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Hello,

Passed SCJP 5.0 today, however I'm not satisified with the result. Too bad one can't see the correct answers at least for wrong answered questions. My score was only 80% and what's interesting I lost percents on, in my opinon, the easiest sections like OO concepts, fundamentals. I scored only 72% on Flow Control, but I felt pretty strong in it, especially exceptions and assertions.

Here's how it goes in ascending order:

OO Concepts.....................................70%
API Contents....................................70%
Flow Control....................................72%
Fundamentals....................................72%
Collections/Generics............................90%
Declarations, Initialization and Scoping........91%
Concurrency....................................100%

I've seen many questions, about how long does it take to prepare for the exam. For those who are interested how long it has taken for me, here a little brief. As for my experience, I haven't had any contact with Java before. As for programming experience, I had only very basics of C++, one semester in school, no object programming. Registered at JavaRanch in November, did some research about exam and started learning a couple of weeks later in the end of November. After new year had a few weeks break until K&B book was released and was able to get it to Poland from USA. That's how it looked like in my case.

Ok, time to move on, SCWCD and XML waiting.

Good luck to all who are preparing for the exam.
 
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Hey,

I see where you're coming fromm , BUT......

The integrity of this exam is not in question. i.e. Don't take it seriously at all. the bottom line is this. Do you WANT any prospective employers to know that you've studied this way , passed an exam that has nothing to do with real life coding ability/experience? I seriously think that it's better NOT to mention certification on your resume than to actually quote it and a grade. Think about it. You're bucking the system. The only way a prospective employer can determine your ability is by sitting you in front of a piece of paper during interview and throwing questions at you.

If you can't answer then... pooh, you don't get the job.

if you DO answer them all perfectly then there's one of two things in play;

a) You've just done java certification and will therefore pass any interview test with flying colours.... BUT thats to be expected. Anybody that takes this exam is going to pass a java interview suite of questions. that's why I'm taking it (I've 10 years c++ experience). Its just an exam abot syntax, nothing to do with real life production systems or how high your IQ is.


b) If the guy sitting on the opposite side of the table DOES NOT know you've taken java certification but are still able to answer all the questions in their test... HOW clever do you think he will consider you? ANSWER: A HELLUVALOT more clever than if he knows you've been swatting irrelvant theory for 2 weeks to pass an exam.

Many of my best friends are either developers, recruiters or project managers. Do not give this "certification" stamp more worth than the marketing people might suggest. Consider it a personal thing, nothing you want employers to know about. If you really think about it you'll agree.

Hope thats not too negative but the exam/certification isn't (ultimately) going to get you a job. Your ability to shine in an interview will get you a job ... and alas and alack, if they know you've swatted just "to get the answers right", then you're stabbing yourself in the back.

G

PS Now watch how many responses come in to this post. They will probably "edit" it too
 
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G:
You are right to a point. You know the OO concepts and Full lifecycle software development that 10 years expereince can offer. Newcomers do not have anything but a cocky "kick-ass" attidude and a smile to offer potential employers. You are correct thinking:

Just because you have a college degree does not mean you can program.
Just because you have a SCJP on your resume does not mean you can program.

But at least SCJP gives employers a reasonable level of comfort that a newcomer will know the Java syntax, at minumum. To them this may be better than nothing.

Even if I never sit for the exam, in just two weeks of studying I learned a great deal about Java syntax. This gives me confidence going into an interview and someday, going into my new job. I just need that one job offer to get started on my path to 10 years experience.
 
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PS Now watch how many responses come in to this post. They will probably "edit" it too



Not edit it. Just wondering how the heck you can up with a response to the original poster as what you just posted. There is nothing in the original post that even talks about resumes and getting jobs from a certification. You response just comes out of left field.

You can have your opinion, just also know that it is possible that your opinion could be wrong, just keep an open mind on it.

Mark
 
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Graham,

In the same way that a guy who just passed the SCJP exam is not garanteed to make complex programs, you should also agree that even a guy with 10 years experience is not garanteed to know all details in the language.

I have many friends who have 5 years C++ experience, others with 8 years delphi experience or even another ones with 5 years java experience that are unable to pass the exam. So why ? Cannot 5 years of experience offer a good knowledge so that pass the exam would be easy ?

The problem is that sometimes even guys with years of "solid" experience
cannot figure out about simple language questions and concepts just because they are used to create solutions aming only their unique problems.

That's why SCJP exam was created. Passing this exam proves that you have a good proficience in the language, I said, in the language. Nothing is expected about complex programs from the industry point of view.

If you want to prove your proficience and solid knowledge about complex programs of course there are other sun exams you can take.

If you want to prove you proficience when charged about mobile devices for example, you must pass the SCMAD exam, for Servlets you must pass the SCWCD exam, for Web Services you must pass the SCDJWS and so on...

So, I think that employers who are REALLY envolved with the java world HAVE to know about that. Such employers must know that there're many kinds and levels of certification exams.

I think that nobody here is going to stop in the time. I think that everybody here want to get a more specif certification but in order to get that they have to write the SCJP exam wich is a pre-requisite for all specificialist Java certification.

CONGRATULATIONS Aleksander !!!

Without any commercial mock exams you were able to reach 80%. So imagine what could happen if you were able to pay for some commercial mock exams as you've wanted before !
 
Graham Walsh
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Ermmmm how did I do that. I sent that to the totally wrong forum! It was destined for a totally different address. Apologies.

G
 
Aleksander Zielinski
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Well, there has been a lot of discussions whether the certificates are valuable or not and there has been a lot of votes for and against. Everyone has it's own opinion and I'm not going to convince that I'm the only one that's right. What I think is that it's better to have a certificate than not have it, and if you can have it, then why not?

Thanks Edisandro, hope you'll pass yours without any problems and with better score. As for mocks exams... Because of the commotion with WHIZLABS simulator I even forgot about Marcus Green's mock haha, and I had it in the center of my personal bookmark bar in my browser, would you belive? I only did those that come with K&B.
 
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