SCJP 5.0 Beta exam

[Kiran S Govindaiah]

Hello All,

I got this piece of information:

*****************************************
SUN Certification News

- New SCJP exam to be released in early 2005 -
The SCJP 5.0 Beta exam will be available for a limited time, starting
in mid-January, 2005. The "live" exam is tentatively scheduled to be
released in late March, 2005.
****************************************

So, for all those who are willing to take this exam, I have created a yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/scjp5

PS: I agree that javarach is a good forum for the discussions, but most of the people don't have Internet connection always and also we can upload and share files in the group. No, I am not a yahoo promoter and please treat this as my personal opinion.
[ November 16, 2004: Message edited by: Kiran S Govindaiah ]

[Joyce Lee]

Hi Kiran,

Thanks for the information.

When I clicked on the link, it reported "There is no group called scjp5..".

Joyce

[Kiran S Govindaiah]

Oops sorry! There was a dot at the end of the link !
This should work.

http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/scjp5
[ November 16, 2004: Message edited by: Kiran S Govindaiah ]

[Barry Gaunt]

"Kiran S G" please change your displayed name to confirm to our JavaRanch Naming Policy

Thanks
-Barry

[Saheed Adepoju]

Hi all
Hey i guess SUN has closed their proposal for more programmers, said they have reached their maximum limit of 50. I wished i took part in this survey.
Well good luck to you all taking part in the survey.

Saheed.
SCJP 1.4
SCJD(preparing....)
Imagination is better than knowledge.

[Nicholas Cheung]

Let's start to prepare it.

Nick

[Ken Ho]

Originally posted by Nicholas Cheung:
Let's start to prepare it.

Nick

Any reference books/materials are you using for the preparation?

[Nicholas Cheung]

Any reference books/materials are you using for the preparation?

Currently, the only resources are JLS and some online articles.

I would ask my company to buy Cay and Gary's Core Java ,2 7th edition if I could not win it this week.

Nick

[Vijay S. Rathore]

Are the vouchers over for SCJP 1.5 or the promo coming in near future?

[Jay Ashar]

Thank you all for this valuable information.

However I wanted to know whats the difference between Beta exam and real exam, Is Beta exam less in cost, do they not give certificates? I have never taken a beta exam ( because I am always late in game to learn technology) but I have been studying Java 5.0 and want to try this beta exam, any help would be appreciated?

Also, I guess sun hasnt published exam objectives yet, right?

[Barry Gaunt]

My understanding of beta exams:
The Beta is free moneywise, but it costs you a lot in time and effort. Usually betas require you to answer many more questions than the real exam, sometimes hundreds. You may be doing the exam for 3 or 4 hours. The pass percentage is the same so you may have to get 210 questions correct out of 400. If you do pass then you get the SCJP 1.5 certification.

No, to date, Sun has not publicly published the SCJP 5.0 objectives in any form.

[Bert Bates]

Barry's right on all counts, here are a few more details...

The initial set of objectives HAVE been created, but they're TOP SECRET for a little while longer

The passing percentage will largely be determined by how well people do on the beta, so if the new exam is easier, and all the beta takers kick butt, the new pass rate could be much higher than the current rate... Even though the test will be created soon, we won't know the official pass rate for several months.

[Jay Ashar]

Thanks a lot Barry, for information.

I did find objectives for SCJP 1.5 over web, by doing google search. I am sure they arent official one since it is not published on Sun website, but its a good guideline to study till Sun publishes official objectives.

[Jay Ashar]

Thanks for the reply, Do you know if there is any limit to number of people who can take Beta exam or anybody could take it.
I have been studying Java Tiger for last couple of weeks and would love to take this beta exam if possible.

Originally posted by Bert Bates:

The passing percentage will largely be determined by how well people do on the beta, so if the new exam is easier, and all the beta takers kick butt, the new pass rate could be much higher than the current rate... Even though the test will be created soon, we won't know the official pass rate for several months.

[Shiang Wang]

This is just my experience when taking 1.4 beta. There were 145 questions, and you have 4 hours to finish it. The passing score I think was 52%, something like that. Original number of quota for free vouchers was 400, and then it got extended to 600. And you don't know if you passed or not until Sun sends you notice, vs in regular tests, you know it right away. Correct me if I am wrong on the above numbers.

Believe me after the 4 hours sitting in the exam, you will feel like your brain got fried.

Shiang

[Jay Ashar]

Originally posted by Shiang Wang:
Original number of quota for free vouchers was 400, and then it got extended to 600.

Do they distribute voucher in particular fashion or is it first come first serve basis? Was there any prerequisite when you took the beta for 1.4

[Nicholas Cheung]

Do they distribute voucher in particular fashion or is it first come first serve basis?

Based on previous beta experiences, the voucher is distributed in a first come first serve manner.

Nick

[Tony Morris]

I did find objectives for SCJP 1.5 over web, by doing google search.

http://www.javaworld.com.tw/jute/post/view?bid=17&id=78956&sty=1&tpg=1&age=0

So if these aren't official objectives, what are they?

[Joyce Lee]

http://www.javaworld.com.tw/jute/post/view?bid=17&id=78956&sty=1&tpg=1&age=0

So if these aren't official objectives, what are they?

These are the objectives asked in the Programmer 5.0 blueprint survey.

[Barry Gaunt]

They have been posted by someone who has broken the non-disclosure agreement with Sun.

[Bert Bates]

Watch out you guys, the official Sun objectives aren't final just yet...

Whatever objectives you find now, aren't the final objectives, and might not even be the proposed objectives! ... there are several important steps that haven't happened yet, before the real Sun objectives will be official!

[Joyce Lee]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
Watch out you guys, the official Sun objectives aren't final just yet...

Whatever objectives you find now, aren't the final objectives, and might not even be the proposed objectives! ... there are several important steps that haven't happened yet, before the real Sun objectives will be official!

Noted.

[William Brogden]

Watch out you guys, the official Sun objectives aren't final just yet...

That happened with the objectives for one of the earlier exams (1.2?) - in preparation for writing the ExamCram book for that exam I got hold of some early objectives drafts.
They were mind-boggling hard so it was a great relief when the final objectives were much simpler.
Bill