Thanks Rafael,Jibin,Kejal & Narayanan for your wishes.
Well, it was a bit tough in the Custom tag libraries and the EL sections. But the other sections were relatively easy, not to forget the cunning catches which the exam folks are apt at. My luck was that I had about 6 easy questions on Design Patterns.
I personally feel that the HF book is sufficient to cover the EL and the Custom tag libraries sections.
I initially started off my preparation for the 1.3 version of this exam but couldn't take it and time flew by and the 1.4 version was ready. So in my initial preparation I used the SCWCD exam guide by Hanumant and Jignesh and it was worthwhile. So my preparation for 1.4 involved both HF and the book by H&J. I prepared in many bits and pieces with respect to time and my preparation spanned about an year of which I can say that the effective preparation was about 3 months. But my last 2 weeks of preparation was good and helped me to get that score.
If you guys have any specific questions in mind, do let me know so that I can do my best to answer them.
And all the best for your exam!!
Time now for some
Cheers,
John