I nailed down
SCJP 6 exam yesterday! I did 84%, however, was a bit frustrated with my score, as I was aiming confidently to score 100%. During the exam there was only one or two questions that I was not too sure about the answer so I was expecting something around +95%...
I would like to thanks so much Khalid Mughal and Rolf Rasmussen for their wonderful, amazing, great, book on SCJP 6:
“A Programmer's Guide to Java SCJP Certification: A Comprehensive Primer (3rd Edition)”. Actually this book is recently published and I was blessed to have the opportunity to read it before going for my exam. This book saves me a great deal of time by answering lots of my questions that otherwise I would have to perform a lot of research to find them. Such a technical, insight and deep approach to SCJP… Just “Perfect” I would say. It turns out to contain a number of beautiful questions at the end of each section that helps to build up a solid and deep understanding of the exam concepts. I read this book from cover to cover and it amazingly takes my Java knowledge to the next level, a level that makes the SCJP exam questions a piece of cake for me; and in some parts I would say even ridiculous!!
Thanks to Devaka for his fantastic
ExamLab! Devaka, Your exam simulator rocks man! Keep up the great work!
Also I should thank Kathy and Bert for writing an interactive and live SCJP 6 preparation book. I read this book from cover to cover too.
Last but not least, thank you all ranchers! All those who answered my questions and all those who asked something here; therefore made me learn new things or reinforced my knowledge by clearing their doubts.
I started from almost zero Java knowledge and spent a few months for my exam preparation by reading more than six books and went over three exam simulator. Therefore, I think I have good points to share here. So, if you are pursuing a SCJP certification, the rest of this topic is for you: I’ll let you know everything you need to know for effectively passing the exam:
Books:
If you want to read just one book then defiantly go for Khalid and Rolf SCJP 6 book. However, if you are new to Java or learning it as your first programming language, then you might find it a bit hard to start with, in this case you may want to buy Kathy & Bert book first and read it as an introductory material.
In addition, if you are new to Java or coming from other programming languages with zero java experience (like me) then you may need a practical book which makes you start coding, this was one of my initial concerns when I start studying for SCJP, to find a book that I can practice Java coding with; hence, I tried quite a few Java books for this purpose. It turns out that my favourite become “Murach's Java SE 6”. It teaches Java to you so much, so fast and so thoroughly by make you start coding right off the bat! I also tried Thinking in Java and Head First Java but none them was appropriate for this purpose. (Even not appropriate for SCJP!)
Generics:
For learning Generics (if you are so passionate to gain a deep knowledge like I was) you can go for
“Java Generics and Collections by Maurice Naftalin and Philip Wadler” I found it a useful one but I would say you don’t need it for the exam. Khalid and Rolf book has an amazing chapter on Generics which gives you perfect knowledge which enables you to deal with almost any type of Generics questions way higher than the exam level! Also don’t miss Angelika Langer Generics FAQ too. She has the answers for your Generics surprisings!
Exams:
Well, you know where to go for this one: our perfect Examlab software! But just a caveat here: don’t consider this as a self assessment tool for the last days! Instead, try to answer its questions during your preparation process, even as soon as when you finish each objective. I made a mistake to leave it up for the last week and I did not find enough time to go over it more than once.
Khalid and Rolf book also comes with a Mock exam which is very deep and helpful. And yes Master Exams are so important too! Even though it’s a pain to answer the Master exam questions through its simulator software but make sure that you finish all three Master Exams before going for the exam cause you may find it very helpful at you exam day ;-) I believe you can freely download it from the “Learn key” website even if you don’t buy the K&B book.
Other than that, in my opinion, you absolutely don’t need any commercial Mock exams at all! The sources that I introduced so far contains over 1000 questions which is enough, more than enough! I also bought ePractice exam from Sun but it has nothing more than that free self assessment exam available freely on Sun SCJP webpage.
Java Ranch:
Contribute to this forum! Believe me it lets you learn many new things or reinforce your learned concepts. You learn concepts but forget it too quickly? Start discussions about it with other folks in here. That concept will be tattooed on your mind!!
Ok, fellow ranchers: Good luck to you all!
Study with passion and when it's time to going for the exam,
beat it hard and
beat it deep!
All the Best,
Morteza Manavi-Parast
