Study tips

In my opinion, there is no set timeframe like months or days to prepare for Java Certification. It depends entirely on how you want to approach the whole subject. If you are well versed with Java language it might take you little effort to prepare for the Java Certification or else if you are new to Java the efforts can double. The objective for passing the certification is totally different then objective for learning Java language. There are certain Java topics which are not covered in the certification objectives like Swing, EJB, Servlets, JDBC just to name few. When I started learning Java language I realized that it is kind of cumulative language, which means the new concepts are added to and build upon previous concepts. It is very important that the early material be mastered thoroughly. So.... do some initial homework, see where you stand in terms of your Java expertise and approach this issue accordingly.

Tips:
(1) Before you think of appearing for the certification, make sure that you are aware of Java language concepts, syntax and object oriented concepts. Lay special emphasis on the certification objectives. This will give you some directions as to what Sun(TM) is expecting from you for getting certified.

(2) Do some initial investment and buy a good Java book. I bought Ivar Hortan's Beginning Java 2.

Carefully read over the sections and look carefully at the sample problems. (One nice aspect of this book is that the author uses real life scenarios to explain Java concepts) .If you go to a school which teach Java or have joined a Java course, then decide if you benefit more by reading before or after the instructor covers the material. If you know which skill areas are the weakest, you can then work to improve yourself in those areas, and you'll have a far better chance to reach your full potential for higher scores.

(3) There is simply no excuse for this.. write lots of code. As you start developing code, you won't necessarily get it right the first time, but you can improve as you find more about the underlying details. You will realize the importance of this when you go in the examination hall and see the code intensive questions in the new SCJP format. Writing and executing code will fine tune your theoretical concepts and get rid of any ambiguities. Questions in the certification often test you on 'compile time error' and 'run time error' in the code and you are expected to know the difference between the two types of errors, which will not come to you unless and until you have made an conscious effort to write and compile the code.


(4) Start making notes on piece of paper. Every time you find a concept which relates to the certification objective, jot it down. Put together all the notes pertaining to a topic in same folder in one place, so that you can refer to them at the appropriate time.


(5) Identify your scoring topics. These are some of the topics where you stand a good chance of scoring 95% - 100%. Concentrate more on these.

(6) Once you are confident that your level of comfort with Java language is fairly good, start taking the mock exams. You may have to do the exams test for more than once. Try to get score over 90% in this mock exams. The questions that are in the real exam can be a lot trickier than those you solve in mock exams. One area which can be tricky is declarations and access control, Operators and assignments. In case of multiple choice questions, you can go thru the possible answers real quick and eliminate the wrong ones which seem obvious. This is the most difficult exercise, but once you crack it (by practice) you can get the answer fairly quickly.

It is very very important that you continually review and practice the java concepts you already know and the new concept you acquire in the process of learning. Best way to do so is visit a Java forums on the web. Try to answer the questions raised by the fellow programmers. I have listed some forums here on my website.

(7) Week before the exam collect all your notes which you have filed in Step (4) and start breaking them into one liners, just the gist. This way you have only the important points and concepts in hand. Use this material one final time one day before the exam and keep it in safe place.

(8) Take a good night sleep before the exam day and appear with fresh mind.

(9) When you approach a question try to understand why has the question come in the examination, what is that 'they' want to test by posing this question. In the real exam the questions are worded clearly and without any ambiguity (no tricky questions) , so spend some time reading them.

(10) Haste will only makes waste!!. Rushing thru the questions and trying to complete the test will not improve your test score.

(11) One very counter productive approach is to time your questions. You will end up spending more time looking at your watch and less time concentrating on the questions. You may want to get to the "easier" questions first and then revisit the remaining ones.

(12) Never get frustrated or discouraged by unfamiliar or "hard" questions which come can come in the beginning. Just keep concentrating and working on the remaining ones.

(13) Not failure but low aim is a crime....