I have failed... :(

[Kevin Lam]

I have failed my exam today
Got only 46% overall...


[ October 27, 2005: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Barry Gaunt]

That's tough! However, I have much respect for you for your admittance that you failed. Write about your preparation. What areas caused you difficulty?

[Kevin Lam]

Well, I think I should share my experience with you guys...

I have been using Java since the 1st year of my Master degree... I finished uni and joined a big company, worked there for 2 years and now I am taking the exam...

I found it really really hard... I used the text "Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide, Fifth Edition by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts" as my main reference, I tried the sample questions and I got 70% in average... I have even done some mock exams online and I got 65-70% in average...

Dunno what happened... just didn't understand the question at all, they confuse the hell out of me... I don't know what they are asking, especially when everything is enclosed in inner classes... I don't really know how it affects the modifiers ....

Just one word - "Difficult" !!

Any study guide for the exam? I did the Java 5.0 by the way, which not many books have covered the new topics...

[marc weber]

I bet you could pass the 1.4 exam.

I used the same book (Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide by Heller and Roberts) and did quite well on the 1.4 exam. But I really don't know whether I could pass the 5.0 exam. Even though I'm "familiar" with the new features, I don't think I'm up to the proficiency that the new exam requires. But it's hard to tell without updated references and mock exams.

[Dibbo Khan]

Don't worry about this. Do retake the exam and do not be discouraged. I passed the SCJP 1.4 on my first try 3 years ago, but recently when I took the SCJP 5 I missed it by one question, got 57% and failed.

I studied not so hard for two weeks and retook the Upgrade exam only and got 67% and passed.

I always find that you get at least 10% on a retake even with moderate studying. You are already 13% of the pass mark and if you prepare somewhat diligently for 3 weeks you should easily pass.

Do not take a break and leave things now, you have alot of the knowledge in your head, build on this, after two days start preparing again and you will surely pass the next time.

Dibbo

[Kevin Lam]

Thank you very much for your support

I will revise hard this time, to be fair, I only revised for 3, 4 days before the exam... I deserve to fail...

Can anyone tell me how does inner class affect the public, private and default access modifier?

e.g.

class A{
public class B{
public B(){}
}
}

can B be used anywhere? or is it just restricted to "default" because A is default?

also

class A{
class B{
public B(){}
}
}

is B public or default??

I am confused...

[Abhijit Sontakey]

For the 1st option B can be used only where A can be used. Actually it is an instance member of A. so to access B we need to instantiate A.

For the 2nd options accesibilty of B is default.
Let me know if this helps.

[Kevin Lam]

Thx for the reply, but what's the point of defining a public inner class in a default or protected outter class?

And what's the point to have a public constructor if the class itself is default or protected?

Thx

[Gokul Somasundaram]

Hi Kevin,
I am going to take the exam in 2 days without much preparation. When you just narrate about yourself before the exam, it just resembles me. But i am taking 1.4. Let me try to answer your questions.

1) There is nothing like a protected outer class. Classes can have either default or public access. If the outer class is default and if you declare a public inner class, then that inner class will be considered like any other public member and can be accessed with the outer class object for classes in the same package.

2) constructor should ideally be public (except for singleton classes).So having it in default class again makes that class instantiable by every other class in the package.

Please correct me, if i am wrong.

Thanks,
Gokul.

[Kevin Lam]

So you are saying that only the class access modifier mattters to the class access level?

what's the use of the constrcutor ?

I thought it is actually the constructor which defines the access level??

I am confused.... no wonder why i have failed


By the way Gokul, 1.4 is appearantly a lot easier to just "read the book and pass". Whereas 1.5 needs a lot more thinking, dunno whether that's true though.

Good luck anyways

[Sara Olsen]

I'm sorry for you.
I failed my SCJP 5 exam last week as well!
It's hard... and it's supposed to be hard, which make a good feeling when we pass it next time

[Rupak Khurana]

Another proof that Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide by Heller and Roberts for java 5.0 SUCKS !!!

After reading this book, I postponed my exam date. They just hurried to bring the books to the shelf.

sorry about your result, wait for K&B and then retry..

[Mahendar Reddy]

Hi Kevin,
Not only the class access modifier mattters to the class access level,
access modifier of the constructor also matters.
It works like, weaker access modifier of either(class/constructor) is considered. Let me know u got it or not.

[Joan Pujol]

Originally posted by Rupak Khurana:
Another proof that Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide by Heller and Roberts for java 5.0 SUCKS !!!

After reading this book, I postponed my exam date. They just hurried to bring the books to the shelf.

sorry about your result, wait for K&B and then retry..

I don't agree with you. The book doesn't sucks. By now I think that is the best book for scjp5. The problem is that it doesn't cover all the topics, and you have to know that you have to improve a lot some areas (mainly generics). But until K&B is released, I think that this book don't sucks, it's incomplete leaving important topics but the things that it explain, are well explained. I have scored 92% using the book, and other resources. I will post what I have used in the results forum.

[Fes D Gaur]

So if you fail on the exam once do you have to purchase another voucher from Sun to sit for the exam again? Or can you use the same voucher for a maximum of three tries that same year?

Thanks,
Fes

[Gokul Somasundaram]

Hi Kevin,
Just to come back to your question,
1) Constructors are a way to instantiate the class. If it is a public constructor, then everybody can instantiate a class. If it is a protected constructor, then only the subclasses can instantiate the class. If it is a private constructor, then only that class can create an instance of it. Even without making use of the constructor, you can access the static methods of the class.
2) Inner classes can be private, because the inner classes are like any other methods and variables inside the top-level class.
I may advise you to just to go through some of the basics of object oriented programming(if you don't mind).

Thanks,
Gokul.

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Originally posted by Kevin Lam:


Any study guide for the exam? I did the Java 5.0 by the way, which not many books have covered the new topics...

Kevin,

I compiled some notes for SCJP 5.0, it may be useful for your preparation (note, only new Java 5.0 objectives are covered, for the rest of exam objectives you should use some SCJP 1.4 book):

http://java.boot.by/scjp-tiger/

regards,
MZ

[Kevin Lam]

Thanks very much for everyone's reply! I have got myself together and try to start revising agian, hoping to retake in the end of November...

For you guys questions:

1) I have checked and you can't retake with the same voucher, no discount at all... which is a bit rip off...

2) Thanks for the recommendation, I will have a look at the link

3) I think I know how access modifier works now, many thx I just don't understand why Java leave us an awkard situation where the default class can have a public constructor which is no use at all, i guess I just need to remember the fact and take it to the exam.

4) I think the book I used was ok, but if anyone were to use that as the main text, I say NO, DON;T!!! It doesn't cover all the topics as someone has mentioned earlier and I have been tested on the topics which they didn't mention! Damn it...

Many thx for your support, I should get 90%+ next time!

[Kevin Lam]

I am sorry, had a look at the study guide but this doesn't make sense to me:

Newly declared fields can hide fields declared in a superclass or superinterface. Newly declared class members and interface members can hide class or interface members declared in a superclass or superinterface. Newly declared methods can hide, implement, or override methods declared in a superclass or superinterface.