Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide [With CDROM]

This book goes beyond a simple test preparation book and provides the reader with a solid grounding in Java. In fact if you already know how to program and have some experience with object oriented programming I would recommend that you buy this to introduce yourself to Java. The coverage in each chapter is coherent and consise. You will not find alot of examples demonstrating every possible use of an object, there are plenty of other books which do that. You will find clear explanations of exactly what you need to do to program in Java and you'll have a good appreciation for some of the more common pitfalls in Java programming. As an added bonus you'll be able to pass the Java Programmers exam.When working through the Programmer's practice exam in the back of the text and on the CD I became a little frustrated with the repetitive nature of the questions. Each exam seemed to ask one question about 3 or 4 times in a slightly different way. I did not consider this very useful (what about all the other topics that were missing). After completing all the practice exams I began to appreciate the repetitive questions as reinforcing very critical information (like String immutability). Alot of the issues raised by these repetitive questions appeared again and again on my live programmers exam. End result - I passed with a very comfortable margin.Several reviews have criticized the exams as being simple or too easy. In general, I would agree that they are easier than that in Brogden's Exam Cram book on Java 2 but I do not see this as a large weakness. These exams actually did alot to help prepare me and reinforce the basics. I also think that they are closer to the actual exam (at least this was true in my case).

Amazed at the negative reviews for this book I thought I would set matters straight. This book is the one and only book I recommend to my students who want to take Java Certification. Why? Because it was written by the people who wrote the examinations! They don't give you the answers directly, but you can bet all the answers are in this book somewhere. The certification examinations are wide ranging in topic and sometimes the questions are quite esoteric even for knowledgeable Java programmers. Although on the face of it this book gives "useless messages" as another review puts it, lets qualify that statement. If the message is going to be in the exam then the it is far from useless. If the message takes up half the damn page to get the point across then perhaps the point is important? Perhaps the reviewer has not yet taken the exam?If you are studying for the either the programmer or developer certifications in Java, you have many choices of books to use. I have both certifications and enterprise architect. I speak from experience. There is only one book where is clear, concise and complete. This one.

As the founder of one of the largest certification review sites on the web (OK, shameless plug, Javaranch.com) I have been recommending this book forever. It simply is the one you must have to get through the exam, regardless of your development experience in Java. When you're a programmer/developer, you often learn what you need as you need to, but that's not what certification is about. There are some things you'll need to learn to pass the exam that you might not have ever encountered before. Roberts, Heller, and Ernest are the most qualified to take you through it (all teach or have taught Java for Sun, and Roberts was the key developer of the exam!!).If you just want to get started learning a little Java, start with a different book, like a tutorial. If you know some Java but want to study for the exam, you must have this book. It certainly worked for me, and I've had this confirmed by several HUNDRED other people I know who've become certified as a result of using this book. As I say in my book review on my site, "this isn't a book you curl up by the fire with..." You have to read each word carefully and study. The SCJP is hard, and you won't pass if you don't really and truly know this stuff, and be able to recognize subtle differences in code.I've looked at every single other review book for certification, and there are some others worth looking at... but this is the one you MUST have. If you can only get one, get this one and you're fine. If you can get more, get more, but you still have to get this one. As many people as I've seen pass because of this book, I've also seen a large chunk fail to pass because they did NOT study this book. Good luck!

This book is excellent to those who have Java programming experience. For those who are new to Java, I would recommend the "Programmer's Guide to Java Certification" by Khali Azim Mughal because it provides you a lot of practice exercises to help you understand the theory. The above combination would be perfect. In the real exam, the question style is similar to the RHE and PGJC book but the answers are tricky, make sure you understand completely to the OOP chapter(practice make perfect).Here, I took 10 minutes to break down the 10 exam section before I started to take to helping you concentrate on the major areas to pass the exam: a) Decla & Access Control ( 8 ) b)Flow Control & Exception Handing (6) c)Garbage Collection (3) d)Language Fundamentals(8) e)Operators & Assignments(7) f)OOP( Overloading/Overriding,inner class,etc)(9) g)Threads ( 4) h) Java.awt.package -Layout & Event(6) k) java.lang package (6) i) java.util package and (implicitly)java.io (2)There are 10 small source code and 2 long ones, the rest are theory.I passed the exam yesterday with very good score. Do not expect a perfect score but rather understand Java concept thoughly. I also purchased the gEsJava2 and Jcertify. Those are excellent mock exams. Very closed to the real exam, but make sure that you understand the concept first before taking them.Good Luck! Join me in the Java legacy <:-).