Got The Nerve And Passed On My First Try!!!
Now that I'm on the other side of the fence, if I had to recommend one and only one book, I'd recommend the Sybex book. It was written by those (or some of those) that actually wrote the exam questions and the grade I was getting on the practice exam "tester.jar" was near what I received on the real exam.
After brushing up with that text again before my exam, I actually noticed that it covered most everything that I may have learned elsewhere, but it may be only mentioned once, while the Syngress book stressed the issues and was information overload in some sections.
Also, that Sybex book has info on the Developer and Architect exams as well; the Sybex book was focussed on the Programmer exam.
Sybex boosted my confidence, overall Syngress scared my confidence away. However, the significant issue is that I must have learned what I needed through all of my Java experience; those 2 certification texts (Sybex and Syngress), the Complete Reference 4th edition (I didn't read the whole text--only studied trouble spots), and several mock paper, web, and software exams.
Good Luck!
The format changed in October 2000
I'm not sure what it used to be, but now it's 59 questions in 2 hours requiring 61% to pass. I think Sun said this is more difficult (or the same difficulty as before), but what makes me think it is easier than before (although I only took this one test) is the fact that they tell you how many answers to select from a multiple choice question. Before, they didn't tell you. So, if you selected 2 when there were 3 to select, the entire question was marked wrong!
Yes, there is no (extra) penalty for incorrect answers, just get the 61% of 59.
Don't skip any, take a stab at all questions! You can mark them for later review and come back to them if you have time (not so on tester.jar). I was averaging 30-45 minutes on tester.jar, but I took most of the real exam time to make sure I read it correctly and chose what I wanted to choose.
Thanks. Good Luck when you take your exam.
So this head hunter calls on Monday and I tell him that I'm Java Certified. He says his client is looking for C/C++ and Java and then tells me he needs me to pass a C++ test at brainbuzz.com. That pissed me off because I thought I was done with tests for a while. Well, after creating an account there and finding my C++ texts unused since early 2000, I just brushed up in about 6 hours before "risking" taking the "SkillDrill" today. I didn't know what to expect or how taking the exam would affect an employer decision (apparently you are allowed 3 attempts in a month, but I don't know what the employer is looking for nor how quickly they wanted a response). Well, I ranked 147th out of about 2724 worldwide (getting a C++ certification but missing the master certification or some such).
I'm feeling good, but hiring offers will make me feel better.