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(This page will be updated regularly)
Next Updation : Complete Notes and Best tips for SCJP Examinaton
This page contains : Java Certification FAQ
Frequently asked Questions on Java Programmer Certification
Most recent copy held at http://www.marcusgreen.co.uk
which is a pointer to http://www.software.u-net.com
For a general Java FAQ see http://www.afu.com/javafaq.html
1 )General Stuff
1.1) What Java Certifications exist?
1.2) What are the benefit of becoming certified and how much more will I get paid?
1.3) Will I keep having to upgrade as new versions of Java come out?
1.4) Should I take the 1.1 or the Java2 Exam
2)Learning Resources
2.1)What books will help me become certified?
2.2) Is it a good idea to do a classroom course?
2.3) Are any online/web courses available?
2.4) Some of the questions in R&H or Boon seem to be wrong, is it me or them?
2.5) I am an experienced Java programmer, will I have to study for the exam?
2.6) Is Certification Easy/How long will I need to study ?
2.7) Where can_I_find_mock_test_exams
2.8) Are any newsgroups/mailing lists dedicated to Java Certification?
2.9) Do I need Visual Cafe/JBuilder/VisualAge/J++ to learn Java?
2.10) Are there any online free certification online tutorials?
3) Examination Administrivia
3.1) How do I contact Prometric?
3.2) What are the formal objectives of the exams?
3.3) How much does it cost to take the exam?
3.4) Where can I take the exam?
3.5) Who administers the exams?
3.6) Can I just turn up and take the exam?
3.7) Can I take the exam on a weekend?
4) Actually taking the exam
4.1) How many questions and how long is the exam?
4.2) What if I have questions where there is no apparently correct answer?
4.3) How quickly do you get the exam results?
4.4) What do you get when you pass?
4.5) What is the pass mark for the Programmers exam?
4.6) What format does the exam take, is it all multiple choice?
5) The Developers Exam
5.1) How much does the Developers Exam Cost
5.2) How much time do you have to do the Developers Assignment?
5.3) How long before you get the results of the Developer Exam?
5.4) What study resources are available for the Developers Exam?
1) General Stuff
1.1) What Java Certifications exist?
In a press release on 20 May 1999 IBM, Novell, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and the
Sun-Netscape Alliance announced a
collaboration to establish a standard for recogonition of Java skills. In the short term
this probably does not affect most people
as the current Java Certified Programmers exam remains the pre-requisite for all of the
other exams. This new alliance does
seem to be very good news however in that a wider recognition of the certificaiton exam
means it should become more
valuable. The announcement also introduces some vendor specific exams, so after you have
passed the Programmer Exam you
can take a test to show your knowlege of a particular development tool such as IBM Visual
Age or Oracle JDeveloper. I am
not sure of the timescale of availablity for these additional exams.
You can find out more about this new collaboration at
http://java.sun.com/cert-initiative/faq.html
For the moment Sun have three Java Certifications, programmer and developer and architect.
The programmer certification
tests basic understanding of the language and is entirely exam assessed. The developer
certification tests for advanced Java
knowledge and comprises an programming assignment and then answering questions about your
design. IBM also have the
Certified VisualAge for Java Object-Oriented Associate Developer. This involves two
multiple choice tests. The one is the Sun
Certified Java Programmer test and the other is a test on Visual Age for Java. A new
outfit has come onto the scene doing Java
testing. You can find out more about them from www.tekmetrics.com
The Architects exam seems to be aimed at training you up to be a Java evangelist, ie why
Java/Corba is the one true way and
why activeX, com/dcom is the work of the devil. I suspect that Peter van der Lindens book
Not Just Java - A Technology
Briefing might be a first text for such a certificate.
Information is a little slim on this one, I have found a discussion group on it at http://my.netian.com/~scja. Heather McKenzie
has made her notes available from the excellent site run by Ian Wojtowicz. Check at the
front of http://javacert.com, down
towards the bottom A book has just come out from New Riders by Jamie Jaworski that
includes some coverage of the
Architects exam. Let me know if you find out any more information about the architects
exam.
You can find a little more about all the exams from Rob Masters at http://www.spirit.net.au/~robm/cert/.
1.2) What are the benefits of becoming certified/how much more will I get paid?
Being certified will demonstrate to employers a minimum level of knowledge of the Java
language. Because Java is a relatively
new language there are few people with extensive practical experience. It will also
concentrate your mind on the fundamentals of the language. With the proliferation of GUI
based tools it is possible to create good looking Java applications without
understanding what is going on "under the hood". It doesn't try to cover all of
the Java technologies. You can become certified
an still know nothing about JavaBeans, Corba, RMI or servelets.
There is no simple answer to the questions "how"much more will I be paid if I am
certified". I have seen figures of USD5K to
10K, but I believe this is just wild guesses. Welcome to the free market.
1.3) Will I keep having to upgrade as new versions of Java come out?
Re-certification means you will have to re-take the new version of the exam, rather than
just the updated features of the new
version. So far there have been versions of the exam for JDK 1.0x and 1.1 and since
February 1999 the Java2 exam has been
available. Because the Programmers exam concentrates on the core of the language you
probably won't gain much from
upgrading from one version to the next, except a slight gloss on your resume.
1.4) Should I take the 1.1 or the Java2 Exam
The Objectives for the Java 2 Exam are out now and people have started taking the exam. It
might look better on a resume to
take the latest version of the exam, but the difference is marginal. There seems to be
little significant change between the
objectives for the 1.1 and the 2 Exams. The way the objectives has been described has been
compressed a little to make it less
specific. There is one entirely new objective. I am in the process of creating a commentry
on the differences.
2) Learning Resources
2.1)What books will help get me Java certified?
Two of the leading books on Sun Java Certification are
Roberts and Heller Java Java 2 Certification Study Guide, by Sybex.
A FAQ and book corrections are also available. There has been some criticism about the
number of errors in this version
so read the comments on Amazon.You can get the errata at http://www.sybex.com/cgi-bin/rd_err_temp.pl?2700err.html
The book has gone into further printing and these errors should have been addressed
Bill Brogdens Java2 Exam Cram by Coriolis is now available. It is smaller and cheaper the
others but very packed with
information. The (very small) errata can be found at
http://www.lanw.com/books/errata/default.htm
Java Certification for Programmers and Developers, by Barry Boone (1997).
Updates and errata are available. This is aimed at the 1.1 Exam but is still highly
relevant
It would probably be possible to study take and pass the exam by owning one of these
books, and intense reading of online
resources. Having two would make it easier however. Beware of Java 1.1 Certification
Training Guide By Cary A Jardin . It
has not had favorable reviews and you would be very strongly advised to read the comments
at http://www.amazon.com before
spending money on it. Check out the main Java FAQ http://www.afu.com/javafaq.html for
information on finding books.
Check out the link at the
http://java.about.com/compute/programming/java/msubcert.htm for John Zukowskis list of
certification
resources. John is a Java book author so knows his stuff. Actually check out
www.miningco.com anyway as a very handy resource.
2.2) Is it a good idea to do a classroom course?
Sun do a one week course with an emphasis on Certification. For me it probably wasn't
worth It cost the big end of GBP1,500 (around US$2140 ish). It is probably more
appropriate to the corporate customer for whome time is more important than money and
doing the course with sun is a case of "getting it from the horses mouth".
2.3)Are any online/web courses available?
JCertify is an exam simulator and training product organised around the objectives of the
1.1 exam. It costs $69.95. Additional
information on the product can be found at: http://www.enterprisedeveloper.com/jcertify
MindQ offers 1 free online training module from their commercial, 18 module training
series.
DigitalThink http://www.digitalthink.com/ do
online courses for both the Programmers and Certification exam. . You get feedback from a
real live human being. The Programmers course costs about US$325.
2.4) Some of the questions in R&H or Boon seem to be wrong, is it me or them?
See the errata for these books, address in section 2.1, film at 11.
2.5) I am an experienced Java programmer, will I have to study for the exam?
Yes you probably will. The exam asks all sorts of tricky questions that you might not
consider in the real world and may not
know the answer to. Thus a question may take the form of "If you were to write
this particularly stupid piece of code you would never dream or need to write, what would
be the output." This side of the certification can put some people off.
2.6) Is Certification Easy/How long will I have to study?
No, it seemed harder than the Novell CNE exams or the Microsoft MCP Visual Basic Exams.
Plenty of people including experienced Java programmers take more than one attempt. This
is frustrating when you don't pass but at least it should keep the value of certification
high.
It is very hard to say how long you will have to study to pass. Sun suggest you may have
to study for three months after taking
their classroom course. If you are new to the language I would suspect that 6 months plus
is more realistic.
2.7) Where can I find mock/test exams?
My research has located Mock exams on the net that tota aroundl 480 Sample Questions, let
me know if you find more.
http://www.marcusgreen.co.uk (95 Questions)
http://www.learnjava.com/newtest.html
(60 Questions)
http://www.aber.ac.uk/~jjh/Java/certification/javacert.html
(65 Questions)
http://www.lanw.com/java/javacert/default.htm
(21 from a database of 72)
http://members.theglobe.com/apoddar/questions.html
(42 Questions)
http://www.mindq.com/online/Sun.html
(60 Questions)
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Cable/1025/exam2.html
(30 Questions)
http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~bmc88/java/javacert/newcert1-10.html
(30 Questions)
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/9362/java/javacert/
You can find 56 Questions without answers at (not sure who put these up)
http://apollo.netservers.com/~femibyte/javaquestions.html
(56 Questions)
http://valiveru.tripod.com/java/index.html
(how many questions?)
Eddie Mcnally has made available excellent downloadable Exam simulator.
You will need Swing and (probably) JDK1.2 but it looks excellent
http://eddiemcnally.hypermart.net/
(138 Questions)
You can download a similar simulator called Jargon (140 questions)
http://www.sarga.com/java/jac.htm
The download is an incredibly small 33K
Sun have a few sample questions at
http://suned.sun.com/usa/cert_test.html?content=cjp11_quest
The www.code316.com site offers Flash cards for the
1.1 exam with a Java2 version available May 1999.
At USD19.95 they could be a good deal
2.8) Are any newsgroups/mailing lists dedicated to Java Certification ?
There are no public newsgroups devoted to Java Certification. The discussion forum at http://www.woj.com/tech/javacert/ is
probably the best substitute. This site has a similar discussion group available at http://www.marcusgreen.co.uk/messages .
To subscribe to the PrepTalk-Java mailing list, please visit the Web site at: http://www.topica.com/lists/PrepTalk-Java
Or send a blank email to: PrepTalk-Java-subscribe@topica.com
Although there are no newsgroups specifically for java certification there are several for
general java questions, notably.
comp.lang.java.programmer
comp.lang.java.help
If you are new to the language I recommend browsing/lurking at first, as if you ask a
question that has been asked before or
seems obvious to the men in beards, they can be a bit testy. On the other hand you never
have to see them face to face. A good
way to get the benefit of these groups it to go to http://www.dejanews.com
and do a power search on the java news groups.
2.9) Do I need Visual Cafe/JBuilder/VisualAge etc to learn Java?
No, you could easily do the whole learning thing with just the JDK as it comes at the back
of one of the certification books, or
downloading from Sun. However the debugger that comes with the JDK is fairly awful, so you
could benefit from one of these
tools. If money is tight you can get very functional versions of these tools either from
the cover disks of magazines or
downloading from the web. An example of this is that Borland/Inprise had a copy of
JBuilder 1 on the cover of a magazine in
the UK around about the time JBuilder 2 came out. Beware that Microsoft J++ is not utterly
compatible with that used by
everyone else. It might be useful for getting extra performance for windows apps, but you
can worry about that once you truly
know the language.
2.10) Are there any online free certification online tutorials?
There are large numbers of general Java Tutorials and some Certification material, but
there is no single comprehensive online
certification source. I am currently working on something that should eventually grow into
a full blown book (see tutorial at the
front of this site). You can also find links to general Java Tutorials and Java FAQ at
http://www.apl.jhu.edu/~hall/java/FAQs-and-Tutorials.html
A good source of certification tips is the Java Skinny at http://www.acmerocket.com/skinny/ . Sun have
a general Java Tutorial
available at htp://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/information/download.html, It is does
cover Java 2 but it is an 8MB
download. You can download the text of Bruce Eckels Thinking in Java which is an
excellent, if a little advanced book.
Michael Thomas is in the process of creating a Certification Site at http://www.michael-thomas.com. .Looks
promising.. He has
some very interesting training stuff aimed at certification including sample apps and a
syllabus. Dang I got a rival!
For more Cows than you can shake an instantiated class at, see the site created by Kathy
Kozal. The Javaranch will either
puzzle you or amaze you. It combines humor, graphics and explanations of the principles of
Java. It's not exactly an exam
tutorial, but you will end up better prepared. Kathy is a Sun Certified Java so Instructor
she knows what she is talking about.
Heather McKenzie has made her notes available and can be seen from this site at
http://www.software.u-net.com/javaexam/JavaTips.htm
Dylan Walsh has some stuff worthwhile looking at Check it out at
http://indigo.ie/~dywalsh/certification/javacert.htm
3) Examination Administrivia
3.1) How do I contact Sylvan Prometric?
Asia/Australia 61-2-9414-3666
Latin America 011-612-896-7458
Frame 33-1-4289-3122
USA/Canada 1-800-795-3926
Germany 49-2159-9233-50
UK 44-181-607-9090
Japan 813-3269-9620
Also: http://www.sylvanprometric.com
3.2) What are the formal objectives of the exams
The objectives were not easy to find and some kind person sent me the URL's at
http://suned.sun.com/usa/cert_test.html
http://suned.sun.com/usa/cert_test.html?content=cjp102_obj
The JDK1.2 (Platform 2) exam objectives are available at
http://suned.sun.com/usa/cert_test.html?content=scpj2_obj
3.3) How much does it cost to take the exam?
Of course these prices will vary over time but they should give you a good general idea
UK=>GBP 117.6 inc VAT
US=>US$150
Germany=> DM 270, + tax, that's a total of DM 313,20 (thanks Sven)
India=> 2200(Rupees) i,e.. approx US $55 (thanks Rohit)
Spain=> 34800 PTS total ( 30.000 + IVA ) - 210 EUROS, (thanks Javier)
Brazil=>R$ 200,00 (thanks Rafael)
Singapore=>S$224. (thanks Chitra)
South Africa => R970 (thanks Jan)
(Anyone with prices from other countries please let me know)
There is no penalty for re-taking the exam as many times as you like apart from the drain
on your finances.
3.4) Where can I take the exam?
Contact Sylvan Prometric for exam sites or check out their exam centre locator on their
web site at
http://www.sylvanprometric.com
3.5) Who administers the exams?
The exams are run by Sylvan Prometric, the same people who run the Novell and Microsoft
Exams. The task of actually having
a room with a computer etc is delegated to training companies.
3.6) Can I just turn up and take the exam?
No, you need to contact Sun, pay for the exam and they will send you a voucher. This will
come as a letter and attached to it is
the voucher, which is a slip of paper printed with the magic serial number. You then
contact Sylvian, quote the number and tell
them where you want to take the exam. You negotiate the available time and book the exam.
Be aware that the exam has an
expiration date of about 6 months from the date of issue.
4) Actually taking the exam
4.1) How many questions and how long is the exam?
The exam consists of around 60 questions. Most people do not find that time is a problem
and you will probably finish with time
to spare. It does not appear to be one of those tricky adaptive exams that concentrates on
the stuff you don't know.
4.2) What if I have questions where there is no apparently correct answer?
You may get questions in the exam that have no apparently correct answer. If you are sure
there is no correct answer ignore the
"reminder" at the end that you have not answered this question.
4.3) How quickly do you get the exam results?
Almost immediately. Once you have decided you have answered all the questions to the best
of your ability, or run out of time,
you click the mark (or is it finish) button. The machine whirrs for about 15 (very long)
seconds and then pops up a message
either offering congratulations on passing or informs you have not passed. It then prints
out a sheet giving a breakdown on how
well you fared on different sections. Thus you might get 100% on language fundamentals but
0% on AWT painting. The only
thing that really matters is getting 70% or more overall.
4.4) What do you get when you pass
About a month after passing you get a certificate and badge from Sun. The Certificate does
not show your pass grade so if you
only pass by one mark nobody but you needs to know. They are also supposed to send
you some artwork so you can put a logo on your business card etc, but they have put this
on hold at the moment.
4.5) What is the pass mark for the Programmers exam ?
70%
4.6) What format does the exam take, is it all multiple choice?
The exam is run on a Windows Computer and is mostly multiple choice. This can take the
form of either radio buttons with only
one correct answer or check boxes with zero or more correct answers. A few questions ask
you to key in a line of code. It
would appear easier to know the correct answer yet still not get the mark for this type of
question.
5) The Developers Exam
5.1) How much does the Developers Exam Cost?
There are two parts to the developer certification. The first, the assignment costs $250.
The second is the exam which is the
standard $150 Sylvan Exam. If this sounds like a large amount of money to keep spending if
you fail, the good news is that it's a
one off cost. To Quote a Sun representative
"Unlike our other exams, these are one time fees. If your assignment does not pass,
our assessor will return it to you with
comments and give you an opportunity to improve it."
5.2) How much time do you have to do the Developers Assignment?
One year
5.3) How long before you get the results of the Developer Exam ?
About 4 weeks.
5.4) What study resources are available for the Developers Exam ?
Some resources are kept at http://www.software.u-net.com/javaexam/scjd.htm
No Warranty
This work is provided on an "as is" basis. The copyright holder makes no
warranty whatsoever, either express or implied,
regarding the work, including warranties with respect to merchantability or fitness for
any purpose.
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© Copyrights 2000 Srinadh.D , Hyderabad, A.P. (INDIA).
