TEERA 2.0: Vancouver Sun

Recently a developer has emailed me for any suggestions and tips for SCJP (Sun Certified Java Programmer) exam preparation. I took SCJP exam about two years ago. Just as I typed up replying email I found that these tips are quite useful for anyone, especially students who plan to take SCJP certification exam.

Get an exam prep book

You can find a few SCJP prep book on amazon. I actually went to a bookstore near my house and skim through a few. The one I picked was "SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide by Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates" and it is simply amazing. This book covers all the topics. It's the only main material I used for preparation. It does more than getting me through the exam, it did a great job laying solid foundation on Java as well. I still keeps it on handy on my bookshelf.

Is only one book enough?

Yes, one is enough. I'm not getting commission or anything advertising this book. I think any exam prep books can get you through the exam if you really work it, cover to cover that is.

Someone told me about 'certification exam braindump' ?

Check out some braindump websites. Don't get confuse with those website that try to sell you their exam prep material. There are web forums where people post their study tips and exam experience. These braindumps won't tell you what's on exam but give you an idea of what it's like.

Again, it's really your choice if you want to purchase some sample test questions from many vendors advertising on Google (they are actually the same company). Going through enough braindumps sample test questions may help you passing the exam, but what's missing will still be missing - the solid knowledge foundation.

What about Sun practice exam?

Sun practice exam will surely help. I got a chance to go through Sun SCJP practice exam questions after I got my cert. I found it to be much more informative and right on the exam topic than of other vendors. My advice on this though is, no matter how many preps you have, do not to take them for grant, use them as supplementary material to your learning.

Yes, I am ready to take on the exam!

This is in fact, my most critical tip for SCJP exam preparation. When you feel you're ready, take a deep breath and slowly go through each of the exam objectives (in the book's index or listed on Sun website). Without looking at any notes, write down everything you understand about each objective. Then check for correction. This will help making sure that you really have good understanding on all topics and boost your confidence.

Do I need to practice?

Practice makes perfect! I passed the exam with pretty good score for someone who doesn't do Java everyday. If you work with real-world Java everyday, there should be no problem. If not, try out as many sample code (from prep book) as possible. Hand-typing the code will make it stick to your brain better than just reading through the text.

Ok, I'm a Java guru and I've read quite a number of Java book, I shouldn't need the exam prep material right?

Studying normal Java book does not ensure that you'll pass the exam. Regular Java book aims to give you enough knowledge to do real-world work, unfortunately, what you'll find on the exam is a different story. To pass the SCJP, you also needs to know some non-common-sense stuffs, theoretical topics, in and out, and the "nice to know" of Java. That's why I really suggest you grab a prep book, it help you with that.

One more thing(s):

Of course I won't tell you what's on the exam =). Here are few things I think you should get solid understanding of before taking the test. They are not as trivial as they seem to be!

• Threading


• Array, Generic, and collections


• Object-oriented concept


• Inner class and anonymous classes