Passed SCJP 5.0 with 100%

[Abdul Rehman]

Hi.
I am very glad to tell all ranchers that by the Grace of God, I have passed SCJP 5.0 exam with a mind-blowing score of ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (100%) !!! Well, its mind-blowing atleast for me--a 17 year old pre-medical :roll: student, here in Peshawar, Pakistan.
I can say with utmost certainity that had I not visited Java Ranch then I would have not even passed the test!!! And of course, had I not read the K&B study guide then too I would have failed the test. My best regards are for Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates for writing this splendid great brilliant marvelleous (insert-three-thousand-other-words-here) book!!!
I would like to narrate in detail here, my long story about the preparation for this exam. I had done Java when I was in 7th class/grade, about 6 years from now on. I could not take the certification exam then as there was no Prometric Centre in Peshawar. And more importantly, neither did I know anything about the certification exam, nor could I go to the capital, Islambad, to buy vouchers and/or take the test.
Since then, I had been doing Java programming with JDK 1.3, more or less regularly, for making simple things for my own self. The idea to certify came in my mind in September 2006, as now I had a good ADSL internet connection, to find all the info required for the exam.
Though, my real study for the exam was only for 25 days, I had hypothetically started preparing from September, 2006. I first visited Sun's website to find out about the new SCJP 5.0 certification exam. I started off searching for the JDK 1.5 CD & some good book, which would explain the new features. I was highly disappointed as there was hardly any book available for SCJP 5--almost all of them were for JDK 1.4.
Luckily or unluckily, I found Java - The Complete Reference & Java - How To Program and finished them within a month. But I must say, don't you never ever study these books for the certification exam!!! They are not even close to what you will find on the real exam.
After spending one month in this, I decided to read the Java Language Specification & Java API documentation for the relevant packages. I didn't know that I was going for a real rug-ride. I spent almost one-and-half months in this work, but, I had hardly gained anything.
I read through the JSL & it was as if I was trying to grasp something which was well higher than my level of understanding. I learned nearly nothing from the JSL. To increment the suffering, the documentation which I was trying to memorize kept on "dissolving away" from my memory. I had realized in early December that I have been wasting my time in irrelevant things and I badly needed a good book specific to the exam-related knowledge.
It was the greatest thing in my life when I found Java Ranch through a search engine. At first, I couldn't comprehend that I had discovered a Treasure Island!!!
By reading through the FAQs & a few campfire stories and joining the saloon, I realized that this was the one-stop for all info I needed for the exam. Soon, I came to know that the K&B study guide is the dream book for SCJP 5 and I decided to buy it.
Again, it was disappointing to find that there was no copy available in Peshawar or even the capital, Islamabad. I don't know whether this book is available in Karachi, Lahore, etc. or not. But, I managed to get a book of this book from a foreign country.
It was the thing I needed--a book which alone would be sufficient to secure a 90%+ result in the SCJP 5 exam. It contains everything, but, precisely which you need for the exam. I love this book for its vivid explanations, specific purpose, brilliant mock questions & the captivating-and-some-what-humerous style. The mock exam questions in the book were splendid--in fact, they are even tougher & trickier than the ones you'd find in the original exam! I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Take my words: its the best you will find on the face of this earth for the SCJP exam. I am really obliged and grateful to Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates for writing this master-piece. Keep it up!
Since, I started studying this book rigorously in my vacations, I finished it in just 4 days. By the time I took the test, I had revised this book nearly 7 times. Although, I believe that the book alone would have been sufficient for a 90%+ result, I took a lot of practice exams.
The K&B Master Exam and the Whizlabs Practice Tests were the best of all. In my opinion, they were tougher than the real exam e.g. I didn't find any question on the real exam, which tried to trip me with an unreachable block of code. On the contrary, I found one such question in Whizlabs. However, I would like to point out here that they were one or two type of questions on the exam, the type of which I had never seen in the mocks. For example, I believe that the following concept was not clear in my mind before the test:-

Exam Watch: What would happen in a multi-threaded program if an exception propagated through the run() method of a thread? Will the thread crash only or will the whole program crash? Will the stack trace be printed? (In a few questions, you will see the exam tripping you on this concept.)

Apart from Whizlabs and K&B, I took a few other mocks, in which, a great one was Marcus Green's exam. Thumbs up to Marcus for the effort!
After all this study, I scheduled the test on 5th January, but, due to some problem, the test was postponed till 15th January by the Prometric Test Centre.
My scores in the mock exams (roughly) were:-
K&B mock exam: 94%
Whizlabs: 93%-97%
Marcus Green: 96%
I once scored 100% in Whizlabs Final Practice Test, but, I never expected that I would score 100% in the SCJP 5 exam. All in all, it was one of the greatest experiences in my life.

Lastly, for those who are preparing for the SCJP 5 exam, I few guidelines:-
- Study K&B as much as you could & assimilate as much material as you can into your mind
- Practice rigorously on questions related to Threads, String & StringBuffer manipulation, Inner/Nested Classes, Generics AND OO Concepts
- Once again, practice rigorously on Threads, Generics and OO Concepts -- the last one is somewhat neglected, but, can cause trouble on the real exam.
- Take as much mocks as you can
- Be VERY VERY VERY attentive & concentrate wholly on the questions during the exam
- Make a list of all exam-watches and read it an hour before the test (I did this too and its really helpful)

Okay, fellow ranchers !!! That's enough for now... do ask if you need my help... I will try my best to help.

Best Regards,
Abdul Rehman.

[Paul Anilprem]

Wow!!! Great job. Congratulations!

[Marcin Skrzek]

Congratulations!
I must say, I fully agree - K&B Study Guide is awesome

[Anthony Ku Ong]

Amazing - this is the first time i've seen someone get a perfect score
on the SCJP5!!! Congratulations!!

[Bert Bates]

Abdul, that is AMAZING !!!

100% ??

WOW!

- Bert

p.s. Thank you for your kind words, it means a lot to me and to Kathy!

[Joe San]

Congrats and good luck with your future certifications. 100% is awesome!

[Pradeep Chopra]

Dear Abdul,

Awesome performance! Many many congratulations!

I am glad that our product contributed to your success and wish you continued success in rest of the exams you are planning to take.

Best wishes,
Pradeep

[Vishwas Hegde]

Thats really Great.

Congrats


~Vishwas

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Unbelievable !

Congratulations !!!

[Rohitt Vermaa]

Congrats. Great Score

[Rizwan Mohammad]

What a score?? Greatest one..
Congrats.. Enjoy..

[Kai Witte]

Great! Congratulations!

[Abdul Rehman]

Lots of thanks to all ranchers for their great comments; special thanks to Bert and Pradeep--their words mean a lot to me


[ January 18, 2007: Message edited by: Abdul Rehman ]

[Bhushan Santosh]

Many many congratulation Mr Rehman. Great going.
It is wonderful to score cent percent.


Thanks,
Coffee Java
SCJP (1.4,5.0)
SCWCD

[sonali patil]

Woww! thats a great score

Of course the Study Guide by Kathy & Bert is helping a lot.
Thanks for your guideline words
It will definitely help me as i am preparing for scjp 5.0


Sonali

[Tanakorn Numrubporn]

Superb! Extreamly perfect
If you don't mind please go to visit SCJP forum to share your knowledge to our member!
I want your advice.
This is the first question from me:

Originally posted by Abdul Rehman:

Exam Watch: What would happen in a multi-threaded program if an exception propagated through the run() method of a thread? Will the thread crash only or will the whole program crash? Will the stack trace be printed? (In a few questions, you will see the exam tripping you on this concept.)

What the question of this answer?

Thank and be celebrate with your success

[Abdul Rehman]

Hi Tanakorn,
Thanks for the comments.

Originally posted by Tanakorn Numrubporn:
This is the first question from me:
Exam Watch: What would happen in a multi-threaded program if an exception propagated through the run() method of a thread? Will the thread crash only or will the whole program crash? Will the stack trace be printed? (In a few questions, you will see the exam tripping you on this concept.)
What the question of this answer?

Well, you know the "question to this answer", don't you? I will tell you the answer to the above question.
If an exception propagates through the run() method of a thread, *ONLY* that thread will crash and a stack-trace *WILL BE* printed. Other threads will not be affected.

Yours,
Abdul Rehman.

[Jon Lee]

You are a pre-medical school student, then what did you take SCJP5.0 for?

[Abdul Rehman]

My father wanted me to become a doctor, so, I chose pre-medical. But, I find myself more inclined towards Computer Science. So, I'll definitely jump into computer science & leave pre-medical.

[Pradeep Chopra]

You are welecome Abdul!

We would love to have your feedback on our product. It would also be great to have your inputs on our new SCJP 5.0 Online Training.

Can you please send me a mail at [e-mail]? I will co-ordinate with you then.

Best wishes,
Pradeep

[Ashok Kumar]

congratulations!!! Awesome score...

[syed mashadi]

Asslam o alikum,
Dear Abdul Rehman
Congradulates..
just guide me i just also want to take THE SCJP EXAM, that i have completed my BS(CS) DEGREE.
SYED DANISH MASHADI
ISLAMABAD
00923328990150

[Olivier Ledru]

Congratulations,

And I agree, the K&B book is the one to study !

[Antonio Tercero]

Congratulations !!!
Your score is not bad, could be better ...

[Naresh Kavala]

Excellent Rehman.It would be inspiration to the future aspirants as like me.

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

Congratulations!

-Cameron

[Muhammad Shah]

Well done abdur Rehman.

Regards,

Muhammad Ali Shah.
MCSD.NET + MCTS