SCJP Cleared

Well, it feels good to have cleared the SCJP after 15 days of preparation. These 15 days were really one of the strangest patch of days I have experienced. I stayed in the office not going home. Did not meet any of my friends. Just talked to couple of my friends over phone. I haven't been like this before.

The work in office during this period was also very high than ever before. So working till 9.30/10.30 pm and then preparing for the exam till mid night was the schedule which I was following. The days passed stressfully. I didn't get the confidence of clearing the exam at any point of time because the I knew 15 days of preparation will definitely not be sufficient. But I wanted to clear the exam at any cost so kept working hard in the available period of time leaving back all other worries.

As a final part of the preparation I just wanted to write some mock tests, which were available in my friends place. So I went there the day before the exam and wrote some three exams all of which I failed, this totally brought down my morale. I was almost sure that I am never going to clear the exam that moment. But, on the day of exam I went to the testing center keeping in mind to do the fundamentals correctly and not to worry about the tough ones. I sticked to this which helped me to get through.

Thanks to all my friends who backed me when ever I was feeling the pressure.

Few Tips (From my experience):

1. Prepare for the exam for a minimum of 3 month with good concentration.
2. Revise all the portions at least twice.
3. Take up mock tests 10 days before appearing for the exam, so that you will be able to find the sections where you are week and you will have time to revising it once more.
4. Use the study material for the SCJP 5.0 by Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates. Also study the important APIs from Java docs.
5. Take the test cool head, don't panic.

All the best - for all who take up the exam.