• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Cleared SCWCD with 94%

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 86
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I cudn't wait to disclose this news here....

For past 1 month, Javaranch has been my playground. Big thnx to all Ranchers. Thnx for helping me with all my silly doubts, patiently answering them for me. Thnx Chris, Ulf, Ankit Garg. I think I dug up older posts from javaranch on no. of topics where I had confusion and more often than not those posts helped. (That explains 22 bookmarked posts in my profile ) And as promised big thnx to Poonam for her on-forum and off-forum help.

I was very scared that I may not even pass the test since I gave 3 full length tests - test at the back of HFSJ 2nd edition, Whizlabs full test, javaranch full test. I flunked in two of them.

I will post my prep strategy later in detail. But let me thnk one and all,

HFSJ book, quite amazing and does 80% of the job for you
MZ notes (you might wanna check it out, one read through it and you may come across most of the exam-logic)
Peabody design pattern notes: Design pattern was one of my weak areas. Before exam I was pretty sure tht this gentleman will have to buy me a beer but he escaped it


Time to finally hit beer shop (HFSJ says not to in the Final mock exam)

 
Sheriff
Posts: 14691
16
Eclipse IDE VI Editor Ubuntu
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Congratulations
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 75
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Congrats Tripathy.. can you please explain the full form of HFSJ? is it "Head First Servlets and Jsp" ?

Also please post your preparation strategy.

Congrats once again
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 63
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
hey congrats dude ....

wish me luck as well because i intend to appear some time next month...

Enjoy the party buddy...
 
Sultan Khadar
Ranch Hand
Posts: 75
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
All the best Rahman
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 893
Tomcat Server Java Ubuntu
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Congrats ...

 
Bartender
Posts: 3903
43
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Well done !
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 232
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
congrats!
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 261
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Congratulations on your wonderful score!

Best wishes
Ritu Sharma
World's BEST Java Certification Preparation Solutions
SCJA,SCJP 5.0,SCJP 5.0 (Training),SCJP 6.0, SCWCD5, SCDJWS, SCMAD,SCEA5,SCBCD 5.0
With 100% Money Back Guarantee!
 
Kamal Tripathi
Ranch Hand
Posts: 86
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Kamal Tripathi wrote:

I will post my prep strategy later in detail. But let me thnk one and all,



Well I said it could take some time and it did. So here it is

This is the list of material that I referred. Normally you would read such detailed prep strategy only if one has scored 100% but I am just trying to help.

One of the main things that helped was taking notes. I prepared some notes for myself that I used towards the end. So that provided for complete revision without much time. Now I didn't take down everything in some notebook. I photocopied relevant graphics from HFSJ (that was ard 3-4 pages back to back) and filled up the page with relevant notes related to graphics. Remember graphics help best for easy recall and notes should not be illustrative and long!!!

1) HFSJ 2nd edition for SCWCD5 - Read 2-3 times - It was like the more I read the clearer concepts became. Each time I read it, I stumbled upon some finer points, I might have missed in hoard of details. So my notes too improved with each reading
2) JSP 2.1 Spec - Downloaded PDF and read relevant portions in detail. I have PDF highlighting software so even highlighted important points even though they had been covered in HFSJ. So when I came back to this PDF my recall was better and revision quicker.
3) Servlet 2.4 Spec - Same here as well.
4) JSTL Spec - You don't have to read the entire document. What I did was take the print out of core tags TLDs (find it here and if you manage the space smartly you can print everything in 3 pages back-back) and read the specs cursorily ONCE. See whatever extra detail for core tags is mentioned in the spec that might not have been covered in HFSJ. I even looked at the JSTL API DOCS once to take any notes from these api's. So for example you might want to checkout LoopTagStatus details. There are some methods, which HFSJ doesn't cover. After this you may not look at it ever again.
5) MZ Notes, Peabody Design Patterns, Ashok Babu Notes (Refer SCWCD links in javaranch. MZ notes will make you recall some important points from the JSP and Servlet specs, Peabody Design Patterns was good for DPs, although I took the print and added some of my own notes here from HFSJ and mock tests. AshokBabu is complete from API point of view but I was tempted and read up even more APIs. You would be tempted too after you read the specs)
6) This forum Highly recommend it. Whenever I had doubts in any topic while reading HFSJ or taking test, I used the search feature (which I think can be improved a lot). It is messy to go through search results but if you read 3-4 threads for each concepts, they will be clearer. I even bookmarked important thread and returned to those in case my confidence dipped in those. Do use search feature. If you want to ask specific question from any mock test, there is high probability it might already be discussed in the forum. I sometimes googled opening lines of question and sometimes only links were from coderanch.

I prepared for exactly 1 month. Time you might want to take to prepare depends on if you have worked on JSP, Servlets earlier or not and how much time can you devote everyday. I have around 1.5 years of exp in JSP, Servlets but most of the things you never use. Since I mostly used Struts, I used Struts tags instead of core tags.

Ideally I myself wanted to prepare for at least 2 months but I had to travel to US and vouchers bought in India don't work in US so I had to take the test before leaving. For some of the concepts I didn't work out code examples.

Tests I took

1) HFSJ Mock Test - Flunked Badly. Questing look simple but pay attention. This is HFSJ test, harder than actual
2) Whizlabs Trial Test - Moderate but some options were wrong. So beware
3) JavaRanch mock test - Good ones.
4) Some other free tests like uCertify etc - I took two full length tests. Flunked in one, passed one.

Finally on the D-day carry the "good exam feeling". After flunking couple of full length tests, I revised my concepts thoroughly again and regained some confidence and had that "good exam feeling"

So all the best to all those who are planning to take SCWCD in future. For me I am now planning for SCDJWS now.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 107
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
congrats Kamal Tripathi on achieving big score..!

Thanks a lot for sharing your way of preparation in detail.







 
If somebody says you look familiar, tell them you are in porn. Or in these tiny ads:
a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards
https://gardener-gift.com
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic