You know, people should really, really, really take advantage of this.
I actually recommend people make this part of their training. Study a little bit, and go in and write. Write early. Write once when you're hardly prepared.
It's healthy to just go in and experience the environment without any pressure to pass. Sometimes people mess up just because they're so nervous about the process. Go in, write, and do it without the fear of failing.
The other thing is it will give you a good idea of what to study, and what type of questions you'll be getting. Imagine a university exam where the prof said, "look, you can write the exam on Friday, and then write it again on Monday if you want. I'll take the best of the two scores. And the exam on Monday will be pretty much the same as the one on Friday." Wouldn't you write the free trial? Wouldn't you do it, if only to know what to expect?
Writing the exam fairly early on is valuable if only for the fact that it can help you focus your studies. If you get 100% on OOA and OOD, but 0% on server technologies, well, that's a pretty good indication of where you need to focus your studies.
And finally, I find people often over-study. I know people that have taken every sample exam, read every
Java book ever written, know every page of my study guide off by heart, and still can't decide if they're "ready." For goodness sake, just write! Failing an exam is only a setback if you don't learn from it. If you learn from the experience, then it's a positive thing.
And I will say, I know
alot of people that I have pushed to write the exam, even though they didn't feel they were ready. More often than not, they really, really surprise themselves with a passing score. And for the ones that don't pass when they write early, they don't regret it, because they take so much out of the experience.
Success is about strategy, and using this free 'first try' should be made a part of your
SCJA success strategy.
-Cameron McKenzie