Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:The enthuware mocks cost $10 (for 500 questions) and are good.
Roel De Nijs wrote:
Jack Moore Iii wrote:It's just that I can barely stay focused enough to read a few pages before I start wandering. Was thinking associate might be "enough" with my lazy study habits to have a certification to show, then boost it up later once I have a job or a more solid understanding of Java.
I have to say I don't like the attitude at all. I would expect from any developer a certain eagerness to learn. You will be working in a continuously changing/evolving environment and you will be faced with new technologies (e.g. we are talking about the new features of Java 7 and Java 8 with its lambdas & default methods in interfaces is already officially released a few months ago). So you'll definitely have to study to keep up. Otherwise you'll be a dead duck (very) quickly. If you are reluctant to learn/study, you should choose another occupation!
My personal story: started my 1st job in January 2004 and got my 1st certification in October 2005. It was my own initiative to become certified (I thought it would make me a better developer and it definitely did) and paid all expenses myself. It certainly helped to have some experience with java programming while preparing for this certification. So I can understand why someone would opt to take the OCAJP7 certification to start with and after having more experience and hands-on experience go for the more advanced/valuable OCPJP7 certification.
Just my 2 cents.
Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:Since you have the version 6 book, I recommend taking that exam. You can always take the upgrade exam from OCPJP6 to OCPJP67 later if you want a 7 cert. And in the meantime you have a stronger "first" cert. (OCPJP6 is better than OCAJP7 as Roel noted)
Keep in mind that the OCPJP 7 added a number of new topics like JDBC and Concurrency that aren't covered in the book you have in your hands.