Passed SCJP6 with 81%

[Larry Olson]

Hi all,

I am happy to tell you that I passed SCJP6 with

System.out.printf("%4$s %2$s %3$s %1$d%%", (int)Math.pow(3,4),"SCJP","with","Passed");

If you are too busy (or lazy) to execute the code, I passed with 81%. I would have been excited if I had scored 90+. Well...but for those tough and tricky ones that tripped me into its trap.

First of all my thanks to the javaranch forum members who do a very positive contribution. Thanks for taking your time and answering some of my silly questions (may be some were too silly, they didn't get answered . Special thanks to Devaka for putting me through such a tough drill.

My observations/comments:
==================
- I used K&B book (read it once fully and went thorugh the 2 minute drills twice + the mock questions at the end of every chapter once)

- Took ExamLab tests (except for the final one). I managed to score an average of only 50%. If you can sit through the ExamLab questions without fainting, you can breeze through the real exam. ExamLab toughens you up. Thanks Devaka for putting us through such a tough drill.

- Took two SAI e-practice tests. The scores in these tests was close to what I got on the official SCJP exam

- I finished the exam in around 2 hours 20 minutes and used the rest of the time for review (of course you can only review so much!). I was able to identify flaws in my logic for some of the questions and was able to correct them. I was frustated with the fact I couldn't review the "Task" questionns without resetting the answers. So in the end, I didn't review any of the "Task" questions. On second thought, I should have skipped all Task questions and answered them at the very end.

- I skipped the hard questions and marked for review the questions that I didn't feel 100% sure about my answer. One thing to note is, at the end, the "Item review" provides two different classifications of the questions. One is the "Incomplete" and the other is "Marked for review". So by all means skip those tough questions (you don't have to mark them) and you can come back to them from "Review items" at the end. It is easy.

- There were no questions about Serializable interface

- Can't believe that I scored weak on Fundamentals, Flow Control and API Contents That brought my score down

- I had a tough time with the "Task" questions in the sense, when I tried to drag and drop, it will refuse to stick the answer in place, unless until I dropped it very accurately so that the box is covered fully. That wasn't the case in ExamLab (you could drag and drop it partially and it would take the answer). This was so frustrating. Either I didn't understand it properly or the software was screwey.

- Oh, I didn't use the "comment" feature much, even though I thought it would be very useful. I was kind of lazy to use that properly. I thought I will remember the why I choose an answer when I review the question again

- I am sure I am forgetting other observations/comments. Will add them if I ever remember them.

Now I am thinking about moving on to SCJD or SCWCD or both. I remember someone saying that SCJD is being re-worked by Oracle. So I guess I will start on SCWCD and try to crack it ASAP, while I nibble on SCJD. Also I will have to keep in touch with SCJP so that I don't forget what I have learnt (use it or lose it)!. May be visiting the SCJP forum is a good way to do that!!!

It was a great journey. Wish all of you the very best in your endeavors. See you all soon!!!

[nav katoch]

Congrats!!

Naveen Katoch

[Sandra Bachan]

We really appreciate these success stories. Congratulations!

[Sahil Kapoor]

I planned to give my result in the way you did.....

Congratulations !!!

Please do tell us about the following :-

1) Did you find any hard cored API related questions , which needs implementation of API to be read.

2) Did you find any question on Serialization ???

3) Did you find any question on notify(), notfyAll(), wait() in threads topic ???

I am asking all this because there is great chaos, SCJP6 k&B has encapsulated those topics but they are not mentioned on Oracle site.

Your feedback would be a great help to all of us !!!

[Devaka Cooray]

Congratulations Larry
Glad to know that ExamLab helped.

[Larry Olson]

Thanks.

1) Did you find any hard cored API related questions , which needs implementation of API to be read.

Yes, at least I remember few Date, Calendar related questions. Some APIs related to Generics. Will let you know if I can remember more!

2) Did you find any question on Serialization ???

NO. Not at all.

3) Did you find any question on notify(), notfyAll(), wait() in threads topic ???

NO. I only found questions related to using synchronized.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.

[Rafal Wasielewski]

Congrats

[Sahil Kapoor]

Thanks Larry !!!

Definitely it helped !!!

[Emanuele Ghe]

Congrats!

[Ankit Garg]

Hey Congrats

81% is not a bad score, its a very good score. So enjoy!!!

[Larry Olson]

Thanks guys. Appreciate that.

Ankit wrote:

81% is not a bad score, its a very good score. So enjoy!!!

Hmmm...I agree it is not a bad score. But I don't think it is fair to say that it is a very good score. May be 90+ would fall into that category and 95+ could be called an excellent score. Yours is almost a perfect score. No wonder you are able to answer almost any question with confidence.

You (and other forum members too!) get 100% score when it comes to promptly answering questions

[Roberto Perillo]

Congrats, champion!

[Paul Anilprem]

Congratulations!!!

[Vijitha Kumara]

Congrats

[Sergio Rodrigo]

Congrats!!!