Preparing for SCJD...

Hi,

I am starting to prepare for the SCJD certification and I noticed the book by The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4 by Mehran Habibi and friends at the BunkHouse. Has anyone used this book and is it enough to prepare you for the assignment and/or the essay?

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Max's book is the only material you need in order to pass the exam.

For the essay, you have no need to worry if you did the assignment on your own. Questions will not ask you generic issues, but it will focus on how you implement certain functions.

Thus, you just need to answer the questions according to how you implement the program is ok.

Good luck for your exam.

Nick

Yeah, I just realized that you were basically being asked questions about your own program...

Max's book...Is this the same book I mentioned earlier or is this a seperate book/author you are referring to. I just want to make sure we are referring to the same book.

Thanks for the quick reply!

YES. I am refering to the book that you got.

Nick

Excellent! That makes things a little easier...

Did you use this book for the certification? I've read that it has a sample project you can follow. If you did use this book, how did you find the sample project compared to the actual assignment?

YES. As I said, Max's book is the only resource that we needed.

The sample project covers all major issues that will cover in the assignment. Although it is not exactly the same with real one, it is very similar. So, do think more about the approaches that Max provided. You will find the exam easy.

Nick

Thanks for the info!

Hi Aaron,

Originally posted by Aaron O'Brien:
Did you use this book for the certification? I've read that it has a sample project you can follow. If you did use this book, how did you find the sample project compared to the actual assignment?

Unfortunately I was not able to get the book before I did my certification, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is attempting the SCJD.

Max is indeed Mehran Habibi, and he frequently posts in this forum - he had been the bartender in this forum in the past, and is currently tending bar in some of the other forums in JavaRanch.

The assignment in the book is not identical to the real assignment. In trying to build such an assignment, there are two conflicting desires:

To make a project that covers much the same ground as the real SCJD project

To make a project that does not give away a solution to the real SCJD project

Therefore the projects in the certification books will cover most of the same issues as the real assignment, while being remaining different enough that it is not possible for someone to copy and paste the provided code into their assignment.

Some parts of the sample assignment are simpler than the real assignment, and some parts are more complex.

But the main thing is that all the major issues of the real assignment are covered. So you should have no problems with solving any of the real issues.

Regards, Andrew
[ June 17, 2004: Message edited by: Andrew Monkhouse ]

Hi Andrew,

Therefore the projects in the certification books will cover most of the same issues as the real assignment, while being remaining different enough that it is not possible for someone to copy and paste the provided code into their assignment.

Yeah, I figured that the assignments whould not be identical. I was just trying to get an idea to see how well the assignment in the book would prepare someone before starting the actual certification assignment.

I just ordered my book from Amazon and it will be here in a few days. I am looking forward to starting this book!

Thanks for your help!

Just my 2 cents: my personal experience in passing the exam is that I read a lot of posts/comments/suggestions on this forum. I did not read any books although I bought one copy. This forum is very helpful and specific sometimes in getting it passed.

How about the
Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide
Philip Heller & Simon Roberts

I know this book is a good book for programmer certification,
but how about for developer ? It has almost 300 pages for developer.
Is it good enough ?

I am currently using Max's book and have found it to be extremely helpful.

Originally posted by Jim Huang:
How about the
Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide
Philip Heller & Simon Roberts

The RHE book is excellent. You may find that their 'voice', or mine, is particularly clear for you: whichever book that is, that's the one you should buy. If both speak to you, then buy mine, because I need the money

Good luck,
M