when did we write the OCA SE 8 book

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Did you write the second book before or after your exam of OCA SE 8.

I got this question from a reader of our OCA book and thought it would make a nice blog post describing the timeline.

In February 2014, Wiley/Sybex approached me about writing this book. Scott and I had discussed writing a book together “one day” so immediately asked him to co-author. Even though the publisher approached me, I still had to write a proposal which was accepted in March 2014. We then signed the contract.

We wrote a draft of all the chapters over the following months. At this point, the OCA 8 objectives hadn’t been announced. Scott held the SCJP 6 certification and I held the OCA/OCP 7 certifications. We used the OCA 7 objectives plus our expectations about changes to the language as a guide for those drafts.

Then the objectives came out. We had some rework and additions at that point. I was surprised basic lambdas were covered on the exam and Java 8 dates were also new. Then in October, I took the beta exam. At this point, the book was already written.

There was an unclear exam objective. After taking the beta exam, I learned what this meant. Which was a minor addition to the book. Other than that, it was written before the exam. Some editing was done after the exam; just in terms of timeline.

Then in December 2014, the e-book came out and it printed in February 2015.

For our upcoming OCP book, more of the book is being written after the beta exam. Just in terms of timeline, we didn’t have as much of a head start.

ocp java 8 programmer II beta

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Scott and I both took the OCP (Oracle Certified Professional) Java 8 Programmer II beta exam this week.

(edit: I’m now OCP certified with an 88%)

Logistics

We both had 106 questions. It was a three hour exam. I needed two hours for my first pass of the questions. I marked about 25 questions for review and used the remaining time for those. The nice thing about a beta is that you get lots of questions. Sometimes one question gives a clue for another question. For example (not on the exam), maybe you aren’t sure if a method is called set() or put(). Then you get to a question that uses put() and doesn’t have “does not compile” as a choice. Perfect. Now you know something.

As always, you can review questions you’ve marked or all questions in order. The only way to go to a specific question is if you’ve marked it for review. Otherwise you could potentially be clicking next scores of times. I tend to click a lot for review so this isn’t a problem.

Scott and I took the test at different testing centers. We were both given a locker for our personal belongings. I’ve been to a few testing centers and never seen that before. I like being able to have the key to the locker with my belongings!

We also both got one 8.5 x 11 erasable page with a felt tip erasable marker and an eraser. I like getting more than that. I found myself erasing a lot to make space. It’s really important to figure out how to make the best use of your space on the page. I use one column for questions I want to go back to and the topic (so I can look for answers hidden in other questions or think of it later.) I use another column for “facts.” They may be things I’m reminded of during the exam. Often there are things I write down the second the exam starts. That way I don’t have to keep it memorized. For the stuff that’s hard for me to remember. And I use the bottom for actually solving problems. Like drawing what is in variables.

The testing center I went to also gave me earplugs. First time I’ve ever been handed earplugs. The irony was that it wasn’t loud! When I went to the loud testing center, I didn’t get earplugs!

Study materials

For the new topics, see my blog post on the upgrade exam beta. There are a few new objectives in this beta that weren’t in the upgrade exam beta like @Override. Also, some objectives changed scope since the Java 7 exam. Which you can see from the objectives. But there’s nothing like taking the test to make that sink it. I reviewed largely from draft chapters of our upcoming OCP 8 book.

 

Objectives

 

good customer service – two examples

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I’ve blogged a couple times about poor customer service (Verizon/Time Warner.) I had two nice experiences with customer service today.

Southwest

I had booked a flight on Southwest Airlines for a trip and the date of the trip changed. Southwest has a policy that you can change your flight without penalty – and just pay any increase in fare. I had paid $25 for Early Boarding roundtrip. I assumed this was tied to the flight and I’d have to pay again when I changed the flight.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had the same confirmation # for the new flight and the Early Boarding remained intact.

MicroCenter

MicroCenter has a “ordered online; pick up in store” option. This is nice because you don’t waste a trip to the store only to find out they are out of something. I ordered a “kit” that consisted of two pieces. The kit sold for $8. I got an email from the manager that the inventory system was wrong and they couldn’t locate the kit. However, equivalents existed to the two pieces in the kit. One for $3 and one for $15. He said I they would honor the price of the kit and sell it to me for $8. Half price!