"malicious" questions

[Luciano Lopes]

Hello guys, I went back to studying to get the 1Z0-811 certification (at the moment it is the most affordable for me, in the future I want to do the 1Z0-808). I've been working with java for some years, but I realize that the test questions are a little out of the developer's day-to-day, sometimes it seems that the questions are asked to make the user wrong and that makes me worried and insecure studies and simulations. Generally my score in the simulations is 40% -50% and this is leaving me unmotivated because I realize that the errors are due to "malicious" codes. I would like your opinion on how to improve and prepare for it more and if there are simulated questions like that so I can get used to it. I will buy the enthuware simulation but I would like to practice it in other simulations too.

[Campbell Ritchie]

I think it is unfair to call questions malicious. You must however remember that the cert exams test something different from good practice, viz your understanding of the syntax rules. The questions in practice exams are often designed to be quite difficult; you don't want to find the real exam is more difficult than you expected. Don't sit the exam until you are getting marks much better than 50%.

[Luciano Lopes]

I understand your point of view, it is sometimes annoying to see, for example, a variable declared at the end of the class, and the development pattern you declare it at the beginning of the class. A developer could judge this as incorrect. Could you indicate any simulators besides the one I mentioned?

[Campbell Ritchie]

If you think nobody declares fields at the end of the class, you obviously haven't read Cay Horstmann's books. The idea of the cert exam is (in part) to find out whether you know what is a convention and what is a requirement of the language. Some languages do require variables be declared in a particular order. An exam is a game. It isn't real life any more than a game of cricket is real life. You will only pass it by following the exam's rules.
If you haven't been told to pass the cert exam, I suggest you consider a degree instead. A good course will test you on your skills with computers, indlucing program development.
I don't think you mean simulator, but mock exams. People speak well of Enthuware; there are also questions available with the Boyarsky and Selikoff books. I have tried online simulators and “compilers” and gave up a long time ago because they are awkward to use and many weren't Java® Language Specification compliant.

[Addition]I recommend you try JShell instead of an online compiler.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

We wrote how to use our 809 book for the 811 exams. We also wrote blog posts for the topics on the 811 (but not the 809) which include some free practice questions in the blog posts.

Cert exams are tricky though. Study guides and enthuware are trying to prepare you.