About the SCWCD5 exam

Hello everyone,

I have been reading a few posts that have mentioned the new SCWCD5 exam and I thought that I would give you my perspective. I feel qualified to do this because I was the one contracted by Sun to create this update.

First of all, the title of the exam is pure marketing fluff. The SCWCD5 exam has nothing to do with Java EE v1.5. This exam (CX-310-083) is merely an update of the old SCWCD exam (CX-310-081). No objectives were changed. The new exam is solely based upon the J2EE v1.4 version of the serlvet (2.4) and JSP (2.0) and JSTL (1.1) specs. This decision was made almost two years ago when I was leaving Sun. My vote in that decision was based upon the fact that the changes in the relevant specs were very minor (as Mr. Lyons has mentioned). In fact, at the time I told Sun that it didn't make sense to create a new exam. Six months ago, Sun contracted me to do a update of the exam to replace items that were not performing well. More on that in a minute.

[BTW, the biggest change in the web technologies for Java EE v5 was the introduction of JavaServer Faces (JSF). At the time of the decision, I felt that JSF was (a) not mature enough to be included and (b) big enough that it might need its own cert exam. For SCWCD6 (for Java EE v6) I have recently recommended to Sun that they consider a major rewrite of the objectives to add objectives for JSF and remove objectives that JSF essential makes irrelevant. However, this is not a done deal by any means and I now have very little sway within Sun.]

The update itself included creating nearly 140 items (spread over several forms). So the new (updated) SCWCD5 exam is a mixture of old items and new items. One ranch hand asked if the new exam items are harder than the old exam. Sun asked me to make the new exam more "performance based" rather than "knowledge based". An example of knowledge based would be something like:

A performance based item attempts to have the candidate evaluate a scenario and "create" the code that implements a solution of that scenario. Of course, in a multiple choice exam it is impossible to ask a candidate to write code, so what I did was create four (or more) different code snippets one in each option of the item.

The goal of doing this was two-fold. First, it makes the exam more about thinking and problem-solving and less about fact memorization. Second, it makes the exam harder. Many items in the old exam where not "performing well"; meaning the items were too easy (easy to guess the correct answer). These items were removed and replaced with (theoretically) harder, performance-based items.

OK, that's all I want to say about the SCWCD5 exam at this point.

However, I would like plug my book Head First Serlvets and JSP. Bert and I have just completed an update to the book that reflects some of the changes we made to the exam. Specifically, we have created an all new Mock Exam at the end of the book that reflects the balance of knowledge-base and performance-based items in the real exam. We also spent the time to add content that we missed in the first edition (c

ut JSTL tag, dynamic attributes, and a little more on the SingleThreadModel). That plus many errata fixes.

Warm regards,
Bryan

Thank you very much Bryan. I have added a link to this thread in the FAQ.

THANKS A LOT Bryan!! It really helped to get a clear picture!

Thanks Bryan.

You mentioned something about SingleThreadModel. I thought SingleThreadModel is not covered in the exam, deprecated in Servlet 2.4 spec, and it is generally a bad idea to use it. Why does more need to be said about SingleThreadModel?

Bryan

If I study hard and learn everything in your Head First Servlets & JSP book for the 1.4 exam, what are my chance of passing the new exam?

Excellent or Good or fair or poor or dont even try?

I suppose I am asking "Do I need a new book?"

Could I cover the extra info by looking on the interweb?

As always any advice is most welcome.

Originally posted by Bod Toki:
You mentioned something about SingleThreadModel. I thought SingleThreadModel is not covered in the exam, deprecated in Servlet 2.4 spec, and it is generally a bad idea to use it. Why does more need to be said about SingleThreadModel?

You might see one item about the STM on the exam. You are right STM has been deprecated and should never be used in practice. It is best to learn how correctly protect your data by using concurrency controls such as the 'synchronized' primitive and the Java5 concurrency utilities.

To Rory, no you do not need to buy another book. You chances of passing the SCWD5 exam with the current HFSJ is very good. The new version of the book has a few topics that we forgot to include in the first edition: dynamic attributes and the JSTL <out> tag plus a brand new Mock Exam section with items that mimic the new performance-based items that Bert and I created for the new SCWCD5 exam.

Cheers,
Bryan

[ March 14, 2008: Message edited by: Bryan Basham ]
[ March 14, 2008: Message edited by: Bryan Basham ]

Thanks Bryan

a) for writing the book, I am finding it very useful
b) for reassuring me about the new exam
c) for passing up the opportunity to have me go and buy the new edition of your book - I am not sure it is available in th UK yet though.

Hi, I just got the book (The old version :-( ).

There is a chance to obtain the new mock exam?

Originally posted by Daniel Rodriguez:
There is a chance to obtain the new mock exam?

The new mock exam is only part of the new book. I cannot give that away.

-Bryan

Hey really thanks Bryan, even I was confused between the two versions of an exam.
Even I am studying from the old book not new one, as it is not available in India(I think).
Hope I'll clear SCWCD exam with some good score.
Your work is really nice, easy to understand and follow.
Thanks a lot!!!! :roll:

thanks Bryan for your invaluable information.I was really afraid and confused
when I saw Sun has launched the new SCWCD 5 exam.Now ,after getting the
precious info by you ,I am relaxed and fine.

you made my day brother.

I have your book HFSJ 1.4.And for the mock exams I will search in the net.

best regards,
omi sharma

Bryan,

I preordered your book from Amazon, and just got notification that my copy is on the way. I look forward to going through it, and I wish you success on your new publication!

Tim Weide

Hey this is my first post.
I find this site really useful..
Thanks a lot Bryan and people who are part of javaranch family, as i find people sharing a lot of intersting info about exams and interstingly about Java.
Recently i finished my SCJP 5 with 93%.
As i came to know about this site after giving the exam have just jumped in to be part of such alarg family.

I too am gearing up for my SCWCD but am still to decide whether to give 1.4 or 1.5. I think Bryan has given a good insight on the new exam.

But still can anybody guide me as to where one can find the questions for preparing the new exam. As i have gone through the book HFSJ 1.4 but just to gain confidence i think i can try my hands on some questions or some performance based ones as Bryan mentioned

Wish Best of Luck (and work) to all those looking ahead for their next exam.
thanks
Bhupen

Hi Bhupendra, Welcome to Javaranch
First of all, please go through the Ask Good Questions link below ,
and start a new topic in a new thread.
Anyways, this should answer your query.

Hope this helps

Hi Bryan ,

i am preparing for SCWCD 1.4 exam and i am quite at the end of my preparation . I am not quite willing to change my plans at the last moment and want to still go with the 1.4 version . Just want to be sure if the 1.4 is still on or it has been scrapped.

Can any one one suggest ?

Thanks

As I understand it, it is no longer possible to sit the 1.4 version of the exam. It has gone totally (at least from UK and US - you should check your local Sun Training website).

You should have no problems taking the SCWCD 5 exam though - it has the same objectives as the 1.4 exam, and provided you have done enough preparation for that you'll be able to think your way around the new performance-based questions.

One feature of EE 5 or rather Java 5 that is found in SCWCD 5 is that of autoboxing.. e.x. There are questions which set primitive variables as attributes in session, etc. and ask if that is ok. This would not have been possible in Java 4 but as a feature of Java 5, it is possible.

Hi

One feature of EE 5 or rather Java 5 that is found in SCWCD 5 is that of autoboxing.. e.x. There are questions which set primitive variables as attributes in session, etc. and ask if that is ok. This would not have been possible in Java 4 but as a feature of Java 5, it is possible.

It means that we cant do this in 1.4:int a=3;session.setAttribute("number",a);

But can do this in SCWCD 1.5.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

Originally posted by Bryan Basham:
�The SCWCD5 exam has nothing to do with Java EE v1.5.�

I echo with Bryan. In fact, SCWCD only covers the Web tier of the Java EE platform. Most of the exiting stuff like Dependency Injection (DI) pattern, Java Persistence API (JPA)- an EJB 3.0 sub-spec, POJO/POJI programming, etc. are innovations to remove the boilerplate from business tier. As an integral part of the Java EE 5 platform, JSF technology is targeted at providing a standard Web application framework and improving developer productivity. However, unlike Struts or other frameworks, JSF is a specification under the JCP. This means that before you can start developing JSF-based Web applications, you�ll need an implementation. All implementations require a servlet container as a hosting environment which confronts to servlet specification 2.3 (or higher) and JSP specification 1.2 (or higher). Two popular implementations are -- Sun Reference Implementation (RI) and Apache MyFaces. That said, I�ve briefly covered the JSF spec in the last chapter of my book. In case, your intent is just to prepare for the SCWCD exam (any version), you can skip this chapter. However, I believe that an introductory knowledge will help you in understanding the new standard in Web application development and help you gain a better understanding on how to separate concerns in an enterprise Web application.

Originally posted by Bod Toki:
I thought SingleThreadModel is not covered in the exam, deprecated in Servlet 2.4 spec, and it is generally a bad idea to use it. Why does more need to be said about SingleThreadModel?

It�s indeed a bad idea to use SingleThreadModel. However, in my book I�ve stressed on STM in chapter 5, �Designing and Developing Thread Safe Servlets� because I strongly believe that the reader should be fully aware of the consequences of using it. SingleThreadModel ensures that each servlet handles only one request at a time. The container may implement that behavior in several different container dependent ways. One strategy is to create a pool of servlet instances. Since only one thread is executing in a given servlet instance, this strategy appears "thread-safe". However, it gives a false impression about thread-safety as static or class variables are never thread safe. Static variables are not associated to a particular instance, and there exists only a single copy of such variables. No matter how many instances are created, it�s the same copy which is shared across all instances. Secondly, instance variables cannot be used to share data among multiple requests because the instances serving each request might be different. Thirdly, single-thread model approach doesn�t guard attributes stored in session and context scopes, they are still being shared between multiple instances.

Originally posted by Pradeep:
It means that we cant do this in 1.4:int a=3;session.setAttribute("number",a);

But can do this in SCWCD 1.5.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

You�re right, Autoboxing is a Java SE 5 (aka. Tiger) feature. It�s perfectly valid to bind a primitive int to a session implementation provided you�re using Java SE 5 or higher.

Regards,

[ June 08, 2008: Message edited by: Kunal Jag ]
[ June 08, 2008: Message edited by: Kunal Jag ]

Hi Kunal Jag
Could you tell me other features which are included in SCWCD 1.5 (excluding dynamic attribute)which we cant do in SCWCD 1.4 like i have mentioned above .Like:int a=3;session.setAttribute("number",a);
but we cant do this in 1.4
[ June 09, 2008: Message edited by: pradeep singh ]

Originally posted by Pradeep Singh:
"Could you tell me other features which are included in SCWCD 1.5...."

Hi Pradeep,
The real quest here is to dig out new changes in the Web tier of the Java EE 5 platform. As already mentioned by me, the most radical changes in the Java EE 5 platform are incorporated in the business tier (Dependency Injection, EJB 3, Hibernate-like ORM in the form of JPA etc.).

Following are some improvements in the Web tier (besides the addition of JSF):

Web Application Deployment Descriptor (DD)
The servlet specification mandates the DD file-- web.xml to be a part of every web application. But, with Java EE 5, the Web application DD is optional for simple applications containing JSP pages and static files. You can find more information on this in chapter 6 of my book.

Value Object Design Pattern
In EJB 3.0 (covered in SCBCD cert), entity classes are implemented as POJO objects (refer chapter 11) and can also be used in Java SE environment (much like Hibernate ORM). This eliminates the need for the Value Object (VO) design pattern (also called Data Transfer Object- DTO). However, you�ll still need transfer objects in case you want to merge data from multiple entity classes.

Having said that, you�ll still need to study the Value Object design pattern for the exam.

Regards,

[ June 09, 2008: Message edited by: Kunal Jag ]
[ June 09, 2008: Message edited by: Kunal Jag ]

The latest version of the SCWCD exam is based on the Java EE 5 platform. The real quest here is to dig out new changes in the Web tier of the Java EE 5 platform.

Actually, that's incorrect - as Bryan pointed out at the start of this topic:

The new exam is solely based upon the J2EE v1.4 version of the serlvet [sic] (2.4) and JSP (2.0) and JSTL (1.1) specs.

There's no point getting yourself confused over what is new in Java EE 5 for the SCWCD exam - as it isn't relevant. It would be a good idea for your general all round knowledge to find out what's changed, but they're really only minor developments in the Web tier.

As was explained above, the reason the autoboxing is always permitted in Java EE 5 is that it runs on Java SE 5 - this version (or higher) of the JRE is mandated in the Java EE 5 spec. If you're familiar with Java SE 5 language features (I don't think generics comes into SCWCD at all), you should have no problem applying those in the SCWCD exam.

There's no point getting yourself confused over what is new in Java EE 5 for the SCWCD exam - as it isn't relevant.

The intent of majority of exam aspirants is not just to pass the exam and display the cert on their work desk. Most aspirants want to take their learning beyond just a paper cert. I strongly believe that the focus should be on the exam objectives. However, knowing the latest additions to the platform are equally important if not from the prospective of the exam but definitely for self learning.

Regards,

Originally posted by Kunal Jag:

The intent of majority of exam aspirants is not just to pass the exam and display the cert on their work desk. Most aspirants want to take their learning beyond just a paper cert. I strongly believe that the focus should be on the exam objectives. However, knowing the latest additions to the platform are equally important if not from the prospective of the exam but definitely for self learning.

Sounds to me like you and Charles agree on this point...

Bryan,

I have a question with respect to the inclusion of the JSF into the SCWCD. Is this still under consideration or is there a seperate certification SUN is planning to launch?

Any idea on that front?

Originally posted by Kunal Jag:
Web Application Deployment Descriptor (DD)
The servlet specification mandates the DD file-- web.xml to be a part of every web application. But, with Java EE 5, the Web application DD is optional for simple applications containing JSP pages and static files. You can find more information on this in chapter 6 of my book.

Does that mean that the web.xml file is absolutely not required in web apps?

He means DD is optional, not web.xml.

Hi Rima,
The need for the Deployment Descriptor (DD) file is not mandatory only when your Web application doesn�t have any servlets or filters that you need to define and map. For example, if your Web application only contains JSP pages and static files then you are not required to include a web.xml file.

Regards,

Thanks Brayan
The info given by you was really useful. My doubts have been cleared

How much SCWCD 5 differs form SCWCD 1.4?

thanks,
chandraiah

Hi,
If I take the exam in Apr 2009, is still the exam objective is as same as 1.4?

Is reading 1 book (HFSJ) and few mockup exam are enough?

I have taken SCJP 1.5 more than a year ago and do I need to refresh Java1.5 w.r.t SCWCD1.5?

Thanks.

I just took the exam today having prepared with a SCWCD 1.4 book mostly, and there are little differences. If you read the Servlet and JSP specifications as well you should not run into surprises.

You might want to update your basic Java knowledge if you think it's a bit old. Especially some of the default APIs (java.util, java.io) are assumed to be common knowledge.

Bryan thanks alot

I bought the book two weeks back, and it said J2EE 1.4, and when I went online to check for certifications, I only found J2EE 5.
My initial reaction was, "Oh @@@@". This post made it easy on me.

Thanks a lot.

is there someone can answer my question please : is there a big difference between scwcd 1.4 (310-080-081) and the scwcd 1.5(310-083-084).

I mean If have prepared for scwcd 1.4 is it enough to pass the scwcd 1.5 exam or I should prepare for scwcd 1.5

Thank you in advance

I mean If have prepared for scwcd 1.4 is it enough to pass the scwcd 1.5 exam or I should prepare for scwcd 1.5

Its enough to pass the exam But you should practice mock tests for SCWCD 5 as question style has become different.

The original post here is almost 2 years old. Is there any indication of when the Java EE 6 exam will be released? I'm leery of investing time on an exam still based on 1.4...