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Taking the 1z0-803 exam, need some help please.

 
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Is OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide - Mala Gupta (the book in the Study Materials sticky) good if you're a complete beginner in Java taking the 1z0-803 exam? If not what is a good way for a completely new student to java to learn the basics and then move on to the Study Guides and mock exam questions?


Thanks
 
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None of the study guides for the exam are meant for someone who has never read a programming book before. I like to recommend reading Head First Java or Thinking in Java first. I recently read Murach's Beginning Java with Eclipse which is also a good first Java book.

 
Francis Quillin
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Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:None of the study guides for the exam are meant for someone who has never read a programming book before. I like to recommend reading Head First Java or Thinking in Java first. I recently read Murach's Beginning Java with Eclipse which is also a good first Java book.



Thank you for the reply, I will check out those books right now . I know about the study guides lol, tried to start reading the one but got lost pretty quick.

 
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Don't force and don't give an extra pressure to yourself by trying to get certified as soon as possible. Exam is not an easy, it requires to understand quite few topics fairly well. I haven't tried to take an exam myself, but I should think about it as a resolution to myself But what Jeanne said, take it seriously, get some decent beginning book, so you could warm up first and see in which kind of field you have been left out, luckily not alone. Try to spend a lot time in certification and beginning Java forums here, so you could see where people making mostly mistakes. Similar and repeatedly questions comes up on Ranch on daily basis. Best luck.
 
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Francis Quillin wrote:Is OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide - Mala Gupta (the book in the Study Materials sticky) good if you're a complete beginner in Java taking the 1z0-803 exam? If not what is a good way for a completely new student to java to learn the basics and then move on to the Study Guides and mock exam questions?


Thanks



Mala Gupta is good if you are a beginner, but maybe you need something else even before that if you are a complete beginner. You might want to check out:
http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/java/java.html
 
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Hi Francis Quillin,

First of all, a warm welcome to CodeRanch!

Francis Quillin wrote:Is OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide - Mala Gupta (the book in the Study Materials sticky) good if you're a complete beginner in Java taking the 1z0-803 exam? If not what is a good way for a completely new student to java to learn the basics and then move on to the Study Guides and mock exam questions?


As you are still a novice, you might benefit from reading a book on Java first (rather than a certification study guide). Many alternatives are available: Head First Java, Thinking in Java, Core Java, Deitel & Deitel, and so on. Or you could combine the Java text book together with an OCA certification study guide. And you also can have a look at the (free) Oracle Java tutorials.

Happy learning!
Kind regards,
Roel
 
Francis Quillin
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Roger Jenkins wrote:

Mala Gupta is good if you are a beginner, but maybe you need something else even before that if you are a complete beginner. You might want to check out:
http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/java/java.html




Thank you, that site looks really helpful for the basics.


Roel De Nijs wrote:Hi Francis Quillin,

First of all, a warm welcome to CodeRanch!

Francis Quillin wrote:Is OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide - Mala Gupta (the book in the Study Materials sticky) good if you're a complete beginner in Java taking the 1z0-803 exam? If not what is a good way for a completely new student to java to learn the basics and then move on to the Study Guides and mock exam questions?


As you are still a novice, you might benefit from reading a book on Java first (rather than a certification study guide). Many alternatives are available: Head First Java, Thinking in Java, Core Java, Deitel & Deitel, and so on. Or you could combine the Java text book together with an OCA certification study guide. And you also can have a look at the (free) Oracle Java tutorials.

Happy learning!
Kind regards,
Roel


Thanks for the welcome and suggestions. One question, if the book is old but really good would it still work for my exam which uses JDK 7? I've seen Head First Java mentioned a lot but its from 2005, is that a problem or will it not matter for the basics of java?
 
Roel De Nijs
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Francis Quillin wrote:One question, if the book is old but really good would it still work for my exam which uses JDK 7? I've seen Head First Java mentioned a lot but its from 2005, is that a problem or will it not matter for the basics of java?


If it is about basic Java and/or OO concepts like strings, StringBuilder, arrays, ArrayList, overloading, overriding, if statement, switch statement, for loop, while loop, enhanced for loop,... it doesn't make a difference if you are using JDK 5 or JDK 7. But with a new JDK version you often have new language features and syntax changes which are of course not covered in an old(er) Java book. For example: in JDK 7 you can use strings in switches (the concept of a switch statement didn't change), you can use an underscore in numeric literals (again the concept of a numeric literal didn't change) and you have "the diamond" with generics (but it's only saving some characters, not changing the concept of generics).
 
Francis Quillin
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Roel De Nijs wrote:

Francis Quillin wrote:One question, if the book is old but really good would it still work for my exam which uses JDK 7? I've seen Head First Java mentioned a lot but its from 2005, is that a problem or will it not matter for the basics of java?


If it is about basic Java and/or OO concepts like strings, StringBuilder, arrays, ArrayList, overloading, overriding, if statement, switch statement, for loop, while loop, enhanced for loop,... it doesn't make a difference if you are using JDK 5 or JDK 7. But with a new JDK version you often have new language features and syntax changes which are of course not covered in an old(er) Java book. For example: in JDK 7 you can use strings in switches (the concept of a switch statement didn't change), you can use an underscore in numeric literals (again the concept of a numeric literal didn't change) and you have "the diamond" with generics (but it's only saving some characters, not changing the concept of generics).



Oh ok I see, so what would you advise me do to cover the basics as a complete newbie? Should I read Head First Java and then go through the newer study guides to update my knowledge? Or use this website that was posted (http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/java/java.html) or a youtube tutorial series for the basics and then go through the study guides? Obviously either way I'm going to have to go through the study guides and mock exams but I just want to know the best methods to get knowledgeable and have a good basis in java before I go straight to the 1z0-803 material
 
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A good alternative intro other than books would be a free course on edx, udacity, or coursera. There are more courses using Python though. After you have the language down at that level, then you need to tailor the trail to things that the test consists of and also practice testing itself. At that point use Enthuware according to its instructions and one or more of the study books. I used K & B for ocajp7.
 
Roel De Nijs
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Francis Quillin wrote:Oh ok I see, so what would you advise me do to cover the basics as a complete newbie? Should I read Head First Java and then go through the newer study guides to update my knowledge? Or use this website that was posted (http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/java/java.html) or a youtube tutorial series for the basics and then go through the study guides? Obviously either way I'm going to have to go through the study guides and mock exams but I just want to know the best methods to get knowledgeable and have a good basis in java before I go straight to the 1z0-803 material


Yes, I would start with Head First Java. I didn't read it myself, but I have read some other books from the Head First series and I really like the style of writing. I do think you can also use several different resources together, it's definitely not one or the other. No, you should combine different resources, because the more resources you have, the more different ways of explaining you have and the more likely it will be that you understand all these concepts in the end.
I don't know that website, so I don't know anything about its quality. But you can give it a go (it's free). Because it's free, I would only use it as the main resource if its quality is verified and confirmed. That's why I would use different resources as well: you could verify statements in different resources and so it's easier to spot mistakes. And if one of the resources has plenty of mistakes, you'll know you can get rid of it Not every section of this website is appropriate for you, I had a look and you should only focus on sections 1 until 8 (included). All other sections are not considered to be basic Java and will not be covered by the OCA exam (some of them will be covered on the much more advanced OCP exam).

A final remark: don't spend your time at learning how to create GUIs in Java, because that's really advanced stuff and is not very useful. If you encounter a topic, just check the exam objectives of the OCA exams. If it's on the list, then you should learn and study about this topic (as the OCA exam is an entry-level certification about Java and OO basics).

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel
 
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Roel De Nijs wrote:

Francis Quillin wrote:Oh ok I see, so what would you advise me do to cover the basics as a complete newbie? Should I read Head First Java and then go through the newer study guides to update my knowledge? Or use this website that was posted (http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/java/java.html) or a youtube tutorial series for the basics and then go through the study guides? Obviously either way I'm going to have to go through the study guides and mock exams but I just want to know the best methods to get knowledgeable and have a good basis in java before I go straight to the 1z0-803 material


Yes, I would start with Head First Java. I didn't read it myself, but I have read some other books from the Head First series and I really like the style of writing. I do think you can also use several different resources together, it's definitely not one or the other. No, you should combine different resources, because the more resources you have, the more different ways of explaining you have and the more likely it will be that you understand all these concepts in the end.
I don't know that website, so I don't know anything about its quality. But you can give it a go (it's free). Because it's free, I would only use it as the main resource if its quality is verified and confirmed. That's why I would use different resources as well: you could verify statements in different resources and so it's easier to spot mistakes. And if one of the resources has plenty of mistakes, you'll know you can get rid of it Not every section of this website is appropriate for you, I had a look and you should only focus on sections 1 until 8 (included). All other sections are not considered to be basic Java and will not be covered by the OCA exam (some of them will be covered on the much more advanced OCP exam).

A final remark: don't spend your time at learning how to create GUIs in Java, because that's really advanced stuff and is not very useful. If you encounter a topic, just check the exam objectives of the OCA exams. If it's on the list, then you should learn and study about this topic (as the OCA exam is an entry-level certification about Java and OO basics).

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel



Really appreciate the detailed and friendly help here, thanks a lot. Going through the basics right now with Head First Java, also just bought that Enthuware mock exam thing to check out how the questions come, pretty neat stuff gonna be helpful when I finish.
 
Roel De Nijs
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Francis Quillin wrote:Going through the basics right now with Head First Java, also just bought that Enthuware mock exam thing to check out how the questions come, pretty neat stuff gonna be helpful when I finish.


At this moment looking at the Enthuware questions will probably be quite a Don't worry: if you study hard for several weeks/months, you'll pass these exams with flying colors If you are using Enthuware mock exams, it might be very useful to read this thread as well. So you don't make the mistake of rushing through all the mock exams.

Happy studying!
Kind regards,
Roel
 
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