SCJA Certified !
Yesterday I have succesfully passed the SCJA (Sun Certified Java Associate)
certification exam which is an “ideal entry into an application development or a software project management career using Java technologies.”
Well, I have taken this certification as I wanted to refresh my knowledge which I have gained during my Computer Engineering studies in the university. Now, I can prove my technical skills with my certificate on top of my bachelors degree.
So here are my tips for those of you who want to take this exam:
– Sun has online courses for students whose school is a part of the SAI (Sun Academic Initiative) program. Start studying with free courses online.
– Check out my SCJA tips and be sure that you have learned every single point in SCJA tips page.
– Solve as much questions as possible which you can find online before the exam.
– For the UML part of the exam, this UML_GokhanSCJA.pdf is enough.
– You can also check out the following links for preparing yourself:
http://www.scja.de/index.html
http://ejavaguru.com/scjafreemockexam.php
http://www.whizlabs.com/articles/scja-article.html
http://cafe4java.com/mockexams/scja/mock1/q1.php
http://www.javacertificate.net/interview_qns.htm
Good Luck !
Filed under: Personal, Technology | 31 Comments
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Gökhan Dogan - ICT Entrepreneur 
Hi,
Congrats on passing the SCJA. It is indeed an accomplishment that you can feel proud about. After all SCJA provides a broad exposure to the Java technology and is a good platform to jump from be it a career in Java based technology or further certifications.
Thanks for the links/pointers/tips. I will look into those. BTW I am taking my exam in 2 weeks. Do you have any specific Dos and DONTs that you can share from your experience of taking the exam? Particularly I would like to know about time management for the exam. Was there plenty of time? Can you skip one question and come back to it later? Also what is the pass percentage? Is it you have to get 35 or 39 questions correct?
Please email me at mba_materials@yahoo.com.
Thanks,
latbsol
Hi,
Thanks a lot !
DOs:
– Solve a lot of questions and especially take the virtual exams that you can find on the links and the web. (mock-up exams)
– Some words mean different in different contexts so do pay attention to reading questions carefully.
– Go to the exam place at least half an hour before the exam.
– Bring two identification cards with you (passport and a national id).
DONTs
– Don’t give too much attention to UML, the PDF that I give on my blog is enough.
– Feel bad if you don’t do well in SAI’s practice exam, it’s really difficult compared to the actual exam.
There was plenty of time, I think it was nearly 1.50 hours but for me one hour was enough to solve the questions even two times. So don’t worry about the time, you can skip questions and come back to them later. One can use the “Review” button to do so. Besides, there is a tutorial (an exam simulation) and a survey before you actually start and you learn how to do it there. To pass the exam you need to answer at least %68 of the questions correctly that is around 35 questions as there are 51 questions in the exam.
Hope that helps !
Hi,
Yes, that helps a lot. Thanks much for sharing the tips.
One thing encouraging is to know that you feel that SAI exams are tougher than the actual exams. I couldn’t score that well in the SAI exams and I was definitely discouraged. So I was worried. I hope you are right and the actual exam will be easy :). So did you purchase the exam materials from sites like ucertify.com and whizlabs.com OR did you manage using the free internet resources and the SAI materials?
BTW thanks for that UML pdf document. That is very helpful. In fact I guess your blog is the only place on the internet that has that link! That tutorial is simple and easy to understand. But looks like the link at http://hfoobook.com (or whatever that is) isn’t available anymore.
Also as you say I hope the time will be plentiful.
So are you already in the process of preparing for the SCJP exam? How is that going? All the best.
Man those snap advertisements that pop up when I point my cursor on any link on your pages annoy me :(. I know that might give some revenue to your webpage. But it is a big distraction to the end user. Just a feedback I wanted to share.
Oh, never mind my previous comment. I thought those were advertisements, but on a more careful look, I understand that it provides a preview of the webpage the link points to! So it has a different purpose than what I thought it had.
But it is still annoying =) So do you prefer to see previews of a page before a user clicks on it? That seems to be a big distraction to me. Just my opinion.
I haven’t purchased anything for preparing myself. The SAI Courses and the online resources were enough. Actually, I didn’t have to study that much since I have a background in computer engineering 🙂 But could be difficult if you haven’t got any education in this field.
The UML document is mentioned everywhere but nobody put the link to it. Actually, it was supposed to be on http://hfoobook.com but seems like it’s gone. So I found it somehow after hours of searching and thought about sharing it with others 🙂
I am planning to take the SCJP as I have started my master thesis in e-marketing strategies so I don’t want to be too technical, I want to improve my business skills more 🙂
Regarding the “pop-ups”. Well, actually you can disable those snapshot preview windows, when it pops up there is an option there saying disable this 🙂 Even you can disable it for all the websites or specifically for this one. And yes, I don’t earn anything from it 🙂 I have also disabled it for myself.
Actually now I have disabled it :
In the “Extras” section there is an option saying “Enable Snap Shots on this blog” which disables them permanently for everyone.
Hey, thanks for more details and also thanks for disabling the pop-ups! Also thanks for the UML document once again. Good luck with your SCJP and also your higher education.
Thanks a lot mate 🙂 Good luck with the exam !
Hi,
How are you doing? Just wanted to share the good news that I passed SCJA with 90%.
I am planning to prepare for the SCJP.
Anyway the bigger questions are how do you get actual mielage out of these certifications. I guess there isn’t a straightforward answer to that.
Hi,
Congratulations ! I’m also doing fine, working on my thesis.(http://emarketingthesis.wordpress.com/) Good Luck with the SCJP, you may want to join Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) Club and ask your questions there. Check http://osum.sun.com/group/kthOSUM and click “Join KTH” button to join our university’s group 🙂
hi,
Thanks a lot for that UML pdf………..i have been searching for that pdf from 3 days and finally i found that pdf only in ur link……thanks a lot…….
Np. Good luck with the exam!
hi,
I am planning to take scja certification exam in another 2 months…..
I am completely new to java….. at present i am going through Head First Java,2nd edition…..
then i am planning to read Cameron’s Study guide…….still i have to buy that book…..i am from india…so i am not getting it here….i have to buy it through amazon…….
will these two books be sufficient for that exam……..
and can you just tell me whether 2 months(6 hours a day) will be sufficient to prepare for this exam or it will take more time……..
Hi Subha
Although it depends on your pace it took me nearly 10 days to study and get the certificate so I am sure you can get it in two months. Just make yourself a clear plan and try to stick to it. For example if there are 10 chapters to read and you have 60 days, try to finish studying in the first 40 days and solve a lot of questions at the last 20 days.. The key to success in SCJA is to solve as many questions as possible. You will see that most of the questions will be similar in the real exam.
Good Luck!
And simply memorize everything on SCJA Tips page.
hi,
Thanks for your feedback….. i will surely go through your SCJA Tips page….
and what about your suggestion on that Cameron’s Study Guide …… will that be sufficient for the exam preparation or will you suggest some other books ??
Well I haven’t read that book but I heard that it’s very popular. I have just followed the courses on SAI – Sun Academic Initiative courses. You can find more info about that here : http://sunkth.wordpress.com/sai-sun-academic-initiative/ If you are a student at a university, maybe your university is a member.
hi,
Thanks for ur Reply….i will go through the link
hi Gokhan Dogan,
Do you have ebook of Cameron’s SCJA Study guide with you ? If you have it can you please mail it to me ……
In India we are unable to buy that book……
I tried to downlaod it from net but i could not …….
Unfortunately I don’t have that book and I haven’t used that book for preparing myself.
Ok Thank you
Hey
Thanks a lot for the pdf file….Your site is the only place that has the pdf file itself for download…the rest have a very annoying link to the pdf file that seem to be taking me to websites i dont want to see..
Thanks a lot
You’re welcome, hope it helps..
Hey Gokhan Dogan,
I have successfully passed the SCJA with my own SCJP prep knowledge plus your UML notes ,SCJA tips page and mock links. A massive thanks to yourself as I was looking to get a Java qualification before my pay review!
Thanks again,
D.
Hey Dan Barry,
Congratulations! Well, if you have a SCJP then it should have been much easier for you. It is a pleasure for me if it helped.
Best,
Gökhan
Hey Dan Barry,
Congratulations! Well, if you have a SCJP then it should have been much easier for you. It is a pleasure for me if it helped.
Best,
Gökhan
Hi dude i appreciate the effort made by you to make this blog.
I am going to take scja on this 13th aug 2012.pls help me clear it and also on oracle site uml chapter is omitted (as sun is acquired by oracle now). can u pls send me some dumps to prepare for the exam.The new exam code is 1z0-850
Sorry mate, it was long time ago and i have nothing to do with scja now. Good luck though.
Hey Jamie,
How did your exam go? could you please shed some light? I am a recent graduate would like to take the exam as well. Can you take the exam online?
Is it at all worth to take the exam?