I passed the exam SCBCD5 with 72% today. Let me tell you this�the exam is really tough and hard. Here are some details on my preparation and some tips for the exam.
Currently, I have some experience in
EJB 2.x programming. I started preparing for SCBCD four months back, but effectively I could concentrate only in the last two months. I constantly browse through Javaranch forum for tips, and decided with the following for SCBCD exam.
1.EJB 3 in Action
2.Mikalai Zaikin`s "SCBCD 5.0 Study guide"
3.Enthuware EJBPlus V5 Simulator
4.Specifications - ejb-3_0-fr-spec-ejbcore.pdf
5.Specifications - ejb-3_0-fr-spec-persistence.pdf
EJB3 in Action is an excellent book and it gave me very good understanding in all the topics for the exam. The things are explained in a clear way so that basics were set very strong. This is a great book in explaining EJB3.0 technology, covering end to end. My special thanks to the authors of EJB3 in Action.
Then I started to go through Mikalai�s "SCBCD 5.0 Study guide", which is fantastic in covering everything for the exam. The notes given are very detailed and very handy in going through the Exam objectives in the order. Mikalai might have spent lot of time and effort in compiling these notes for all of us. My earnest thanks to Mikalai.
After that I tried the Enthuware tests. In test1 and test2, I could score only 48 and 49%. Then I stopped taking tests and went back to items 1, 2, 4 and 5 to study weak areas, more thoroughly. Then I came back to tests and this time I could score 74, 74, and 69% in test3, test4 and test5. Enthuware simulator is really good and helped me to cover lot of weak areas. The explanation given in the answers covers very good basics. It gave me a lot of practice for the real exam. Some questions in the exam were close to the ones in simulator, with some variations. My sincere thanks to Enthuware team. I will definitely go with them for my future certifications.
The specifications�I went through frequently�tried to memorize some of the rules. But, honestly, it is very difficult to remember all of them.
Important tips for the exam�
1.Understand the basics
2.Donot spend too much of time in one topic (apply 80/20 rule)
3.Read the question in detail�donot jump to the answer in between
Wish you all the best.
Regards
Stalin Reddy
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SCJP 1.2, SCWCD 5, SCBCD 5
