Tag Archives: ocajp

jeanne’s oca/ocajp 8 java programmer I experiences

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Two years ago, I took the OCA/OCAJP 7 Java programmer I exam and wrote about my experiences. I took the exam this time as part of writing the Java OCA 8 Programmer I Study Guide.

What’s new in version 8?

As you can see from the OCA/Java SE 8 Programmer I official exam page, most of the objectives are the same on OCA 7 and OCA 8. There is a mapping by objective title/number on CodeRanch. The new topics were:

  • Running from the command line
  • Compare and contrast the features and components of Java such as: platform independence, object orientation, encapsulation, etc.
  • Wrapper classes
  • Lambdas/predicates
  • Java 8 date/time classes

How did I study?

As I got a 98% on the previous version of the exam, I didn’t really need to study. [edit: I got a 91% of the OCAJP 8 and a perfect score on all the new Java 8 topics]. It was more of review. Plus writing a book on the topic really gets you ready.  I “studied” by doing all of our review and practice exam questions within a week of the test. This also served as a nice sanity check that the questions we wrote prior to taking the beta were decently in sync. (It’s interesting when writing a cert book that you are writing the questions without seeing the exam. This is good as it prevents accidentally mirroring the questions of the moment in the book. As Oracle changes questions over time, it is better to be learning the topics/tricks from a book and improving your skills/test taking ability.)

To learn the Java 8 in the first place, I read two books:

Oracle has some tutorials:

I also wrote a bunch of practice code. And wrote lots of lambda expressions in other languages.

Test Day

  • The exam software claimed that if you pressed the control key, it would cross out an answer so you could remember which ones you eliminated. That’s a good idea. Unfortunately, pressing the control key did absolutely nothing and clicking merely selected an answer I wanted to rule out as correct. I hope they fix this as it is a nice feature.
  • When I took the OCA 7, I had all the time in the world. On this exam, I had enough time to do the questions, but not enough to review them all. The beta gives you just over a minute per question. The real exam gives more time.
  • I went back to my usual exam center. They gave me an “erasable notebook” with 9 pages and an eraser. This meant I could write as much as I wanted. I probably filled about 4 pages as I went. It’s not the same as the paper/pen they used to gie, but is perfectly sufficient.

my first “thing in print”

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mala-coverI was the technical proofer of Manning’s OCA book and got asked to write the foreword.  I got the book in the mail and was shocked to see “foreword by Jeanne Boyarsky” listed on the cover under the author’s name.  I’ve only noticed the foreword author listed on the cover when it is someone famous.  Or maybe it is that most books have an preface rather than a foreword.  Or maybe this is a shameless way to get me to advertise the book on my blog :).  (just kidding)   Anyway, it is AWESOME!

The publisher suggested putting the foreword on my blog.  Here it is.  Notice I got plugs in for Head First Java (from another publisher no less) and coderanch.com in there as well.  Speaking of plugs, feel free to read what I wrote on the blog about the OCAJP exam itself.

Note: I also contributed the equivalent of about half a chapter to the OCPJP book by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates.  That was a lot more work and is really more of an accomplishment.  It comes out around summer.  But this foreword is the first thing I’ve ever written to wind up in a print book.  Very excited.

Taking the OCA Java Programmer I exam is a bit like taking a driving test. First you learn the basics, like where the brakes are. Then you start driving, and then you get ready to take the driving test to get your license. The written test includes things every- one should know, things that you’ll never use after the road test, and some things that are tricky edge cases. While the programmer exam cares about breaks more than brakes, it certainly likes edge cases!

Consider Mala Gupta your driving instructor to get you ready for the programmer exam. Mala points out what you’ll need to know when programming in the real world—on your first job.

And consider this book your driver’s manual. It gives you the rules of the road of Java, plus the gotchas that show up on that pesky written test. But don’t worry, it is much more fun to read this book than the driver’s manual. Just like the driver’s man- ual won’t teach you everything about driving, this book won’t teach you everything there is to know about Java. If you haven’t yet, read an intro to a Java book first. Start with a book like Head First Java or Thinking in Java and then come back to this book to study for the exam.

As the technical proofreader of this book, I got to see it evolve and get better as Mala worked on it. Through the conversations we had on little things, I learned that Mala knows her stuff and is a great teacher of Java. While I’ve only technical proofread a handful of books, I’ve posted reviews of over 150 technical books on Amazon, which makes it easy to spot a book that isn’t clear or helpful. I’m happy to say that Mala’s explanations are all very clear, and the pointers are great.

I also got to read Mala’s posts in the certification forums at coderanch.com. She’s been sharing updates about the exam as it comes out and posting fairly regularly for over a year. As a senior moderator at coderanch.com, it is great to see an author sharing her wisdom. It’s also nice to see the similarity in writing style between the forum posts and the book. This shows the book is readable and written in an easy-to-understand, casual style.

I particularly liked the diagrams, flow charts, and cartoons in this book. And, of course, the annotated code examples I’ve come to expect from any Manning book. Each chapter ends with sample mock exam questions and there is a full mock exam at the end. This gives you good practice in getting ready for the exam. Wrong answers are well explained so you don’t make the same mistakes over and over.

My favorite part of the book is the “Twist in the Tale” exercises. Mala gives a num- ber of examples of how making a seemingly minor change to the code can have major consequences. These exercises develop your attention to detail so you are more obser- vant for the mock exam questions and the exam itself.

I had already passed the OCA Java Programmer exam with a score of 98% before reading this book. If I hadn’t, the questions would have prepared me for the exam. Studying from this book will give you the skills and confidence you need to become an Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer. Happy coding and good luck on the exam!

JEANNE BOYARSKY

SENIOR DEVELOPER & MODERATOR

CODERANCH

jeanne’s oca/ocajp java programmer I experiences

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Today I passed the Java SE 7 Programmer I with a score of 98% which makes me a “Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 7 Programmer“. (see other post for Java 8 exam)

Deciding to take the test

If you’ve been following this blog, you may know that I’ve been a Java developer.  (tech lead and architect count if you still code <smile>).  Last year I took the SCEA and Core Spring certs.  So why go back and take the “entry level cert.”  I’ve thought about taking the SCJP twice.   My thought process to finally getting here:

  1. Bert Bates mailed me a free copy of K&B version 5 so I could help spot plagiarism of questions on BlackBeltFactory years ago.  I read the book then.  I learned a lot.  I scored poorly on the sample questions because I didn’t take any time to memorize the  relevant information.  And I didn’t care to spend the time learning obscure details.
  2. In 2009, there were rumors of the Programmer Plus exam.  If that exam existed, I wanted to take the beta of it because it sounded *so cool.*  I re-read K&B version 5 and actually studied APIs.  The programmer plus never came to be and I wasn’t motivated to take the traditional SCJP.
  3. A year or two ago, I was one of the cadre of JavaRanch moderators providing technical review of the K&B SCJP 6 mock exam book.  Reviewing that book actually made me less likely to want to take the test because I read it questions about obscure details.  (It did make me interested in doing technical reviews of future books though.  I actually did one for a yet to be printed Manning book – The Well Grounded Java Developer.)
  4. When I noticed the Java 7 OCJPJP had JDBC and NIO sections, that got me interested again.  JDBC is one of my favorite topics and I moderated the CodeRanch JDBC forum for many years with Scott Selikoff.  The beta of part 2 was only $50 so I decided to take it.  I decided to take it on 4/19 and took the beta on 5/9.  I’ll be blogging about this separately in the next week or two.  While I don’t have the score yet, I think I either passed or came really close.  If I fail, I’ll pay full price to take it again.  I’m never going to be more prepared for it than I am right now and don’t want to learn obscure details again!  Once I realized this, I needed to take part 1 of the Java Programmer exam to actually get certified.

My study plan

In all fairness, most of the studying went on before I decided to take either exam.  Both by reading/reviewing the SCJP books and by just picking things up over the years.  I had a week and a day between part 2 of the exam and this part (part 1).  For two of those days, I didn’t do anything at all.    What I did the rest of the time:

  • re-read chapters 1-5 along with parts of chapters 6, 7 and 10 of K&B SCJP which Bert recommended
  • take all 6 mock exams from Enthuware JA +V7

How were the resources I tried

  1. K&B version 5 – Granted you’d buy version 6 at this point.  (or the OCA/OCP 7 version once it is out).  If you plan to take the OCP afterwards, I recommend going with this book to study.  If you just want to take the OCA, it is overkill as the information you need is mixed up with lots of harder information you don’t know.
  2. K&B SCJP 6 mock exam book – If you are planning to take the OCP afterwards and don’t mind the material being mixed together, this is a great resource.  If you want to get your OCA first without being exposed to the OCP information, it isn’t helpful though.  Also, some of the content is no longer on the exam so you have to ignore these parts.
  3. Enthuware JA +V7 – This was a great resource.  It was more difficult than the exam, but not overwhelmingly so.  The only topic that stood out as being on the mock and not needing to know was the ranges that primitive objects could hold.  A free 14 question trial is available so you can see what it is like before committing the $10.  Yes, you read that right.  You get 6 full length mock exams, analysis on your weak areas and the ability to retake questions by subject – all for ten bucks.  Even though there aren’t drag and drop questions, the mock exam still includes them because they are harder.  It also includes one or two fill in the blank questions.  (I found this to be practically impossible as a one character typo marks it wrong and then it is hard to compare to see why you were wrong.  But it isn’t frequent.)  The mock has been updated for Java 7 and the new objectives/difficulty.  I was highly satisfied with it. [My scores were 78%, 82%, 82%, 83%, 80% and 88%]
If you only have one resource, I would pick the Enthuware mock exams.

My impressions of the exam

  • Just like on the SCEA, I had a ton of time.  I had an hour left after taking all the questions and carefully reviewing them.  (I found one wrong answer on review.)
  • Unlike the SCEA, the questions are designed to be tricky/subtle.
  • It was similar to the Enthuware mocks in terms of facts/skills you had to know and format.  The Enthuware questions used some of the same variable names, class names and structures.  Kind of like the SCJP talks about horses.
  • I really like how the exam uses incredibly similar looking questions to ask different concepts.  Even within the same exam.  This prevents you from remembering much of use or memorizing much in advance.
  • A few questions had you flipping between the “exhibit” class and the question.  This was annoying because if you are looking for subtle details, it is a lot to remember between flips or *a lot* of flips.
  • While taking the mock exams, I found a technique that helped me limit stupid errors.  My score jumped 8-10% of the last mock I took (the only one using that technique) and then again on the actual exam.  On the mocks, I went too fast because the questions appeared easy.  On the final mock and real exam, I subvocalized as I read the code for *all* code questions.  This prevented my brain from going too fast and missing anything.
  • When you get your score report, it tells you which objectives you missed questions in.  Mine was “flow control” which tells me I made a stupid error in that space.

And finally, why you should visit a testing center in advance

Note: the testing center fixed the problems I had – see comment below this post for updates

I took the SCEA and Java Programmer part 2 exams at my local testing center which I am happy with. They provide you with pen/paper and a detached room from the office to take the exam.  The only distraction is if there is another person in the room with you and he/she stops and starts at a different time.  They take care to be quiet.

Then there was the center I was at today.  They gave me a *one sided* erasable markerboard to write on.  But that’s within their rights.  If you want paper, you should call and ask.  The exam was held in what looked like a closet.  A small table with two computers and poor ventilation.  It was hot!  And no soundproofing.  I heard everyone who walked into the office while I was there.  Which included an irate customer who had computer troubles and was dissatisfied with the speed at which they were fixing it (this went on for 10 minutes) and another potential customer who was inquiring about training. It was loud enough that I had to hold my ears to think.  Which doesn’t go well with using a mouse to select answers or trace code on paper.

I wanted to take the exam today because I was off work today.  And I figured minimizing the time between part 2 and part 1 would give me less time to get out of the habit of looking for details in exam questions.  It was the right decision.  But I wouldn’t recommend “Horizon Technical Consultants of Flushing” as a testing center for anyone.