Hi Mandar Jabade,
First of all, a warm welcome to CodeRanch!
Mandar Jabade wrote:I have joined CodeRanch yesterday evening.
That's a very wise decision
Mandar Jabade wrote:Have purchased the book by Jeanne and Scott.
Very good choice!
Mandar Jabade wrote:1. How much time to study daily ? I work and work for a real busy client.. how much time daily is required?
That's up to you to decide. And if you work (as a Java developer) you'll have coding practice on a daily basis, so that's definitely a good thing. One of the study guides suggest
you should try to study at least 15-30 minutes each day. So if you have a really busy day, just re-read the notes you made. This keeps your brain continuously involved with the material you need to know.
Mandar Jabade wrote:2. How to digest the vast ness of JAVA really ? I mean from where do I start ? Just use Eclipse and start practicing the code snippets or what ?
You have bought a study guide which is dedicated for the OCAJP8 exam. So if you study this book and have a good solid understanding of all concepts mentioned in the study guide, you'll know everything to pass the exam. That's the benefit of using a study guide: it focuses only on the stuff required to pass the exam. Of course writing code snippets should be part of your preparation. Because preparing for a certification exam (and learning a programming language) is like driving a car: you don't learn to drive a car by reading a book, you have to get your hands dirty
So you should write a gazillion of code snippets. And
it's recommended not to use an IDE (like Eclipse), but just your favourite text editor and javac/java.
Mandar Jabade wrote:3. Approx when should I take the exam? In the sense how many months from the start ? I bough the book and started studying last week. I know I would know when I am ready but given the fact that I am a beginner I want to know.
That's hard to tell as well. That's very personal. Not everybody has the same eagerness to learn new things. Some people can dedicate 8 hours each day to study, others can spend just 2 hours. Probably the best approach would be to carefully study the study guide you got and once you have finished studying, purchase the Enthuware mock exams. Then just take the first mock exam (in exam mode) and the score will be a very good (and objective) indicator of your current Java level and readiness to take the OCAJP8 exam.
Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel