World Famous Comics: SCJP Exam for J2SE 5: A Concise and Comprehensive Study Guide for The Sun Certified Java Programmer Exam
SCJP Exam for J2SE 5: A Concise and Comprehensive Study Guide for The Sun Certified Java Programmer Exam
By: Paul Sanghera Publisher: Apress Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Apress Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 424 Publication Date: May 30, 2006 Release Date: May 14, 2008
Product Description: Best selling author, Paul Sanghera, offers cohesive, concise, yet comprehensive coverage of all the topics included in the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 exam (CX 310-055). With a laser sharp focus on the exam objectives, the Study Guide goes beyond just being an "exam cram." The material is presented in a logical learning sequence: a section builds upon previous sections and a chapter on previous chapters. All concepts, simple and complex, are defined and explained when they appear the first time. There is no hopping from topic to topic and no technical jargon without explanation. No prior knowledge of Java programming is assumed. The single most difficult aspect of this exam is to read and understand the code in the exam questions in a limited amount of time. To help you get fluent and comfortable with the code, the book offers complete runnable code examples distributed over all the chapters and a codewalk quicklet feature at the end of each chapter.
Although the primary purpose of the book is to help you pass the SCJP exam, it will also serve as a good reference after the exam.
Special features include
Hundreds of questions modeled after the real exam with fully explained answers.
A complete practice exam with questions modeled after the real exam and fully explained answers.
Hundreds of complete runnable code examples, explained in the book, that you can download and experiment with. This is a code-intensive exam.
The Codewalk Quicklet feature based on the process-based codewalk philosophy to prepare you for efficient response to the code-based questions in the exam.
The Exam Quick Prep feature which recaps all the important points for the last hour of preparation before taking the exam.
Useful information and analysis for the programmers who are considering updating the J2SE 1.4 certification to J2SE 5.
NOT a study guide nor a learning guide your reading this based on my rating '1' stars.
The book starts off good and explains OOP (abit) but the ending chapters which is the important stuff is like a "quick cram", you know, if your buying this book to get your SCJP - well, you need to know java, because in the interview you will be asked questions and your general knowledge of java will only do.
if you know java GREAT - buy it, read it and after a few weeks of 'reading' - take the exam. CONGRATS
BUT -- Please save yr/self the time which is the most important, to click the 'back' button on IE7 and search for a more complete title.
just my input
Very good book In the beginning of the year, Java equals "null" to me ( I know C/C++). I decided to learn the language and take the SCJP as a measure of my learning. I tried the Deitel book but didn't like it. Then I started to read the Kathy Sierra book, but they assume you know the basics (not my case). Due to the comments of one of the reviewers, I bought this book and liked it very much. I read it twice, tried all examples, fragments and tests and then went back to the Sierra book, which is more comprehensive (it is a much bigger book), has better explanations of generics and threads and has more tricky questions. I was able to pass the SCJP exam this month thanks to these two very good books. I do not give 5 stars due to the presence of several typos and some other minor errors in the text. These errata are not yet in the book site, but as you are studying for the exam, you will spot then when you compile or cross-check with the SUN Java documentation. But these are a small nuisance considering the overall value of the book.
Helpful Starting Point This was the only book I bought and I passed the cert. I found the book to be generally good. I felt a couple of the examples were poor. For instance on page 141 the finding the area of different shapes, a classic example of where one should use polymorphism, the book provides an example of overloading operators. Yes, in the sense the code is "correct" but I find the misuse to be confusing. There are a number of items including some questions in the review exam that are just wrong. That is if you type the code in and run it you don't get what the book claims that you should. These do not seem numerous and I have not found any certification material that is without this sort of problem. The reality of preparing for the test is that if someones answer doesn't make sense you have to test it for yourself. It would be nice if publishers would hire someone to go cut and paste all of the code into a compiler and find this stuff.
More importantly there is not enough material on generics and there is only ONE practice exam.
Having complained I should and that the text is readable and helpful in preparing for the cert. I found it to be a good starting point for my preparations.
The Best SCJP Study Guide and Java 5 Book to Learn Java I have just passed the SCJP for J2SE 5 exam largely after preparing from this book. However, to be on the safe side it might be good idea to consider using more than one resource to prepare for this exam, because the exam is certainly not a walk in the park. I have read all the three SCJP for Java 5 study guides from cover to cover. So I would like to share my experience with these study guides in the context of both the exam and learning Java:
"SCJP Exam for J2SE 5" (this book) by Paul Sanghera. I found this Study Guide the best among all, especially for the beginners. As another reviewer said the author has the unique approach of saying only what is necessary. He also has the skill of making difficult concepts easy to understand without compromising accuracy. The material is organized in such a manner that we also learn Java while preparing for the Exam. Because everything is explained from scratch, and there is no hopping from topic to topic, this book is especially suitable for the beginners. Here are some features in the book that I especially liked:
* All concepts are clearly defined and explained by using visuals where necessary. It makes this book self-contained. *Tons of code examples explained in the book, which I downloaded from the book website and experimented with them to build confidence. * The Exam Quick Prep appendix. I went through this just before the exam to refresh all the important points quickly. * Exam's Eye View, Caution, and Notes throughout all chapters, which re-enforced important points. * An appendix that provides useful information and analysis for those who are considering updating the J2SE 1.4 certification to J2SE 5. If you are a beginner, this is your book. If you are an advanced Java programmer, this book will still take you through the exam without boring you. Bottom line: I agree with another reviewer that books like these are hard to find.
"SCJP for Java 5" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. This is a good book for advanced Java programmers, but rather over-hyped. If you are planning to buy two books to prepare for the SCJP exam, this is the second book I will recommend. However, this is NOT the book for the beginners. If you do not have intensive Java programming experience, do not use this book as your first book. If you want to use this book, first study Sanghera's book.
"Complete Java 2 Certification" by Phil Heller and Simon Roberts. If you want to buy three SCJP for Java 5 study guides, this is the third one I will recommend. It does not do justice with some of the exam objectives. Overall exam coverage is not that great, but you will learn some Java topics.
Get Up to Speed in Java in Preparation for the SCJP1.5 Exam! This certification study-resource from Author: Paul Sanghera is a great tool for quickly getting up to speed in java with a view to taking the java programmer exam! As someone who recently succeeded at the SCJP 1.5 exam, i can vouch for this book. The following review is thus for those interested in preparing for the exam and not quite sure whether this book is the right tool for the job.
As a green-horn in Java, I found the following 2 exam-study resources very useful in learning how to program in java, and taking the Sun Certified Java Programmer for J2SE5 certification: (Book 1.) SCJP Exam for J2SE 5. - (SCJP E5) (Book 2.) SCJP Study Guide. - (SCJP SG)
Note: (due to review real-estate constraints, i shall limit this review to (Book 1) ie: [SCJP E5 (Sanghera)] -( the current book in question). you'll find a (Book 2) review on the customer review page for : SCJP SG
Like most new-comers to java, I wanted to get-up to speed in java rather quickly. Therefore, the (SCJP E5) book from Sanghera was chosen as the first reading-reference, as it seemed concise, compact & condensed. However, if i had to do things-over, and choose which one book to use in order to scale the SCJP 1.5 exam -(whilst learning the Java language as well), I'd pick the [SCJP SG] from Sierra & Bates.
Here's why...
About the (SCJP E5) book : this book is great for beginners. i found that it brought me up to speed quickly Re: java, as well as preparing for the exam. However, unless you have previous knowledge & experience coding in java, you might need another book for deeper clarity and more rigor regarding 5 SCJP1.5 exam-objective related areas, viz: (1.) - Generics (2.) - Threading (3.) - I/O + Regular Expressions + Parsing (4.) - Packages + Jar Files & Static Imports (5.) - Exceptions
Note that: while the 5 exam-objectives above are quite well treated in the (SCJP E5) Sanghera book, I found that the (SCJP SG) Sierra & Bates book, provided the finer level of details that i believe a beginner might further require in order to have a better grasp Re: these 5 exam-objectives cited above (AND) (the questions in the real exam do require this further finesse with those details).
Otherwise, with the material in this book alone and without any hands-on experience, i reckon, a beginner might struggle a bit to pass the real exam by a comfortable margin.
and this is why i cant give the book alone all 5 points of credit. (I would however award 4.5 points!)
Upon completing the book, any access to good exam-revision practise material would be very useful in order to pass at the exam-level. while the (SCJP E5) book features useful questions and answers at the end of every chapter, as well as a further round of 73 questions in Appendix-D of the book; I believe people preparing for the exam would find it useful to seek out further resources for exam-question practise & revision purposes .
As review-space is short, i shall include below only 2 of the exam-revision resources which really helped prepare for the actual exam (for details Re: The other key resource used, u might want to refer to the customer review posting for (Book 1): SCJP SG
u might want to check these out: (1.) "Tiger notes" on JavaRanch. look under the SCJP FAQ section for : [Mikalai Zaikin's SCJP Tiger notes ]. You can get a paperback copy of notes similar to these on Amazon if you prefer. lookup: Java 1.5 Tiger. However, i'd advise that you use it only as a prep-extra, just to cross-check certain topical-details you may need to clarify ie: (java: "Exceptions"). I wouldn't recommend it as your sole & unique study guide.[ kittybooboo's notes ] on JavaRanch are also quite good.
(2.) Turn to a SCJP Group for advice on the forums. They represent people in the same boat as those trying to prepare for and pass the SCJP exam. here are 2 such groups you can join.(Yahoogroups): Google: [" tech groups yahoo + scjp5" ]; (Another is): Google:[ "jchq + net" ] (-OR-) if you are preparing for the SCJP 1.4:( scjp 1.4 groups ) : Google:[ "uk groups yahoo + java_balk" ] ps: a good book for SCJP 1.4 is :A Programmer's Guide to Java Cert
(3:) refer to my customer review posting for (Book 1) ie: SCJP Study Guide
Schedule, Sit and Ace the exam in 2hrs:55mins, when you've finished with these various exam-practise questions and study-guides. The exam is comprised of 72 questions of which several are fashioned as drag & drop coding-scenario questions. Although, the pass mark is 59%, I think most people -(myself included!), view the exam as tough, because of its code intensive nature. I think reading, tackling & spotting possible coding errors in code-samples 6-30 lines long is tough under such time-constrained exam conditions, Plus, No credit is given for partial answers. However, on the up-side, it is do-able with the appropriate revision preparation regime.
Curiously, in comparison, the previous SCJP exam ie: the SCJP 1.4 exam, is comprised of 61 questions , for which one has 2hrs to complete. Plus, the pass mark is 52%. That exam, is generally deemed to be an easier exam compared with the SCJP 1.5 exam; at least so attests certain in the user-community on JavaRanch.
for those wondering, i took the SCJP 1.5 exam on March 19th 2007. the passing-score achieved was: 98% ie: (71 out of 72 questions ). The pass-mark is 59%.
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