Study Guide Recommendations?

[Michael Iaria]

I am currently looking into buying a study guide. I've seen the following:

Head First Servlets and JSP: Passing the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (Brain-Friendly Guides) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
Sun Certified Web Component Developer Study Companion: SCWCD Java EE 5 (exams 310-083 and 310-084) (Paperback)

Any recommendations on either of these two or something different? I purchased the Sun Certified Java Programmer for Java 6 Study Guide from McGraw Hill, and I absolutely love it. They also have a SCWCD study guide, but it focuses on the 310-081 and 310-082 exams (the previous versions). What are your thoughts?

[sudhakar karnati]

I feel HFSJ is for the people who are new to servlets and JSP..
Becuase i am into Quality Control which is no way related to coding(and zero experience with JAVA) but i found these books Head first Java and Head first Servlets and JSP quite useful and taught many things.

Thanks
Sudhakar

[Michael Iaria]

Thanks for the reply. I have read elsewhere the HFSJ may be incomplete for the purpose of studying for the SCWCD 5 exam. Has anyone had any experience with the other study guide mentioned? Does anyone disagree that HFSJ may be incomplete, or does it do a good job in preparing one for the test?

[Christophe Verré]

The 1st edition was incomplete, but the 2nd edition (the one you've linked to) is not.

[Charles Lyons]

Obviously I know which one I'd pick Seriously though, I'd suggest checking reviews etc. and see what other readers think. There are many referenced for my book on the Ranch's own SCWCD Links. Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk are also useful places to see what reviews have been written. There is also an interesting comparison of the two books you mention on Amazon.de (you'll probably need a translator like Babelfish!) Then I usually check the publisher sites too for detailed tables of contents and sample chapter(s), and see which style best suits (Head First is beginner-oriented and very 'jokey' whereas mine is more of a straightforward textbook-style study guide).

Of course, there is no reason not to buy more than one resource if you can afford it - different perspectives are always good...