by Martin Fowler. It took about three months for me to prepare. It took me more time to finish the first book and locating the right resources. I preparation was very leisurely and focused more on learning the concepts than actually preparing for the exam as my background was mainly with structured design (my experience with Object design and programming is only two years compared to my 10 years of IT experience). Preparing for this exam was a good learning experience.
Most of the questions are very direct. However, a lot of questions were with exhibits. Some with two and three. Also, a bigger screen would certainly help. All the exam centers here have only 14 and 15 inch ones, none with 17 inch.
Be careful with timing. I did the mistake of analysing every exhibit. Some questions, eventhough have an exhibit did not actually require detail analysis. I ended up not having time for about eight questions.
I think the mock exam is a very good representative of the actual exam. If you can independently answer the questions in mock exam, you can pass this exam. I think Larmans book alone is sufficient to pass the exam.
I will move on to other forums. I appreciate if you can suggest which Java certification is good for someone with Oracle background..
Thank you

[Suresh Ray]

Congratulations, Merlin. Good score..

[Merlin M Koppula]

Thanks Suresh.

[james edwin]

Hi,
Congrats on your success.

[Doug Wang]

Congratulations Merlin!
Iam sure preparing for this exam will be a good learning experience.
And thanks for your information about mock exam and Larman's book, also good news for me.

Originally posted by Merlin M Koppula:
I think the mock exam is a very good representative of the actual exam. If you can independently answer the questions in mock exam, you can pass this exam. I think Larmans book alone is sufficient to pass the exam.

[Ram Dhan Yadav K]

Hi Merlin,
Congrats on your success and feedback.
I don't think you have any certification which is related with java and oracle. I guess its time for you to go for SCEA, b'cos it helps you to implement what you have learned now.
Good luck!

[Merlin M Koppula]

Thank you Doug, James, Ram Dhan.
Ram Dhan, I am planning to go for SCJWCD, Oracle JCert exams and SCJEA. Thank you for your input.

[Yingtang Tang]

Hi Merlin,
Congrats on your pass.
One question for you, where you stoped your reading on Larman's before you gave the test. What's worrying me is that perhaps I cannot complete the book before I go for the test. Thanks.
Yingtang

[Merlin M Koppula]

Yingtang,
I managed to complete almost the whole book except the special topics. I did not want to miss the important chapters like Architectural layering in the third chapter. Some small chapters, which I did not consider very important for me, I left out.
However, I think the important thing is, are you relying completely on Larman or do you have prior knowledge of these concepts? If you do not have prior knowledge, you should completely read and understand atleast till 34th chapter. In my case, by the time I started reading Larman, I already had some idea about all the artifacts of the UP process through the other books that I mentioned above. So, I skiped some chapters (like state diagrams) that I felt are not new to me.
Hope this helps.

[Yingtang Tang]

Thanks for your reply, Merlin. Your suggestion is helpful. I will go through the book of Larman's at least upto Chapter 34. Now I have basic knowledge about almost all these concepts but not that concrete and I 'm also using Fowler's "UML Distilled" for the test. Thanks again.
Yingtang
SCJP2, SCWCD