Hi Ranchers,
phew...done
Many and big THANKS to Bert and Kathy! I think pearson's income would double without You, Guys
how did i prepare:
-K and B study guide (2x read)
-all tests from K and B study guide (not after each chapter, but at the and at once) 2 times
-all
test from K and B practice exam book 1 time each
-every time completed a test, checked the faild ones, uneasy ones, study those fields again, write programs etc.
-write few hundred mini programs
-checked out the api carefuly, and memorize
-stick to what Kathy and Bert suggests
suggestions and opinions:
-if you are unsure bout something: write a program, test it out. every time.
-1z0 851 is far easier than the tests in those books, on those test i could only touch 80%, and ive also failed on the hardest one
-oracle claims in 1z0 851 are no more time consuming questions, no serializations, 60 questions, 150min time, over 61% passing. i confirm that.
-dont feel bad about the time, to be honest i could finish only 1 or 2 test from the books in-time ;) but at the real exam i had ~40 minutes left AFTER checking out every marked question (the exam-app is a big help too). so no hurry, take your time on the real exam.
-the study guide covers about 95% of the api questions, so maybe it is worth study the marked apis bit further...(for example: Thread.interrupt, NumberFormat.format(Object), System.getProperty, System.getenv() )
-dont rush tests from the books, stick to suggestions at the recommended plan at the result analysis (i think takeing again tests is not a really good idea, iv tried with the study guide tests, and well it was a great success, can build some confidence
but for me it was little odd seeing those questions i know ive answered once, and ive also see the correct answare, and your brain -that tricky bastard- begins to think more and more about "what WAS the answer?" instead of "what IS the answer", which misses the point - the preparation)
-marker boards suck
choose exam-centre where you can use paper and pen if you can (notice: on real exam you do not really need to draw and write much, ive used only 1 A4 board - wich is like 1 A5 paper page and pen :S - but ont mock exams i had to write a LOT)
i hope i could help a bit, and i wish luck to every future ocpjp
cheers