Hi Everybody:

I've attempted at getting Java Sun certified twice (failing both times). My first score was a 22% and my second score was a 44% (big improvement ). I was wondering if anybody had any help or tips for taking the exam. I really want to pass next time.

C++

P.S. I bought this program after I took the exam thee first time from Transcender. It helped - but not enough. If anyone knows about any other programs, please tell me. Thanks.

I really don't know what to say; I bought a book on this a while back, and I have to say, those questions are VERY HARD!

i just want to get cerified before I'm 16. That would make me the youngest person ever Java certified (I'm 13).

C++

PS More help would be appreciated...

I thought there was a 12 year old that got certified?

A 12 or 13 year old got certified in India last year.

The only way to get certified is through hard work. Study, gain experience.
Just going out there hoping Sun will give you the certificate as a PR gesture (see, even a 12 year old kid can do it) is counterproductive.
Sun WANTS the exam to be hard and for good reason.
The results of too easy exams like MCSE can be seen all around. Where the certs are meant to tell companies the person holding them is good at his job MCSE has come to mean the exact opposite and there are now many companies who won't hire an MCSE holder on general principle.

I've been working in Java for 6 years professionally and fulltime and spent the last year or thereabouts studying specifically for the exam, and I now feel I'm ready.
I get 85% on average on practice exams, I'd not go for the real thing (2 weeks from now) if I'd not have this level of confidence.

I'm planning on taking it, but NOT right now! I've studied for it about a year or so, and over the summer, I'm probably going to take a class on it. The java certification has to be one of the hardest out there(not that I would know), because those questions on practice questions are extremely hard..

Anyways, jwenting, good luck on the upcoming exam..I hope you pass! If you do, be sure to let us know.

Thanks. Going up on 09 March noonish (CET).

After SCJP I'm planning to do SCJD which is harder and maybe SCWCD as well.

The main reason the 1.4 exam is so hard is because many of the things being tested are rarely encountered in real life and therefore not general knowledge for even experienced developers.
It's also specifically designed to weed out people who just try to cram for the exam without ever having used Java in anger, apparently with some success

So is the SCJD held in a higer regard than the SCJP?

The crazy thing was I had read about 3 or 4 books on java, and none of them taught what was on the practice exams! I mean, even some of the simple things like how many classes you can extend, and how many interfaces you can implement wasn't even in these books.

When I took the exam it was full of trick questions and language subtleties. As long as you keep in mind that the obvious answer probably isn't correct, you should be okay.

ahh just like the SAT!