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I didn't pass now what !!!!

 
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I took the programmers exam on 3/20 and didn't pass. I studied using the complete java2 study guide by Roberts, Heller, and Ernest. Used the mock exam from the book, your code roundup and various other mock exams. I've been programming for over 20 years beginning with assembler and Cobol however I have little or no C or C++ experience. I didn't write a lot of code prior to taking the exam thinking that my experience would get me through, boy was I wrong. Can you recommend a good set of coding exercises that covers the exam objectives and would help an old cobol coder pass??
 
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I'm sorry to hear that
I didn't write a lot of code prior to taking the exam thinking that my experience would get me through, boy was I wrong
Unfortunately you have figured out that too late. Never mind, at least you can learn from your mistakes.
I'm always preaching that the coding requirement is very important, and you sadly proved my point. The best thing to do in such cases is to take one objective at a time and write a small piece of code relating to it. That way you gain experience in Java programming and you can see how your code behaves and what the compiler and interpreter have to say about it. Don't worry you'll do fine next time. And don't hesitate to ask questions if you feel the need.
Good luck
I'm moving this to the result forum.
 
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Hello Jim,
Sorry to hear that you didn't pass. On the mark report, did you get a breakdown of the section scores? I had that at the end of my exam so I had some ideas of what areas I was weak in and needed to concentrate on.
I recently wrote the exam and passed and my programming experience was from university working with C++ mostly (over 4 years ago). I didn't really do much coding exercises when I studied but went through a lot of mock exams where there are questions with code and one has to know if the code will compile (if not, why not) and also follow the execution. When there were questions about how (or why) some code worked, I made a small example to compile and run as Valentin suggested before. That is a good exercise to go through, and there is always a ton of help available at the ranch.
Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck with studying!
Peter
 
Jim Bailey
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Thanks for the speedy replies. One thing I didn't say is that my company is attempting to transition to java, j2ee and I'm one of the first to attempt the exam. We are attempting to put together a road map to help our consultants learn java and pass the exam. I could definetly write small pieces of code to cover each objective and enter the code from various mock exams but, I thought I would check if there was any existing courses or exercises that I could pass along to my fellow consultants.
Do you think that the Cattle Drive would help?? Does the code written there cover the exam objectives??
[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Bailey ]
[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Bailey ]
 
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The Cattle Drive was written partially to help transition programmers from other languages (e.g. Assembly) to Java. It does not cover all of the objectives of the SCJP2 exam. However it covers other stuff like Servlets (and hopefully eventually EJBs) that is not included in the exam. Anyone can do the exercizes. Charges are only incurred if nitpicking is involved.
 
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Well, I didn't do much coding either and I got a very low score. It's interesting to see that sun has done a good job of making sure that SCJP means exactly what it says. With your experience, you should be able to set up a systematic schedule to learn each topic and do coding on each. There are lots of downloadable code on the web. Just download some code of your interest and modify it.
Best wishes.
Mathew
 
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Jim - Sorry to hear about the no pass.
I am also an old (mainframe) BAL person, experiences on those systems also in PL/I and FORTRAN, not so much COBOL.
I passed SCJP2 late in '00 after about 9 months of study - *but* - I think you gotta write code man, otherwise you do not internalize the subject matter.
Especially if you are new to OO! That all takes a while to sink in.
Work some more, take it again, you will pass!
Regards, Guy
 
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Hi Jim,
Sorry for the failure. I know of experienced people who have had to take this test several times to pass it. As you now know it's one tough test and there's no shame in failing it, you just have to get back at it and lay down some code and see what Java can do.
It's nice to see someone who's been in this business almost as long as I have. Now I know that I'm not the only "old fart" here at the Ranch.
Keep Tryin'
Michael Morris
SCJP2
 
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Bad news that you lost test, but good news that your company is transitioning to java, could you be more specific, what kind of transition is that?
Please share your knowledge
Thanks
--
Venkat
 
Don't get me started about those stupid light bulbs.
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