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how to pass the SCJP as an experienced programmer

 
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Hi folks,

I imagine this is a scenario familiar to many. I was wondering if anyone could share their experience or offer some advice.

I've been programming in Java since I was at university 5 years ago and I've spent at least the last 2 years doing it full time. As a result I'm pretty confident with most aspects of the language and at tackling most problems. However I decided to study for the SCJP to fill in a few gaps in my knowledge and update it a bit.

I've been reading the Bates and Sierra book and doing the questions in that. However I often find that despite understanding the material and remembering it (more often that not from before I even read the book) I always stumble on the questions. I find this quite frustrating as I feel I'd already learned the topic being tested.

Anyone have a similar experience or advice on how to get through this frustrating experience?
 
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Hi John,

I can understand your situation. But remember the technical detail of SCJP is higher than what we use in our daily jobs. So you have to read the book even though you feel like you knew the material already. Surprisingly when we read the material we often find ourselves that we are in a wrong notion about a particular concept or our understanding of a particular detail is skewed (which happened in my case). It is really helpful to be patient and to read the material thoroughly. Read it (or skim it) more than once. Everytime you go through it you will always find a new point to learn or you start to think and approach the problem in a new dimension.

You are on the right track, the frustration you are experiencing is quite normal. All you need right now is patience. When you are patient enough you can concentrate more on the subject and you can understand the concepts more easily. So read it even though you feel like you knew it, I guarantee you will find more interesting stuff that you thought you knew.

Stumbling on the questions is quite common in the beginning because there are lots of minute things to notice and they are tricky. But don't give up, try attempting them again and see if you were able to get all of them correct. If not, try again. Though you feel a little uncomfortable re-doing the same exercises, believe me it helps.

Good luck.
 
John McParland
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Thanks Marco,

I'll try to be more patient in my study and hopefully I'll get those questions right in the end.
 
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