WebSphere Cert

[Jenn Green]

Hi there,
I am in the final preparation stages for the WAS 3.5 certifcation. I plan to write in 8 days! Feeling mostly confident with the material - I have studied the PDFs, IBM course ware and been playing with the product. However, I havne't been able to find too many people who have already written the exam. wondering if any one has written this lately, and if so, how did it go? Any last minute advice would be greatly appreciated. (I've already passed VAJ 3.x and SCJP, going for OOAD in UML next - argh!). Thanks in advance! and good luck to any prospective exam takers!
JG

[Theodore Casser]

Well, I took the test (I assume you're taking 406 - WAS Standard Edition) a little over a month ago, so....
Actually, I found it wasn't horrible, and I probably would have done better if I hadn't made myself so nervous. (I was having a very bad morning when I arrived to sit for my exam, and suffice it to say, the situation wasn't ideal. That, and the testing center that my company tends to use isn't the most wonderful.)
About 60% of my examination had to do with application development and wasn't necessarily WebSphere-specific but more related to JSP's and Servlets. I cannot stress enough that it is important to know those API's. The remainder ended up being on configuration, deployment and troubleshooting of WAS, most of which is fairly straight forward, and easier if you've taken time to practice it.
Best of luck on your exam! (And on studying for 486 - I'm doing the same now, ugh!)
------------------
Theodore Jonathan Casser
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java2 Platform
IBM Certified Specialist - WebSphere Application Server, Std. Ed, V3.5

[Jenn Green]

thanks so much. congrats and best of luck with 486! Wishing you all the best.
*cheers*
JG

[Desai Sandeep]

Hi Jenn and Theodore,
I have completed my Jcert for the Oracle track and am now switching over to the IBM track.I intend to start with IBM Visual Age for Java Certification before moving on to IBM Websphere Application Server.
Any preparation tips on the IBM product tests would be helpful.Also how much time should I keep to take this test.
If you require any help on IBM Test 486 do let me know.
Thanks,
Sandeep
Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform Scored 93%
Oracle Certified Solution Developer - JDeveloper
-- Oracle JDeveloper Rel. 3.0 - Develop Database Applications with Java Scored 56 out of 59
-- Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UML Scored 73%
Oracle Certified Enterprise Developer - Oracle Internet Platform
-- Enterprise Connectivity with J2EE Scored 72%
-- Enterprise Development on the Oracle Internet Platform Scored 44 out of 56
[This message has been edited by Desai Sandeep (edited June 21, 2001).]

[Jenn Green]

hi Sandeep,
I wrote a short blurb on my impressions of the Visual Cert (which I wrote last month) which you can view here. Its not too detailed but should give you some idea. I also spent alot of time reviewing the exam objectives and learning as much as i could about each topic from ANY and ALL resources I could find. The PDFs for product documentation and the online help files were especially helpful.
I also have a MS Word file with points to note re: each point that I felt were important. If you would like a copy of this, please feel free to drop me a note @ [e-mail].
Best of luck
JG

[Ram Kondawar]

Hi friends,
I had taken the WAS 3.5 Standard edition test last month, and got a score of 83%.
The test seems to be easy, and the coverage for WAS specific questions is only 20 or 21 questions out of 55 questions.
The questions on over all business strategy are bit tough and requires good thinking.Fairly good number of questions appear on servets and jsp's.
All the Best to u all for cert exams
Ram Kondawar
SCJP2
IBM Certified Specialist for WAS 3.5 Standard Edition