Well, I decided to buy the Whizlabs test suite after playing some more with the various tests (both free and non-free...now if only they had some certain other tests I'm interested in (but I dare not mention .NET here!!!
then I could have taken advantage of some nice price specials they have. Thus, I settled for just the SCJP 1.4 product and about 10 minutes later, I had my license.
Here's my advice:
1. Read "Head First Java" if you are fairly new to Java or if you really don't understand the concepts inside-out...I am finding that from that book alone, I have reached a level of understanding far beyond that of one of my friends who I thought previously to be an expert in the language. You need a solid foundation and this book WILL give it to you if you work it cover to cover....with persistence, you can do so in perhaps 2 weeks.
2. Read K & B's cert book (yes, both books are by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates...I cannot praise them enough...they're the greatest gift to javakind, IMHO!). Both books make learning fun and interesting. I have also referred back to them on dozens of occasions already as questions crop up...and if I can't find an answer there, I certainly can on the JavaRanch. But read HFJ FIRST if you don't have a solid foundation (or if you aren't confident that you definitely do). LOTS of tips and tricks and gotchas are mentioned in there that add to the true, complete understanding...perhaps not 100% comprehensive, but like I said, it's like having a brick foundation built on rock versus building with mud blocks on quicksand.
3. The cert book comes with (including the CD-ROM and a downloadable test) two tests...mine actually showed 3, but the third was basically the same as the second with perhaps half the questions different and thus an artificially inflated score. They only stated that two came with it, which is the correct statement to make. I highly recommend both these MasterExams and the Whizlabs based on the tests I've taken so far with it tonight. Excellent quality questions and explanations on the same caliber as the masterexams (actually, better on the explanations because it shows ALL answers rather than just the wrong and right one---a major shortcoming in the MasterExam results review). Also, my scores are proving fairly consistent between the two products (which means I'd better pass!
It also shows I have much room for improvement. Overall, Whizlabs is the better of the two test environments, IMHO...breaks everything out by the categories, etc. Much of that information is also in the MasterExam, but as best as I could tell, was not as easily extractable.
As for which product you use first, that's up to you. Both are quality products (although there are at least two minor flaws in the MasterExam questions...something like pc = cc or pp = cc...the correct answer is stated with the wrong answers which, in my case, made me guess one of the wacky answers which was obviously wrong. Another has to do with an array question that another member on the BB posted about....it gives an answer of d and some non-sensical answer when it should be f.
Overall, I'd recommend the MasterExams first and then then WhizLabs....if you buy the cert book, the masterexams are free, giving you two quality tests at no extra cost and then you have the option of the many free ones or one of the commercial products. The other thing I like about subsequently using WhizLabs is that with the many tests it has, it makes the progress more measurable. But you really can't go wrong either way.
I truly believe those two books and one or two quality exam series is all you need if you work through it. Of course, I won't be putting my money where my mouth is until Thursday, so we'll see if I'm humbled then or not.
But I hope this review helps others in their quest.
Ross
