Taylor: The 819 does not have any pre-req exam

I remember it, because I hadn’t read the chapters on IO(and the question definitely suggested IO) and made my mind to find out about it, but as I had no clue what it is about, I didn’t remember the question. I was under pressure too, because I knew the time was of a concern. Now it was at the end of April, the last day of the promotion, so I eventually forgot about it and these days when I finally got to those chapters, I got reminded of it by a note.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t answer more than 50 questions as I was watching the clock and my progress. I’m confident if it was unnumbered, I’d notice the discrepancy, yet I can’t completely exclude the possibility it happened and it was an experimental question, as suggested above. I too had an uneven result, so it might have been 49 or even less questions that really counted. However I think that was not the case. Knowing me, there’s no way I could have answered that many questions completely right. Points should have been counted on every correct option, otherwise I couldn’t have scored 63%, a near miss of the passing mark.

Now, on timing – I even got the chance to review the questions I had marked for a review, I think they were 12. But this is pointless, as the questions are so well chosen that there’s no way another question could help you figure out the answer. So in my opinion, if you did your homework, you wouldn’t have to worry about timing. Just don’t spend too much time on a question. You either know it, or don’t. that’s it. You won’t get it clearer, wasting time on it, trying to come up with something.

Use your writing materials provided in the center. I wouldn’t suggest an online exam as you don’t have the opportunity to use them. There’s an electronic board that would waste your time trying to write on it (with your mouse or touchpad, I imagine). Choose that option only if you’re very confident you don’t need them.

Use the technique of elimination. There’s no option to mark an answer as wrong any more. At least there wasn’t in April.

The upgrade exam is easier though.So more time, but less studying to pass

It’s 90mins to get to from zero to Java 11 OCP now yet for existing Java 6-8 OCP holders it’s a *3hr* exam (on top of the previous 5hrs of exams)?!

Very frustrating. I am already OCP 8 and 6 certified, but it seems this here is much more difficult.
Frankly saying i had not the very best preparation and i knew it, but because of the discount for the cert i tried it. Something like a “free” bullet.

I do not see the point in putting so much time pressure on this exam.Why did oracle do this ? Whats the point ? On the job you are also more interested in have it proper working instead of rushing it through.
So i really don’t see the point.

Also i see it is more about understanding of the concepts than an on-the-job help, but it should slightly go more in that direction from my point of view.
To many “Will it compile ?” here. Again, whats the point ? Nowadays in no IT job on this planet you will write code without an IDE, so wou will
see if it compiles or not and if so you will have the reason in short time if your basic understanding is ok at least.
Just because you did not remember the slightest return parameter of some function does not make you worse on the job.
There shouldn’t be a single question about “if it compiles?”. This should never be an option.

Also the result report list does not help for improving.
In the end if you had a lot of questions partially right for example, from what i believe i had many times in my case, then you only see the very general
topic where you answered wrong. With this concept in the end you can see in my case that you can read de facto everything over again.
This all or nothing concept of right answers is in my opinion also not as good as a system of 1 point for a right check and -1 point for a wrong check in one question.
Then you get a much more realistic picture of the candidates overview of the concepts.

For example:
3 questions with 3 right markers to do.
Programmer A does in all 3 questions 2 right and each 1 wrong. Will be 0 point with todays rating.
Programmer B does 1 right and has no clue at all in both of the other two questions. 1 Point for him with todays rating.
So programmer A has for sure the broader knowledge of what is going on, but with this rating he will be leveled below programmer B.
At least arguable i think.

Well in the end it is like it is and i will continue with study for this certification for sure, because i already put too much work into it.
But this will be my last Oracle certification for sure i will complete. I am finished with this concept and style of questions.

Thank you SO MUCH for all the preparation materials, books and sharing your experience passing the exams! I took my exam last night and scored 87%! I mostly used the Complete preparation guide, and it’s GOLD! I really appreciate your delivery of the material, it made me think more carefully about what’s going on behind the scenes and analyze code better. This is invaluable!

On the exam I had a question about FileChannel – I might’ve skipped something, but I don’t remember seeing that in the preparation book. The question was basically about how to correctly obtain it. Apart from that, everything else that was on the exam the book PERFECTLY prepare for.

Once again, a million thanks!