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Title: Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide, 4th Edition by Phillip Heller, Simon Roberts, Philip Heller ISBN: 0-7821-4276-1 Publisher: Sybex Pub. Date: 24 October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.05 (230 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Poor editing and bad practice questions--Avoid this one
Comment: I had just passed the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 1.4 Platform exam (with a score of 80%), and I want to help prospective test takers in finding the "right" Java study guide. I was bewildered by the number of books available, and I had to try many of them before I settled on the right one. Here are my short reviews for each of the major Java study guides:
"Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates (five stars): I felt this book was the best among all the Java study guides. Both the authors were responsible for the Java certification exam's development, and the practice questions are *very* similar to the actual exam. The authors also cover exactly what will be on the 1.4 exam, pointing out potential topics, questions, and pitfalls. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
"A Programmer's Guide to Java Certification" by Khalid Mughal and Rolf Rasmussen (four stars): This is a good choice if you plan on taking the 1.2 exam. The book also has a dual purpose of teaching Java and sometimes goes beyond the actual scope of the exam, but it is nonetheless excellent. However, as the title suggests, this isn't the book for you if you don't have any programming experience. Also, the book's practice questions are much, much harder than the actual exam.
"Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide (3rd Edition)" by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts (two stars): This was the most disappointing book of all. I don't know why so many people swear by it, but the book appeared to have been rushed into production. Many of the errors and typos have been updated in the book's second printing, but the book's coverage of topics is quite weak. Lastly, the practice questions were not only too easy, but they don't look very similar to how questions look on the real test. It's not a terrible book (many people appear to have passed the exam with just this book), but there are better options.
"Java 2 Exam Prep" by Bill Brodgen (three stars): This compact study guide isn't a bad choice for prospective test takers with a good Java foundation. It covers all the exam's topics succinctly, but as another reviewer noted, it should not be your primary study guide. I personally did not find the book particularly useful.
Lastly, sign up for Sun's ePractice practice exams. You'll get three sample tests, and they will help you prepare for the exam by showing you how the questions will look and what type of questions they will ask. I didn't like the idea of spending the extra money, but the practice exams definitely helped me prepare for the real thing.
Rating: 4
Summary: a good "certification" book for 1.4
Comment: I bought this book, read it, and didnt have alot of confidence in it, so I went and bought another more indepth book and used that as the main base of my studies. I went back after the exam and realized probably 80-90% of it was spelled out in this book(The Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide). The version of this book I had only covered the 1.2 exam, so it had alot of extra [stuff] I didnt need (IO, AWT and a bout half the other book(it covers the developer exam too i think)) and its lacking a few things you need to know for the 1.4 exam, such as assertions, Wrappers, and Collections (which all 3 probalby make up about 15% of the test). This book, with the help the addition of a few java websites, like javaranch.com can get you a good passing score. I scored an 83% but realized that I could have gotten alot higher if I didnt spend so much time concentrating on the other book which had more indepth information than needed.
Bottom line:
This book (with the additional exam material that can easily be found online) will get you atleast a good passing score. Its probably not gonna teach you java or make you a great java programmer, but the goal is to pass the test, and it does that.
Rating: 3
Summary: Don't Buy Just For Sun Certified Java Developer Exam
Comment: This book will get the job done if you're using it to pass the SCJP exam. However, it is not at all helpful when it comes to the SCJD assignment. The book gets way too advanced when it comes to the SCJD part. It glosses over topics like distributed event notification, and creating a thread pooling mechanism. These things are not necessary for the exam at all and the book's explanations are way too generalized to help you understand them anyway. I found the book's style to be too formal and much less readable than the book by Kathy Sierra. If you're just taking the SCJP test, this book will work for you. But, if you're going for the SCJD, I recommend "The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam With J2SE 1.4." This latter book goes into way more detail and is much more helpful for SCJD.
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Title: Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide (Exam 310-035 & 310-027) by Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates ISBN: 0072226846 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media Pub. Date: 11 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
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Title: Java 2 Programmer Exam Cram (310-035) by William Brogden, Marcus Green, Ed Tittel ISBN: 0789728613 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 07 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: Java 2 Exam Notes by Philip Heller, Phillip Heller, Simon Roberts ISBN: 0782128262 Publisher: Sybex Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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Title: SCWCD Exam Study Kit: Java Web Component Developer Certification by Hanumant Deshmukh, Jignesh Malavia, Jacquelyn Carter ISBN: 1930110596 Publisher: Manning Publications Company Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
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Title: A Programmer's Guide to Java (tm) Certification by Khalid A. Mughal, Rolf W. Rasmussen ISBN: 0201596148 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 19 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $44.99 |
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