Doubts in beta ...

[ankur rathi]

Hi everybody ,

please provide answer of my questions , I will be very thankful to you ...

1] Which one is better SCJP 1.4 or Beta .
( As I know SCJP 1.4 is standard exam for Java 1.4 & Beta is trial ( dummy ) exam for Java 5.0 )

2] It is sure that both exam will give cirtification after clearing . But which is more valuable .

3] I have no knowledge of Java 5.0 but have experience in Java 1.4 & also preparing for SCJP 1.4 . Should I give this beta exam after all it will save our 100$ .

please .. please do it fast ... as time is very short ...

thank you very much .

god bless you .

[kay lin]

hi :
actually I am in the same boat...i am preparing for SCJP 1.4 but now Beta 1.5 just came out....

and I am just wondering which one is better...

Also, this is my first time taking the SCJP 1.4...so I am just wondering..suppose a developer has already obtained his SCJP 1.4, is it necessary for him to keep on obtaining the next certificate? or he can just move on to SCJD?

please lemme know...

many thanks

[Nicholas Cheung]

1] Which one is better SCJP 1.4 or Beta .
( As I know SCJP 1.4 is standard exam for Java 1.4 & Beta is trial ( dummy ) exam for Java 5.0 )

Depends on your point of view. Usually, most questions in the beta exam will be adopted in the live exam, unless the questions are really ambigous, sometimes they will be rephrased, sometimes they will be removed.

2] It is sure that both exam will give cirtification after clearing . But which is more valuable .

It worths for you obtain Tiger knowledge and coding experiences by studying this certificate. And Tiger is a newer technology.

3] I have no knowledge of Java 5.0 but have experience in Java 1.4 & also preparing for SCJP 1.4 . Should I give this beta exam after all it will save our 100$ .

As said, if you dont have knowledge on Tiger, it is really difficult for you to read the specs within 1 month, understand them, write codes to test them and pass the exam. Thus, you might take the risk that you turn out fail in the beta, and retake SCJP 1.4, which costs you USD $50 more.

Nick

[Richard Huang]

I am preparing for SCJP 1.4 as well.

But now, I have registered for the SCJP 1.5, based on..
1. I can get the lastest certification, without bothering to upgrade it in the near future.
2. If I can pass it, the cost is just $50, I will save $100. Not a bad deal. Bad news is that I have to sit for 5 hours.
3. Worst case, I cannot pass. After that, no matter I will go back to SCJP 1.4, or go for the final SCJP 1.5, what I will lose is the $50, and some extra time/effort. Not a big deal...

my 2 cents.
[ January 04, 2005: Message edited by: Richard Huang ]

[Nicholas Cheung]

what I will lose is the $50, and some extra time/effort. Not a big deal...

I have shared the same view with you. But the case is, they are thinking of these stuffs are big deal.

By the way, how is your study progress?

Nick

[Anand Ko]

Even though Java 1.5 is out, but my client is still on 1.3

[Nicholas Cheung]

Even though Java 1.5 is out, but my client is still on 1.3

Your client will finally move to Tiger, and our clients are currently studying whether they should go for Tiger.

That's why we need to move to Tiger.

Nick

[ankur rathi]

1] If I clear beta then will I get dummy cirtificate or anything else ... Because exam it self is not real ...

2] what topics are different in Java 1.5 & Java 1.4 .

3] if a person is sure that he will clear beta ( with passing marks ) as well as SCJP 1.4 ( with good marks ) then what should be his decision ... he just want any one to give ...

first & third one is more important for me now ...
please provide answers ...

thank you very much .

[Jeroen Wenting]

Originally posted by Nicholas Cheung:


Your client will finally move to Tiger, and our clients are currently studying whether they should go for Tiger.

That's why we need to move to Tiger.

Nick

Not necessarilly. I moved a company to 1.4 who were at the time using 1.2. Had I not come in they'd still be using 1.2 today most likely (in fact they didn't know what they were using and didn't care, I changed them to 1.4 for the bugfixes and performance increase more than anything else)...

We won't change our application over to Tiger anytime soon. Once JVMs are available for all our deployment platforms we'll probably move NEW development to Tiger (I've already changed the few classes that don't compile on it because they used the new reserved words as method or field names) but existing code won't be touched unless it has to.

[Henry Zheng]

Hi,

1] If I clear beta then will I get dummy cirtificate or anything else ... Because exam it self is not real ...

You will get a full-fledged certificate which is exactly the same as those for a nomal exam.

2] what topics are different in Java 1.5 & Java 1.4 .

You can refer to a spec or a book. Generally speaking, Tiger is quite a different creature

3] if a person is sure that he will clear beta ( with passing marks ) as well as SCJP 1.4 ( with good marks ) then what should be his decision ... he just want any one to give ...

I just agree with Nick, it depends on your point of view. What I know is that many people who have already obtained a SCJP 1.4 are still gonna take the Tiger beta. So am I.

[Nicholas Cheung]

What I know is that many people who have already obtained a SCJP 1.4 are still gonna take the Tiger beta. So am I

So do I.

In addition, your score is not important as a pass is always a pass. Even you write down the score you received in CV, I guess only a few employers or interviewers will really check that. They, in most of the cases, just need you to show your certificate. Thus, why care about that?

Nick

[ankur rathi]

1] After clearing beta , will I get permission to take SCWCD or any other higher exam that required SCJP must .

2] What is the pass score for beta .

total question = 166
total time = 5
( from the sun site )

please reply soon ...
thanks .

[ankur rathi]

One more is :

what is the last date for registration .

registration has started from 3 Jan .
exam will start from 15 jan .
exam will close on 15 feb .
( from sun site )

thank you very much .

[Bert Bates]

Just to be clear about a couple of things:

1 - If you pass the beta it is ENTIRELY the same as the so-called "real" exam. It is a complete certification in every way, including the ability to go for other Sun certs. (They even teach you the secret handshake.)

2 - The new cert. covers a broader range of topics than the 1.4. If your company is going to use 1.4 for some time, I can see no negatives to having the 5.0 cert, only positives. Eventually everyone will go to 5.0, and if you know about it upfront it will certainly make the transition easier. (For instance you'll stop naming your variables "enum" )

HTH,

Bert

[Nicholas Cheung]

1] After clearing beta , will I get permission to take SCWCD or any other higher exam that required SCJP must .

YES.

2] What is the pass score for beta .

total question = 166
total time = 5
( from the sun site )

We will not know the passing score until the beta result released (which should be 2-3 months after the beta exam ends [13 Feb 2005], i.e. you can expect you receive the result at around April 2005).

The passing score is determined based on the beta exam result. For example, if most of the people did poor, the passing score will be lower, like SCJP 1.4. If most of the people did well, the passing score will be higher, like SCDJWS.

Nick
[ January 05, 2005: Message edited by: Nicholas Cheung ]

[Nicholas Cheung]

what is the last date for registration .

13 Feb 2005 is the last day for this beta exam, and thus, you could expect it is also the last day for registration, if and only if you know some centers that allow walk-in exam or accept registrating for test on the same day.

registration has started from 3 Jan .
exam will start from 15 jan .
exam will close on 15 feb .
( from sun site )

Where can you find this information? From SUN's site, it clearly states that the period should be 13 Jan 2005 to 13 Feb 2005.
http://suned.sun.com/US/certification/java/beta.html

Nick

[ankur rathi]

What will be the pattern of beta exam ?

Like SCJP pattern is :
1] single choice question .
2] multiple choice question ( but number of choices are given ) .
3] short answer question .

thanks .

[Nicholas Cheung]

It should consist 2 types of questions, based on the previous experiences:
1. Multiple choice questions (single or multiple answers)
2. Drag and Drop questions

Nick

[ankur rathi]

In multiple choice question , the choices will be given or not .
what are drag & drop question .

thanks .

[Nicholas Cheung]

In multiple choice question , the choices will be given or not.

You will be notified that how many answers you should choose.

what are drag & drop question .

If you took MCSE before, for example, given a network diagram with some empty slots and a set of component objects, you are asked to make the network work.

SCJP should be similar, given a program or lines of codes with some empty slots (for example, the whole set of codes contains 20 lines, while line 4, 13 and 19 left blank), and there are, say, 10 lines of codes for you to choose(which only 3 are useful as you just need to choose for line 4, 13 and 19), you drag the line of codes that you think they are correct, and drop to the correct slot provided.

Nick

[ankur rathi]

It is just a software difference . But the logic is same as multiple choice questions ...

[Nicholas Cheung]

In addition, for MC questions, sometimes you might not know the exact codes (say, given 4 codes to choose the correct one), however, for DND questions, in order to get it correct, you MUST get all correct. Although you can still make a guess, but the probability for guessing for all answers to be correct becomes less if the number of choices increase.

Also, there can be more combinations to trick us, like giving us the options on methodX(), methodsX(), methodY(), methodsY(), then there are already 4 combinations, and there are orders, which makes 8 combinations if we are asking to drop to 2 slots.

Nick