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SCJP Results (90%) - Bad Experience with Prometric

 
Greenhorn
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So after a few weeks of preperation I finally passed my certification exam this morning (90%). However, it wasn't a very smooth process, and it took 4 tries, at four different testing centers (in 1 week) and I probably wasted about 20 hours.

Here's how it happened...

So after a long weekend of endless study sessions, to ensure I was properly prepared, I scheduled my exam for Monday morning. On monday I arrived at the testing facility about an hour early, and found that their computer system was down. However, this revelation was only made clear after about two hours of waiting. So I went to my car, and was rather upset, due to the fact that I had taken a half day off work and ultimately had nothing to show for it. So from my car I called prometrics customer service line, which left me on hold for over an hour (can't wait to see that bill), and I promptly rescheduled the exam at another test site for the next morning (Didn't want to loose all the junk I had crammed into my brain over the weekend).

So the next morning I arrived at the new test site, again about 45 minutes early, only to wait another 3 hours to find out that they were having the same computer problems at this site. Now as you can imagine I went home, and contacted the customer service # (another hour wait), and this time I was fuming. After calming down I explained to the representative that I had already taken a day and a half off of work, and really wanted to get the exam done that day, because I couldn't take any more time off. So he agreed that he would contact other testing centers near my area and ensure that thier computers were working. So I went on hold for 20 minutes, and the representative finally returned with a place for me to take the test, however, it was about an hour and 15 minute drive.

So I made the trip and was ready to take the exam, however, appearantly the test technician did not understand what the customer service rep was requesting, and thier system was down as well.

Finally, after a heated conversation with the customer service manager at prometric I rescheduled my exam for Saturday (this morning), and thankfully I passed!


What an experience!

Anyway I did most of my preperation with the exam cram book, and the book by Kathy (sorry its in my car and I don't remember the title).

I found the mock exam that came with Kathy's book very helpful, but thought the exam cram book mock exams were not very useful.

Additionally I used the Marcus Green exams, and the cattle game as well.

Next i plan to pursue the web component developer cert.

Thanks for listening (or reading i should say).

Sorry for any mistakes in spelling, but I am not proof reading this!
 
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Congratulations !!! Good luck for SCWCD !!!
 
Bobby Seitz
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Just to be specific the book by Kathy Sierra, and Bert Bates that I used was the "Java 2 Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide".

This is the book that I used for the majority of my preporations, and overall I found it very helpful.
 
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Awesome job Bobby,

especially considering the difficulties you had to overcome!

- Bert
 
Bobby Seitz
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Thanks for the the congrats, and special thanks to you Bert, since I probably wouldn't have passed without your aforementiond book (Really Good)!
 
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