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Question about Devaka Cooray's Exam Sumulator

 
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Hi,

This is a question directed not only to Devaka but to all who have tried his mock exam software.

Are you finding that they are really tough? I have the whizlabs mock exams for SCJP5 and I am consistently passing them with marks around 65% plus. I am getting higher marks with each mock exam I try with whizlabs.

I have tried the Inquisition set of questions by John Meyer, Charith Fernando et al and I am passing those also.

But with Devaka's mocks I am getting scores under 30% each time

Can it be that whizlabs is too easy or are the Devaka mocks really tough so that they prepare you better?


Thanks
 
Greenhorn
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I also tried Devaka Mocks and my results were about 50%. I noticed that questions from Devaka Mocks are harder then other Mock tests that I've tried, but I think that Devaka Mocks are really good for preparation.
 
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I got 53% for the Diagnostic exam; and then I got 62% for Practice Exam 1. I also did WhizLabs and got 54% for the diagnostic exam on it.

I think that Devaka's examlab is a good preparation kit than others, because I discovered that this simulator covers lot of doubtful parts in SCJP objectives. While there are some out-of-objective questions are available in WhizLabs, I didn't find any out-of-objective question(s) in Devaka's test kit. Instead of that, the questions in this simulator is little bit harder than other mock exams.

I also think that this is a good topic to be discussed.
 
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Yes , some questions are seems easy but not.

They are tricky..

But, it is good for everybody to solve such questions to learn question types...

 
Santiago Bravo
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Definitely a good topic to discuss as im finding that the questions in Devaka's exam simulator are trickier than other mock exams I have taken.

Good point about Whizlabs in that there are some out-of exam questions but I feel this only adds to your general java programming knowledge.
 
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Thanks to Santiago for posting this topic here.

Well, I spent more than 3 weeks to create the question-database of my simulator. During this, I did put some lot of hard questions to the Practice-3 exam. And I did put some easy questions in the Diagnostic exam. But I didn't compare those questions with other simulators. While creating questions, I always attempted to make them as well as exam-oriented.

I'm sorry to here that you got only 30% for each mock exam. However I think that you must reach at least 59% for each mock exam, before you can surely pass the examination.

Many Sun certification holder told me that, the real exam is tough than most of the mock exams; however I think that this is not the place to talk about other exam simulators. But as I did, I think that the questions in the real Sun exam are tough like the questions in my simulator. Personally I can NOT recommend anyone to take the Sun exam, if he/she have failed the "Final" exam of my simulator. If you have failed this exam, I suggest you to do more practices and retake the "Final" exam, (and other exams) of this simulator, before taking the Sun exam. Actually, if you can pass the "Final" exam of my simulator, you can surely pass the Sun exam too. This is the "Exam Pass Guarantee" of my simulator.

I didn't here before that the questions in my simulator are harder than the the real Sun exam. So I think that you must do more-and-more practices. Read the explanations (in the simulator) for your wrong answers, and try to understand all of the core concepts of Java programming.

As Kenneth said, this is a really good topic to be discussed.

Please feel kind to add your comments about the questions of my simulator, in this topic.

Cheers
[ November 16, 2008: Message edited by: Devaka Cooray ]
 
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Actually, questions in Devaka's examlab is not too-much tough, but they are very much tricky than other simulators. I think that this simulator is very much helpful in preparing for the SCJP, because of this reason. Nice work Devaka

I think, all of you are agree with me on this
 
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I agree with Treimin that Devaka's simulator's question are much more tricky than others, you have to be carefull on every single question. I have a suggestion can Devaka add a result saving and loading function so we could retrieve our past result when we exit the simulator
 
Santiago Bravo
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I agree, a save option to save our past results would help.

Also, I cant review my answers for the Task type questions.
 
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@ Devaka Cooray
First of all thank you so much for the simulators.I am using it and its very much helpful for me.
I also want to know if there is a SCJP 1.6 's simultor.
If not, would that be released soon??
[ November 18, 2008: Message edited by: James Tharakan ]
 
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I've been taking the Sun ePractice exams and have been scoring pretty high on those. (The ones you can buy for $75 on Sun's training site).

However, I am not scoring well at all on Devaka's tests. Has anyone who's taken the SCJP test also taken the ePractice exams on their site? If so, how do those stack up to the real thing?

I was thinking I was doing well, until I took some of Devaka's exams.

With that said I'll follow up on what some others have commented on, Devaka. I would really like to be able to do a question, review my answer, and move to the next question. It takes hours to take a full test, and I can't sit there and review all my questions in depth after I immediately take it. The tests I've taken aren't saved, so I have to leave it open until I'm ready to review.

Thanks again!
 
Devaka Cooray
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@ James,

Sorry to say there are no any version yet available for SCJP 6.0. However, it will be released within next few months. I'm currently preparing for another Sun exam, so I can't release it very soon. However, I'll release it within next 6 months.
Once released, I'll definitely announce it on JavaRanch.


@ Thomas,

I'll add this feature in the next version of my simulator, which will be released with the SCJP 1.6 version, as I described above.


Cheers
 
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I got only 61% on the final exam of Devaka's simulator. I hope the real exam will be not that tough otherwise I will fail (as 1.6 SCJP requires 65%)
 
Devaka Cooray
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Don't worry, you will pass the exam definitely. Please check your private messages.

Good Luck
 
Santiago Bravo
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Well once again I am getting wildly different results from Whizlabs mocks and Devaka's exam simulator.

I have been recentlty practicing the whizlabs mocks and got 70% (mock 4) and 86%(final mock). So that really gave me confidence to take the exam.

Today I tried the final exam on the exam simulator and got 39%

Now this is indeed a massive difference.

Can it be that the qs on whizlabs mocks are too easy? or that the exam simulator is really tough?

How are others finding it?

Cheers
 
Kenneth Lomvey
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Originally posted by Santiago Bravo:

Can it be that the qs on whizlabs mocks are too easy? or that the exam simulator is really tough?



I already SCJP certified; so I think WhizLabs is too easy than the real Sun exam. However, Devaka's exam lab is much tough than the real exam. According to me, the tough level is: WhizLabs < Real Sun Exam < Devaka's Exam Lab

However I think that you must get at least 55% from Devaka's exam, before taking the real exam.
 
Santiago Bravo
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Could the "easiness" of whizlabs be due to the fact that they have beginner/easy level questions in the mock exams?

Compared to the exam simulator I have maybe come across 2 or 3 easy type questions max in those mocks.

But then is this a real representation of the actual exam? Is it proportioned like whizlabs where there are a set amount of easy, intermediate and expert questions? Or more like the exam simulator where its mainly expert and intermediate type questions?


thoughts anyone?
 
Treimin Clark
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Hello, Santiago,

I think you mean "Exam Lab" by "exam simulator". I think that the questions in Diagnostic exam and Practice-1 exam of this simulator are easy than others (beginer's level). Practice-2 is little bit tough as the Intermediate level, and the questions in Practice-3, are in expert level. I didn't yet take the "Final" exam, so I don't know about it.

But I think this Devaka's Exam Lab (what you mean by exam simulator), is a really good preparation kit. All of the questions in this simulator are Sun-objective-oriented. And it is our responsibility to practice through every tricky part of exam objectives. So I think that this simulator gives a great experience and practice to us, by providing many tricky parts of Java programming.

Don't practice through easy questions. Practice on tricky questions.
 
Greenhorn
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Hello people....can somebody tell me where I can download Devaka's exam simulator thats compatibe with vista? taking up scjp1.5 on june 2nd ..
appreciate any help..

Thanks
 
Devaka Cooray
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Welcome to JavaRanch, Ramya
Have a look at the beta version.
 
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I wish to thank Devaka Cooray for the great soft he created. This helps a lot! Hope, it will help on the exam too ..

By the way, in SCJP 6 test there is a strange part, may be a mistake: question 12 of the second practise test. There is a code which throws "IllegalThreadSateException", and it is considered to be correct! No explanation for that option (G) available.

---

Guys, if Devaka's test is considered to be tough, can anybody advise me a free test which is similar to the real exam as close as possible?

Also, what do you think of CertPal tests? I dont think these are easy...
 
Dmitry Zhuravlev
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Also, the 27th question of second Practise exam has strange explanation. Method parseBoolean exists, but it returns boolean, so you cannot call a getClass from it.
 
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We have a dedicated forum to discuss corectness of Mock Exam Questions.
 
Ramya Satish
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Thank you Devaka...greatly appreciate your help
 
With a little knowledge, a cast iron skillet is non-stick and lasts a lifetime.
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