This morning I passed the SCWCD
test with 94%. To give you an idea how I prepared, I need to mention where I started.
I've been teaching Java- and XML-related training courses in industry for about 2 1/2 years now, including
JSP's and
servlets. I became an
SCJP in March 2000, so I'll be looking to take the upgrade test when that is available.
When I started preparing I was very comfortable with the basics of servlets, JSP's, and JavaBeans, but all in the older servlet 2.2 / JSP 1.1 specs. That meant I knew nothing about listeners or filters, very little about declarative and programmatic security, and what I knew about custom tags was now wrong (I hate it when that happens).
I started off with the Sybex book, but it had so many obvious typos and errors that I stopped using it pretty quickly. I still can't believe they managed to publish that.
Anyway, I picked up the same Deshmukh book that everyone else around here is using, and read it pretty much cover to cover in a very intense two weeks. I took the sample tests and read through many of the discussions here. This place is very valuable, btw, thanks to everyone here!
That's pretty much all it took. The exam turned out to be easier than I expected, which was probably random chance. It was certainly easier than the sample tests.
Now it's back to the
SCJD exam, which I've been working on periodically off and on for over a year now.
But not today. Today I'm celebrating. :-)