eh, it's not as bad as doing a search on this forum. you'll find all sorts of design solutions in here. plus it doesn't cost you $65. honestly im not too worried about people getting ahold of designs. you probably wouldn't be able to come up with a "best" design all on your own (unless you spent an exhorbitant amount of time working on the SCJD). like design
patterns, there are time tested good ways to design xyz part of the SCJD. i don't feel that, say, people who read GoF's book and used certain design patterns on the SCJD to have an unfair advantage for example. plus, many people in here have max's book. while his sample project in terms of putting things into perspective, you can't just straight out copy it over to SCJD (i have a friend who tried, and believe me, he learned his lesson the hard way).
also, when it comes down to it, you yourself must know exactly why things were done one way or another in your design. im assuming you can't copy the design choices document from softSCJD's assignment and submit it as your own, otherwise Sun would get mighty suspicious about a bunch of similar choices.txt documents coming in. assuming you are a clever enough linguist to move the words around in the design choices document to make it look original, you still have to know intricate details about your design when you take the essay exam. bottom line: you are not gonna pass unless you know all the ins and outs of your project.