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SCWCD test was very disappointing!

 
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Hi all,

I passed the test last Friday with 88% but I was very disappointed with the fact that there were many many typos in the exam..... I got at least 3-4 questions wrong because of typos... Did anybody else experienced it on their tests???

Example: question is talking about including a file b.jsp and the options given are all with c.jsp.... and other similar scenarios....

Thanks,
Mahrukh.
 
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I think I spotted a typo or two in the exam.
Problem is, when I see a typo, I often think it's me who has misunderstood some concept.
 
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oops! I need to be careful with the typos when I give my exam.

Anyways thanks for the warning!
 
Sehrish Hasan
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Yes, for on question I thought may be HSFS had a typo that I missed it in errata but some were sooooooooooo wrong that I just couldnt believe it... I am going to write somebody @ Sun about this. Its very very annoying and they should fix this problem.
 
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While I can agree that typos are annoying, I really don't think it is fair to say that typos are the reason why you got 3-4 questions wrong. Your results do not specifically tell you which of your questions were wrong from the test, so it is possible that you got some (or maybe even all) of the typo questions correct.

Also, I don't understand your point in the last post because of your typos. Are you complaining about the HFSJ mock or the actual exam?
 
Sehrish Hasan
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Marc,

Yes, I agree may be its not fair to put a number on it but I know I got few questions wrong because of typos and I do think its fair to say so because I know it for a fact. When you write a test, you can tell which question you have answered correctly and which ones you arent sure about.

Here is one question that I must have gotten wrong and if I didnt then we have a bigger problem than just typos.

One dragndrop question asked me to put the correct param tag in place. The two options given were [obviously incorrect choice] and [another incorrect choice, but less obviously so]. There was no option with correct closed param tag. I chose the latter one thinking this must be the correct answer and I must have missed it in specs but if you read specs the only correct answer could be formatted like: <jsp aram name="something" value="something"/> and it was not one of the possible answers for the question so I got this one wrong because
of a typo. Correct? Because if you say that Sun might have assumed [obviously incorrect choice] to be correct then we have a bigger problem than just typos...

Another one was the inclusion of the file with wrong file name. I was confused if I should pick "none of the above" or the correct include and assume its a typo. Yet another one had all the incorrect file names
and no "None of the above" option.

The point I am trying to make here is that a developer writing the test shouldnt be worrying about typos and errors in the test itself. These errors in test should be fixed and I am going to email
somebody @ Sun about it.

Please dont worry about the last post because I think I repeated what I said in my last post here again.

Thanks,
Mahrukh.

[I removed the details of the actual question because even the bad questions are copyrighted. - Marc]

[ June 18, 2007: Message edited by: Marc Peabody ]
[ June 18, 2007: Message edited by: Marc Peabody ]
 
Marc Peabody
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I know the drag and drop question you are talking about. I had the same one on the upgrade exam - in fact it was the last question on my exam. I had the same logic as you in my answer. I remember only having a couple questions on the topic and the other ones were extremely easy - my results showed 1 wrong on the topic. I made a post to this forum complaining about it. I simply assumed I was a victim of the mysterious drag 'n drop bug.

The way I think of it now is like referees making unpopular decisions in a sports game. People often say, "We would've won if the ref had called that foul!" I think the complaints aren't necessary. If the team is good enough to deserve a win, they shouldn't have to depend on a foul or two getting called.

Same thing here. If you're good enough, the typos shouldn't matter. In fact, I think the typos add an interesting element. Knowing they are there, I know to watch out when I see a resume claim a cert score close to 100%; I know I need to ask a few extra questions to verify that the person is not a liar or a cheat.
 
Sehrish Hasan
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Marc,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I totally agree if the typos are the reason you claim you failed the exam then you needed to study more anywayz.

I just was not expecting something like this from Sun. SCJP had no typos.. or I should say I didnt get any questions with typos. This forward/param question was one of the first ones on my test and I was just scrutinizing every question on the exam looking for a typo after this one which definitely was not fun for me.

In the last post, the param names and values werent the same. I did not use the same data in the question.

Thanks,
Mahrukh.
 
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