Java 6 or Java 8 Certification Exam?

[lalit chahar]

I studied for SCJP(Exam 310-065) from Java 6 Study Guide. But after seeing blogs i got confused whether i should give Java SE 8 OCP or should I stick on the same OCJP 6. How different is OCP 8 from OCP 6? WHat is in more demand?

[lalit chahar]

Which exam is best to give after reading SCJP (Exam-310-065) book from Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates?

[Puspender Tanwar]

lalit chahar wrote:I studied for SCJP(Exam 310-065) from Java 6 Study Guide. But after seeing blogs i got confused whether i should give Java SE 8 OCP or should I stick on the same OCJP 6. How different is OCP 8 from OCP 6? WHat is in more demand?

ofcourse you should go for the latest technology. That's why you should go for OCP8.
there are many things added to java7 as compared to java6 :
Type inference, String as a expression for switch , Try-with-Resource , Suppressing of Exception, Underscores in numeric literals, Multicatch , Re-Throwing Exception, Memory leak issue, Intern() method to force string literals to go into String pool.

About the java8, don't know much as i am preparing for OCP7.
But the biggest and useful capability given is Lambda Expression . And some concepts are also added.

seems that you have not given any certification exam yet, so firstly you have to given the Associate Exam and Then professional exam.
1. OCAJP8
2. OCPJP8

here you can see the syllabus and price of the exam

Hope it Helps
Puspender

[lalit chahar]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes you are right i didnt give any exam yet. I am planning to give exam next month. But as i studied from java 6 book . I have to explore more on the new topics suggested for ocp7. which book should i refer to cover topics which are present in java 7 not in 6?

[Puspender Tanwar]

lalit chahar wrote:Thanks for your reply.

Yes you are right i didnt give any exam yet. I am planning to give exam next month. But as i studied from java 6 book . I have to explore more on the new topics suggested for ocp7. which book should i refer to cover topics which are present in java 7 not in 6?

if you are begginer, first read HEAD FIRST JAVA by kathy
then also have a sight at java documentation .
finally go with this book. This is the best book for preparation .
And when you are done with all these sources, finally buy the Enthuware Mock exams for 1Z0 - 803 exam (OCA7). solve all those mock exams with your full energy (but only when you are done with the books).
ask your doubts on coderanch . and code....ask...improve... code.... ask .. improve..

Note: never ever never use IDE like netbeans eclipse for practicing code. practice on notepad and compile and run on command prompt .

[Paweł Baczyński]

Puspender Tanwar wrote:practice on notepad and compile and run on command prompt .

Notepad? No. Notepad++? Yes.

[Puspender Tanwar]

Paweł Baczyński wrote:

Puspender Tanwar wrote:practice on notepad and compile and run on command prompt .

Notepad? No. Notepad++? Yes.

I practice on default Notepad in Windows .

[lalit chahar]

Thanks for your advice it is really helpfull.

I have one more doubt. I already read "Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Study Guide SCJP " By Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. Do i need to read more books suggested by you or only the topics which are not covered in that book.In parrallel I can directly start the mock exams "Enthuware Mock exams for 1Z0 - 803 exam (OCA7)".

[Puspender Tanwar]

No, don't go parallel with book and mock exam. first complete the books and the oracle java documentation
i already told you, if you are a beginner, then you must read the HEAD FIRST JAVA. If you know basics about java, start with the documentation link i have provided. That will cover all the new topics added to java7 and java8. Even in that tutorial they have clearly written that "this topic in introduced in java7 or java8".
Then go for to exam preparation book. solve exrecise they have given. and then finaly the mock exams

[Roel De Nijs]

Hi lalit chahar,

First of all, a warm welcome to CodeRanch!

lalit chahar wrote:I studied for SCJP(Exam 310-065) from Java 6 Study Guide. But after seeing blogs i got confused whether i should give Java SE 8 OCP or should I stick on the same OCJP 6. How different is OCP 8 from OCP 6? WHat is in more demand?

The main difference (besides the exam objectives) between getting OCP6 and OCP7/OCP8 certified is the number of exams you have to pass. For the OCP6 exam, you only need to (purchase and) pass the OCP6 certification exam (1Z0-851). For OCP7 or OCP8, you'll need to (purchase and) pass two exams: the OCA exam (Java && OO basics) and the OCP exam (much more advanced topics). You need to pass both in order to become an Oracle Certified Professional. So if money is an issue and you can only afford to pay for 1 exam, you should definitely go for the OCP6 exam. Otherwise you should opt for either OCA7 (1Z0-803) + OCP7 (1Z0-804) or OCA8 (1Z0-808) + OCP8 (1Z0-809). And you need of course to study for additional topics (introduced in Java 7 and 8) which were (obviously) not included in the study guide for OCP6 (K&B6).

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel

[Roel De Nijs]

lalit chahar wrote:Which exam is best to give after reading SCJP (Exam-310-065) book from Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates?

You have read/studied from an OCP6 study guide. Without additional preparation and studying you can only take the OCP6 certification exam (1Z0-851). If you want to do some additional studying to improve your Java knowledge about concepts introduced in newer versions of Java (7 or 8), you can take either Java 7 or 8 certification exams.

[Roel De Nijs]

Puspender Tanwar wrote:there are many things added to java7 as compared to java6 :
Type inference,

I assume you mean the diamond notation (as type inference already existed in Java 6 but was improved in Java 7).

Puspender Tanwar wrote:Intern() method to force string literals to go into String pool.

The intern() method (with lower case i) is not new to Java 7, it already exists in Java 6. But the implementation was changed in Java 7, but that doesn't matter for the OCA and OCP certification exams.

Puspender Tanwar wrote:But the biggest and useful capability given is Lambda Expression . And some concepts are also added.

Correct! In Java 8 streams, lambda expressions and the new Date/Time API are the most important (and biggest) new language features.

[Roel De Nijs]

lalit chahar wrote:I am planning to give exam next month. But as i studied from java 6 book . I have to explore more on the new topics suggested for ocp7. which book should i refer to cover topics which are present in java 7 not in 6?

Here you'll find a mapping of the exam objectives of OCAJP7 and OCPJP7 vs OCJP6. Here you'll find a mapping of the exam objectives of OCAJP7 vs OCAJP8. And finally here you'll find a mapping of the exam objectives of OCPJP7 vs OCPJP8.

If you are looking for another study guide and you like the one you have already read, you can purchase K&B7 (which is intended for the OCA7 and OCP7 certification exams). If you want to take OCA8 and OCP8 certification exams and are looking for a study guide, you can purchase both study guides of Jeanne Boyarsky and Scott Selikoff. In the OcajpFaq (besides other very useful information) and this thread you'll find an overview of all available resources (study guides, mock exams,...) to thorougly prepare yourself for the OCA certification exam. And on the OcajpWallOfFame you'll find plenty of (links to) experiences from other ranchers (including resources they have used). So it can be useful to determine which resources are useful (and which are not). In the OcpjpFaq and OcpjpWallOfFame you'll find similar information for the OCP certification.

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel

[Roel De Nijs]

lalit chahar wrote:I have one more doubt. I already read "Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Study Guide SCJP " By Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. Do i need to read more books suggested by you or only the topics which are not covered in that book.In parrallel I can directly start the mock exams "Enthuware Mock exams for 1Z0 - 803 exam (OCA7)".

If you are really opting for the Java 7 certification exams, you should first purchase K&B7 and study the OCA part. When you are done studying and want to test your knowledge and readiness for the actual exam, purchase the Enthuware mock exams and take their first test. Based on your score on this first test, you'll know if you are ready (+80%) or you need to do some additional studying and preparation (-70%).
If you are a Java greenhorn, 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.

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

It sounds like you've already studied for the Java 6 exam and want to take it in a short time frame. You should take the exam that you read a book for. There are a lot of differences between the Java 6 and 8 exams. You could get ready for the OCA 8 in short order. The OCP 8 will take you way more than a month to study for.

[lalit chahar]

I am glad that i joined this forum.Thanks Roel for all the details.
That made me clear that i would go for OCP6 certification exam.
Do you know any mock exam book for OCP6 ?

Also later if i want to upgrade from OCP6 to OCP7 what exam should I take?

[Paweł Baczyński]

Why not upgrade from OCPJP 6 to 8?
That would be: 1Z0-813 Upgrade to Java SE 8 OCP (Java SE 6 and all prior versions).

I you really want to upgrade to OCPJP 7 the exam would be: 1Z0-805 Upgrade to Java SE 7 Programmer.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

lalit chahar wrote:Do you know any mock exam book for OCP6 ?

Kathy and Bert have a book full of mock exams

[Roel De Nijs]

lalit chahar wrote:Do you know any mock exam book for OCP6 ?

Besides the OCPJP6 Practice Exams book (already mentioned by Jeanne and from the same authors as your study guide), you can purchase the Enthuware mock exams for OCPJP6 as well. And you can of course purchase both resources and use them complementary. The more you practice, the better you'll become

lalit chahar wrote:Also later if i want to upgrade from OCP6 to OCP7 what exam should I take?

From OCP6 to OCP7 you need to take the Upgrade to Java SE 7 Programmer exam (1Z0-805). To become OCP8 certified (from OCP6) you need to take the Upgrade to Java SE 8 OCP ( Java SE 6 and all prior versions) exam (1Z0-813).

[Puspender Tanwar]

As I am preparing of OCP7, i just encountered the WatchService API. This was also a interesting addition to the java7.

[Roel De Nijs]

Puspender Tanwar wrote:This was also a interesting addition to the java7.

So is NIO.2.