Missed a golden chance to max the exam . Rue it whole life !!

Hi ranchers,
I finally managed to clear the big hurdle on the 25th . All credit to Ajith , Marcus ,Jane ,Cindy, Manfred, Steve, Bill, Paul, Lam, James (thx 4 u�r last minute ans)& my great friend Ravindra Mohan (with whom I enjoyed many a controversial discussions). In fact it is the ranch which made this possible. I got 96 , missing 2 questions . 1 was on I/O in which 5 was asked & 1on AWT on which there were 4 questions all on implications of adopting a various layouts in different cases & their possible outcome. The question on AWT, which I missed, asked for 1 correct answer & I was 100% sure that there were 2. The I/O question was careless miss & I will probably have to rue this fact. It was a golden opportunity to max the exam. I had a very unique question on OOPS akin to what can be found in no mocks(Marcus1 & 3 have a question of somewhat a similar sort but far easier) . It was a design question & required typing with a short explanation. I had no idea such sort of questions were under the purview of the exam but Marcus stresses they are. Fortunately SUN liked the hopeless answer I had given. I had 10 questions on threads (50-59). 6 of them had codes around 30-35 lines & most of them were far tougher than the mocks. I would suggest anyone trying for a good score to pay a little more extra attention on threads. A technique, which paid off for me, was regular visits to the threads section of javaranch. Believe me it does have quite a lot of stimulating discussions that can be of big help in the preparations. I was not exactly very familiar with the API & I had a big fear that I would be confronted with methods that are totally alien to me. Luckily the exam dealt with the common methods. In fact there was no indication in the exam that u have to put stress on u�r memory. It was all a game of how sound u�r concepts are , how much u�ve CODED. Another great thing about the exam was the questions in which u are asked to mark the true statements. The options given were extremely tricky & required a lot of careful thought. I got about 7 such questions. The mocks come nowhere near. Sections like operators, access modifiers, declarations & assignments,
Lang , Collections ,garbage collection were pretty familiar .
Pay attention to various permutations of access specifiers,I/O constructors, creation of inner classes especially inside the main function,layouts ,listeners, applictions of Collection interfaces in various situations,operator precedence, for & switch loops & labels
Preparation aids which I felt are a must for the exam are : -
1)Khalid Book . Though it covers a bit extra there is no harm in knowing more .RHE is grossly insufficient for the exam.
2)Velu & Jane�s notes . I had the former all along & they are execellent. I got to know about Jane�s notes very late from Nitin. But they are very good & do require a bit of publicity (Jane think about it. Don�t let such a great effort go down the drain). Also it has a faulty server making access unreliable at times but it is worth all the trouble.
3)JQ+. It�s an excellent tool for preparation & it�s worth its every cent. My 3 friends & I used it extensively in the latter stages of our prep but believe me it merits early use. Though we feel that certain section if beefed up a bit further can prove a real boon for the students. Paul if u can spruce up the util , lang , miscellaneous, awt (Stress a bit more on layouts. Recently they have become very important. All of them). The others are top class .
4)Mock tests which I felt are must gives are:-
a)Marcus 1 2 3
b)Bill�s Book
c)Khalid applet
d)applied reasoning applet
e) Jaworski�s applet
f) Boone
g)MindQ
h)Jxam
i)Jtips 1 2 & the quizzes
j)Javacaps

Thanks once again to every one on this fabulous site. Meanwhile I don�t have time to enjoy because I would have to start preparations for my 4th semester engineering exam about to kick off on 7th June . I already am behind schedule. Pray for me so that I can squeeze every ounce of my adrenaline till the 19th before dropping. Meanwhile I would definitely like to stay back & help out but after a few days. Anyone requiring any help can contact me by mail :- banerjee_kaushik@rediffmail.com

Regards & best of luck,
Kaushik

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Yeee....haaaa.....Congratulation Khausik, great score....

finnaly the man that i've been waiting for so long to post in this forum arrived....!
I wonder where the hell are you...!
once again Happy SCJP2
well GoodLuck for your next journey, do email me OK !
keep in touch....!
stevie

congratulations. That is great score. All the very bestfor your sem IV exam. Which course you are doing ? From Where ?
Han aroung in javaranch & help other javaranchers with your valuable experience.
Your friendly Bartender
Shailesh.

Congratulations Kaushik, excellent score

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Jane Griscti
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java� 2 Platform

Congrats kausik... great score. Calcutta seems to have a growing population of java certifides.
Keep going.......
Hearty congragulations again.

Anjali

hi Kaushik..
CONGRATS on gettinng such a good score..
regards
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Hima
Sun Certified Java Programmer

Hi Ranchers,
Its great 2 hear some heady praise from u people. Not many back home . Thx 4 u�r best wishes. I am sorry I have been a bit late replying but believe me I am neck deep in books trying hard 2 clear the backlog b4 my engg exams kick off on 7th .
Steve:- Man I am way behind schedule from the date I had fixed 4 myself 4 the exam(behind by 5 weeks). That�s because I had 2 juggle 2 totally alienated subjects with equal vigour:-my electrical engg course & the scjp exam studies & if u add 2.5 hrs of regular commuting through Calcutta traffic u can sure picturise hell . I am glad though I pulled through but I will rue the fact that I missed maxing it. Its great 2 know that u remembered me . In fact it should have been the other way around . I will send u a personal mail as soon as I can squeeze some time 2 type something worthwhile. Pls bear with me. In fact I have come 2 like u�r e-identity & was thinking of mailing u.
Shailesh: - I am pursuing my B.E. in Electrical engg from Jadavpur University , Calcutta . I will definitely hang around in the ranch but after a few days. It will ensure that I don�t loose my touch. The chances of which are high because I don/t have an opportunity 2 code Java proffessionally or academically as a part of the course.
Jane:- Pls do something about u�r notes.I mean the publicity & server bit . don�t let such a fine effort go down the drain
Anjali:- yeah u are correct. Cal 2 can be a part of the global Java map. I have heard about u from ratul . In fact both of us studied together . He 2 has cleared.
Hima:- u'r score definitely went a long way in inspiring me.
Bye 4 now .

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Hi, where can I find Jane's notes? They would really help me out, I am in the final stretch of studying, thanks in advance

Congratulations Kaushik, this is a real impressive score and all the more commendable because u were doing 2 difficult things together, all the best for ur engg exams.
Nandini

Hi great entry letter.. although I read it a bit late

anyway.. best of luck for your exams ..
I know the professors of electrical engineering are the most..(Khadoos ones.
Sunil Choudhary

Hi banerjee,
Congratz yaar !!
Can U please tell me where can I get the following stuffs that you've used.
Bill�s Book
Khalid applet
applied reasoning applet
Jaworski�s applet
MindQ
Jtips 1 2 & the quizzes
Javacaps
My E-mail id : jamesshiva@rediffmail.com
Have a good day !!
-Shiva