are real exam quesions so complicated????

[Jigar Gosar]

i am almost prepared for my certification.
Date is 10th July.

and DanChris's mock is the one i am taking right now.

I almost get 80% and above in most of the tests(Study Guide)

But my major fustration is with code questions which are
1. very long.
2. very complicated.
3. and almost all questions have last three options as (1. compile time error,2. runtime erroe,3. none of the above).

dont get me wrong , i think they are for benifit of the "Would Be" SJCP's but my questions concern real exam.

1. Does real exam contain such "long" code questions, if yes about what is the ratio of "long code" questions to all other questions.?

2. Does the real exam ask such quesions in which the questions appear to belong to one topic and the correct answer is "compiler error" because of some fundamental mistake in some other topic.(misleading questions)???

3. do majority of the code questions contain "Compiler Error" as one of the options.

and one more question??

has any one got 100% in exam???, then i would like them to share their secreat with me.

i am hoping to get 100%, i know a daunting task. so some tips on some major potential pitfalls are welcome,

Thanks,
Jigar Gosar.
Dreaming to get 100% in SJCP.

[Daniel Rhoades]

1. Does real exam contain such "long" code questions, if yes about what is the ratio of "long code" questions to all other questions.?

Yes it does, and when going back through the exam before you submit it, you'll realise that you didn't need to spend 10mins on that question because of a obvious (well before it wasn't) syntax error.

2. Does the real exam ask such quesions in which the questions appear to belong to one topic and the correct answer is "compiler error" because of some fundamental mistake in some other topic.(misleading questions)???

Yes indeed, see last answer.

3. do majority of the code questions contain "Compiler Error" as one of the options.

Some do, you'll also get questions like does it throw a Runtime error or an Exception.

has any one got 100% in exam???, then i would like them to share their secreat with me.

Got 93%, its just hard work and understanding that's required (obviously). It helps a great deal that you've done mocks for this as it prepares you for the exam format. I didn't attempt the exam until I passed the exams and quick Q&A's that came with K&B's book with 85% Can't really say much more than that without Sun stripping me of my cert

[Jigar Gosar]

Where would one rate DanChris's mock mock exam , as good as real or a lot harder???


also do i need to buy and read book by Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates???
when i alredy have read Mughals Book, twice.

[Marcus Green]

Dans exams are probably marginally harder than the real thing (I think Dan has said this somewhere), but only marginally. I think mine are slightly closer to the real thing. So DO work on Dans, but check out mine.

http://www.jchq.net/phezam

[Jigar Gosar]

Thanks to all for replying.

Some questions are unanswered though??

and Marcus, your test i have left for the last day.

also your site has direct link to only test2 , why dont u have direct link to test1 and test3 on ur site???

[Dan Chisholm]

Jigar,

I agree with Marcus. My exams are a little more difficult than the real exam. The Marcus Green exams are a little more like the real exam.

I organized my exams by topic so they can be used early in the study process as you are working through a study guide chapter-by-chapter. You can think of my single topic exams as a workbook that you can use along with any study guide. Later in the study process you might want to use a mock exam to predict your performance on the real exam. My exams are not intended to serve as a performance prediction tool. The Marcus Green exams will do a better job of helping you to predict your performance.

Doing well on the real exam requires a lot of preparation. I suggest using my exams early in the study process. A lot of people save the Marcus Green exams for the end of the process. If your score on a Marcus Green exam is lower than what you would like to score on the real exam, then you can use my single topic exams to work on the areas where more work is needed. As I suggested earlier, my exams should be used like a workbook while the Marcus Green exams are used as a measuring tool.

[Swamy Nathan]

I gave my test yesterday. I scored only 88%. The questions were actually easy in the sense the code questions were not longwinded. I made the following boo-boos.

1. Before the test started they give you a demo test of 15 minutes. Then there is the survey. Survey over the test started. I lost my wits somehow and felt even the 1st 4 actual test questions were survey questions. (They were worded a bit like that.) I just breeezed through them. It was when I walked out I realized the mistake.

2. There were a few questions which were word plays and I messed them up. One was a garbage collection question that I was not sure of till the end. Daniel had posted earlier that reading K&B 3 times helps. It would have helped for such non-code related qs. Such qs are sometimes based on the usual cliches and if you can recogonize the correct cliche u are on.

3. The test screens took me a little while to get used to them. When the test reached around the 5th question it took me a while to find the question no counter for pacing myself.

I hope to do better in my other tests. If anything the tests made me humbler.


The actual code related stuff I did well I think. The notes I made from K&B, Khalid's books and Dan's tests were very useful considering they were 66 pages of notes.
I should have doine the following:-
a) I should have also made notes from the cliches. My mistake.
b) I probably should have practiced on a few commercial mock tests which I could not because of time constraints. I had already prepared for a month or so and exceeded my scheduled time.

Time to move on. I did feel depressed for a long while. Still am. But its allright will get by.
I though someone else would find this posting useful and be able to learn from my mistakes.

I would recommend that you make your own notes in word and keep updating and studying them.
First read K&B book.
Then Khalid's book.
Take the mock tets that come with the books.
Then move on to Dan's tests.
Do Dan's tests atleast twice till you start scoring more than 90% in the tests.
After that read K&B once more (should have done that).
Then practice on commercual mock tests. Make sure that you have spent over 2 months total preparation.

And yes they do ask you questions where you are expected to remember ranges for byte, char etc. If you remember you wont be working it out then and there.

[Jigar Gosar]

i think after reading Nathan's reply , i'll be purchasing k&b, and postponing my exam date , it's on this saturday ,

i am still in a dilema, should i go for k&b??.

anyways thanks to all, for replying.
[ July 05, 2004: Message edited by: Jigar Gosar ]

[Swamy Nathan]

It all depensds on ur time constraints. I was under pressure to take my test now (because I was not going to have any free time in the near future) otherwise I would also have gone for later.

But obviously the more effort u put in the better u perform.

In any case there is some think called luck factor tooo. But it would be prudent to minimize the luck factor.

Had I not been in a daze (somehow I was in a daze) and lost my wits when the test began I wd not have mistken the 1st 4 wordy questions which were worded as though they were seeking my opinion on how I would reply to something. I somehow got this crazy thoight in my head "Why are they still asking me survey qs when the test has started? Let me not waste time on these qs". That did me in I guess. These qs were real qs and not the survey qs which I had already done. It wqas a big mistake. Had it not been me I wd be laughing.

[VP Jain]

Hi,

If you are confident with what you have gone through, then dont try to

postpone the exam.

Dont take the exam with the predefined notion.

Ease yourself and be calm.

If it is possible draw a grid with the question no's marked and while u are

confident with the question put a tick in the grid.

If you are not confident with the answer ,mark in the grid and move on to
the next question.


Finish going through all the questions.

Then take the tough ones, the exam have long codes , but if u want u can

try to solve it last.

Review your answers once or twice.

All the best.

[Jigar Gosar]

Thanks to all for replying,

I think i will give myself a day to think before i pospone my exam.

I hv got other problems if i pospone this exam(wich wont be severe),anyways.

I found some question's answer on Dan Chris exam as wrong(maybe)???

study guide:
ch 7:
exam1:
question 1:

Which of the follow are true statements.

a. A nested class is any class that is declared within the body of another class or interface.
b. A nested class can not be declared within the body of an interface declaration.
c. An inner class is a nested class that is not static.
d. A nested class can not be declared static.
e. A named class is any class that is not anonymous.

Answers : a c e

i have problem with 'c' being correct.

heres is my explaination:

All local and anon classes are nested classes .(Mughal ch7.)
All local and anon classes are inner classes .(Mughal ch7.)

local and anon classes declared in static context are implicitly static, (although they cannot be declared explicitly).

so now we have an inner class(local or anon, in static context) that is static, which contradicts 'c'.

so how can 'c' be true???

Thanks,
Jigar Gosar.

[Swamy Nathan]

Take any 3 different new mock tests that u can get ur hands on for free or otherwise. If u scored very well u are confident. Otherwise u r not. Be objective about confidence. Dont be subjective. And yes be cool and relaxed.


Also be aware what the test is actually like.

Theere is this demoe for 15 minutes. Its slightly different in screens from the actual test.

There is this survey done.

Then there is this actual test screen.

The actual test contains the following on each page:
1. A checkbock called "mark".(You can mark here qs u are not sure about so that u can quickly review them later for which there is a button I think. In any case the qs u have marked by checking the mark checkbox are highlighted just before u are done with the test so that u can quickly review them. When u are done reviewing them u uncheck the mark)
2. Likewise the qs you left out are also made available to u automatically.
So there is no need for manually preparing a grid.
3. The long code questions were only 17 lines or so and I found them easy in general. When a long code sample is provided for a q u can see the code sample by pressing a "exhibit" button.
4. There are next and prev buttons.
5. The multiple choice qs will specify how many choices are correct.
6. The q no or counter is not shown to the left of the page but somehwere on top center I think in qNo/totalQs format.
7. The time left is displayed.

Being more familiar with what to expect shd help I guess. The screens were like this for me. Pobably the commecrial mmock tests provide similar screens.

[Swamy Nathan]

As regards to ur other q-I think inner class means it is not a top level class or a static member class which is as good as a top level class. top level classes and static member classes can be used by any other third class directly by specifying their fully qualified name.

To access an inner class u must have with u an instance of a outer class otherwise the instance of the inner class cannot be instantiated. It matters little whether the inner class is in a static context or not.

[Jigar Gosar]

Swamy your expln. is correct, but still

answer these questions.

1.are anon classes inner classes??
2.are anon classes nested classes??
3.are anon classes declared in static context static implicitly.

if your answers to these q are 'YES'
(they have to be. if not, explain)

then 'c' option is wrong.

[Swamy Nathan]

1.are anon classes inner classes??-Y
2.are anon classes nested classes??-Y
3.are anon classes declared in static context static implicitly.-No because static modifiers are applicable only to class members and anon and local callaseses are not that by any means. (they are like anonymous and nonanonymous local variables.)

[Jigar Gosar]

i'll quote from mughal

however, if the block containing a local class decleration is defined in a static context , then the local class is implicitly static in the sense that its instantiation does not require any outer object

and i am rephrasing my q

answer these questions.

1.are local classes inner classes??
2.are local classes nested classes??
3.are "local classes declared in static context", implicitly static .

if your answers to these q are 'YES'
(they have to be. if not, explain)

then 'c' option is wrong.

what do u have to say on that???

Pleassse reply....
I need some expln....

Thanks,
Jigar Gosar.
[ July 06, 2004: Message edited by: Jigar Gosar ]

[Jigar Gosar]

and one more thing how did i suddenly become ranch hand , from green horn...............

[Swamy Nathan]

I was offline drowning my sorrows with some friends.

Inner classes unlike the top level classes and static member classes cannot be constructed directly from a third class because
a) if its a member class thats a non-static member u need an outer class instance so that the non-static member class instance can be associated with the outer class instance.
b) if its a anonymous/local class whether its in a static context or not you simply cant instantiate it unless the instantiation is done inside the static / non-static context in other words the outer class' code.(You can't do it in a third class for the simple reason that it would be out of scope i.e. the class does not exist outside the static / non-static context provided by the curly brace-{}. Without being able to access a class how can u instantiate its object[scope wd not be the exact correct word but i guess u would understand what I mean])

On the other hand a top level class or a static member class can be constraucted by any third class.

I got clearer about this q of urs only now. I hope its clear to u too.

Instantiating local and anonyomos classes is usually done to make local instances of them. These instances are local variables and local variables are never static (only class members can be static). Their scope is inside that method/initializer/constructor/{}. Outside this context they dont exist as a class and the instance if passed on outside by a return is done using the base type.

Thnks.
[ July 06, 2004: Message edited by: Swamy Nathan ]

[Dan Chisholm]

Originally posted by Jigar Gosar:


Which of the follow are true statements.

a. A nested class is any class that is declared within the body of another class or interface.
b. A nested class can not be declared within the body of an interface declaration.
c. An inner class is a nested class that is not static.
d. A nested class can not be declared static.
e. A named class is any class that is not anonymous.

Answers : a c e

i have problem with 'c' being correct.

heres is my explaination:

All local and anon classes are nested classes .(Mughal ch7.)
All local and anon classes are inner classes .(Mughal ch7.)

local and anon classes declared in static context are implicitly static, (although they cannot be declared explicitly).

so now we have an inner class(local or anon, in static context) that is static, which contradicts 'c'.

so how can 'c' be true???

Thanks,
Jigar Gosar.

Jigar,

Thank you for using my exams.

The following is a quote from Section 8.1.2 of the Java Language Specification.

An inner class is a nested class that is not explicitly or implicitly declared static.

I should also mention that the real exam does not contain questions that require you to know the exact definition of all of the kinds of nested classes. I developed questions that test your knowledge of those definitions only because my exam contains detailed explanations for the questions that appear on my exam, and those detailed explanations often use those terms. The question such as the one that you quoted in this thread is really only intended to provide a quick tutorial on some of the terms that are used in the explanations of other questions that appear on my mock exam. In contrast, the real exam does not contain explanations for any of the questions appearing on the real exam, so the real exam won't include any questions that are intended to provide the reader with a tutorial on basic terms.

[Jigar Gosar]

Thank you Dan, Nathan all who replied

It helped a lot.

In marcus's mock i got 96.66% so i am ver happy now

Thanks,
Jigar Gosar