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How do I study for the certification?

 
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Hi.

I have just finished the chapter on Maps, Lists, etc of the Sierra and Bates book and I find it very difficult to remember anything. It seems so confusing.

In fact, I find it very difficult to study for the certification. There are simply too many things in the content and my mock exam results are not encouraging at all.

For the previouis few chapters, I get about 3 out of 15 or 5 out of 13 for the end of chapter self test.

I feel very depressed and I wonder if I can make it at all.

Is there any methods you can advise?
 
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Hi Alan,

first of all, don't worry!
Take your time, release all kind of pressure, but try to study constantly every day, even if only less than an hour!
And remember: no one is born a master ;-)

It's hard, indeed, to learn such tons of stuff by heart!
I repeat it again (sorry for the others reading always the same proposition), but what I truly recommend is the preparation of so-called memory cards!
This means additional work, but I assure you it's worth and entertaining, as well.

Let's take a concrete example:
today, I'm repeating all stuff concerning Locales - so I wrote a tiny program using the vi-editor.
Compiling my file, I saw that I repeated a typical error with instantiating the locale class.

What did I do in order to prevent this error in future?
I took a blank card and wrote down the following question:
"Is this correct?
Locale loc = new Locale();"


On the other side, I wrote down the following response:
"No, I need at least a language String as an argument ... or I should use the factory method Locale.getDefault()"

Writing down and revising it later has a good effect concerning memorizing all these awkward details.
And don't forget (as mentioned in the K&B book): code as much as possible.
 
Ulrich Vormbrock
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Besides, please read the famous "Frog in a Milk-Pail" ... you can refer it to all kinds of studies and struggles, as well:

A frog was hopping around a farmyard, when it decided to investigate the barn. Being somewhat careless, and maybe a little too curious, he ended up falling into a pail half-filled with fresh milk.

As he swam about attempting to reach the top of the pail, he found that the sides of the pail were too high and steep to reach.
He tried to stretch his back legs to push off the bottom of the pail but found it too deep.
But this frog was determined not to give up, and he continued to struggle.
He kicked and squirmed and kicked and squirmed, until at last, all his churning about in the milk had turned the milk into a big hunk of butter.
The butter was now solid enough for him to climb onto and get out of the pail!


"Never Give Up!"
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