Update (11/05/2020): Read The 1Z0-819 Exam page to learn how you can easily our Java 11 Study Guides to prepare for Oracle’s 1Z0-819 Exam, as well as the 1Z0-817 Upgrade Exam.
In Part 1 of my experience taking the 1Z0-819 exam, I described my overall experience taking the new Java 11 Oracle Certified Professional exam. In Part 2, I’ll go into more detail about some of the finer points for those planning to take this new exam using our Programmer I or Programmer II books, or the combined Complete Study Guide.
TLDR: Yes, our Java 11 books are perfect for the new 1Z0-819 exam! I scored an 87% myself, although I was focused more on studying the exam than passing it. Read on if you plan to take the new 1Z0-819 exam!
1. Differences in Material between the Old and New Exams
By comparing the 1Z0-815/1Z0-816 and 1Z0-819 exam objectives, you might be inclined to think the material is radically different, but really isn’t. For most of the objectives, Oracle just took 2-3 objectives and rewrote the sentences to form a single objective. This is from someone who spent hours studying every word of all sets of objectives! See, not so scary is it?
That said, there are some differences between the 1Z0-815/1Z0-816 exams and the 1Z0-819 exam that you should be familiar with. Jeanne and I will be posting an addendum page on this blog for the people who purchase our Java 11 books to ensure they are properly prepared. For now, though, these are the important differences:
- Assertions are gone! This is just since most Java developers tend to use JUnit rather than the built-in
assertkeyword. When you get to this section in our books, feel free to skip it and have a snack! CallableStatementare also gone! Jeanne and I were never thrilled this was on the exam as the usage can dependent very much on the database. You can skip this section too and have a drink with your snack!- Oracle added the word privileged to the security objective and this results in the
doPrivileged()method now being in scope. For these questions, you need to read Section 9 of the Oracle Secure Coding Guidelines for Java SE. Some people reported seeingdoPrivileged()on the 1Z0-816 exam, though, so it’s possible Oracle updated the 1Z0-816 exam more recently with this topic.
2. Studying for the 1Z0-819 Exam using our Books
Since the changes between the old and new exams are minimal, we still strongly recommend our Java 11 books to study for the new 1Z0-819. Since we were part of the team that helped design the objectives for the new 1Z0-819 exam, we were careful to keep the amount of new material to an absolute minimum. After taking the new exam, we are confident they can be used to successfully prepare for an pass the 1Z0-819 exam.
Now you may be asking, which of our books should you use? We recommend one of the following two options:
- Option 1: Java 11 Programmer I Study Guide and Java 11 Programmer II Study Guide
- Option 2: Java 11 Complete Study Guide
Before you rush to buy the Java 11 Complete Study Guide (since it’s one book instead of two), be aware that the physical edition is 1200+ pages long! And, the other two books contain the same material. In other words, if you plan to carry the book around on a train or bus, I recommend buying the first two books over the Complete Study Guide. Although if you’re going with the eBook edition, then go with whatever is cheaper!
3. Coming Soon: 1Z0-819 Practice Test Book
Jeanne and I recently finished the manuscript for our new Java 11 Practice Test book. This book has been updated and custom fit for the new 1Z0-819 exam. It is scheduled be released at the end of the year or early 2021.
4. Missing Strikethrough Exam Software Feature
On previous exams, you could right-click on an answer choice and it would cause it to strikethrough. This was extremely helpful for process of elimination and especially now that some questions have up to 10 answer questions! Unfortunately, this feature was not available when we took the exam. It’s not clear if this was a bug or Oracle has since pulled the feature, but I hope they bring it back. I had to actually write ABCDEFGHIJ on my scratch pad for some questions and cross them out one by one! Especially difficult when you can’t erase on the whiteboard they give you.
5. 1Z0-819 Exam vs 1Z0-817 Upgrade Exam: Scott’s Recommendation
If you hold a previous Oracle Certified Professional (not Associate) title, then you can still take the Java 11 1Z0-817 Upgrade Exam rather than the Java 11 1Z0-819 Exam. At this time, Oracle does not have any plans to retire the Upgrade exam.
My recommendation is given the choice between the two exams, I’d rather take the 1Z0-817 Upgrade exam. First off, the material is narrower in scope. Very few of the topics from from the previous 1Z0-815 exam appear and many of the topics from the 1Z0-816 exam (annotations, JDBC, security) are gone as well. In other words, you only have to study a dozen chapters from our Programmer II book, along with the Upgrade Appendix we included in the book, rather than potentially all of the chapters in the Complete Study Guide.
While the 1Z0-817 upgrade exam has more questions than the 1Z0-819 exam, you have 3 hours. Since I found the questions on the 1Z0-817 exam to be often shorter with fewer answer choices than the questions on the 1Z0-819, I feel you have a lot more time to think on the upgrade exam. I was not remotely worried about running out of time when I took the 1Z0-817 upgrade exam.
The only downside to taking the 1Z0-817 upgrade exam is that it contains a lot of questions on modules. In fact, 3 out of 10 of the objective sets are modules on the 1Z0-817 exam! It is fair to say modules did not feature nearly as prominently on the 1Z0-819 exam, so if you don’t like modules than the 1Z0-819 might be a better fit for you.
6. Exam Center Process
I opted to take the exam in-person after hearing some scary stories about at-home software tracking your eye movement and what not. Below are my comments from taking it in the time of COVID:
- Temperature check and handwash station as soon as I walked in the door. The testing center I was at had a thermometer mounted to the wall I had to stand in front of.
- Had to keep my mask on the entire time, except when I was signing in and they wanted to check my ID and take my picture.
- To my surprise, there were 3 other people taking tests too, we were placed on opposite corners of the room.
- I received my score as soon as I clicked “Finish” to end the exam. It was shown on the screen.
- The test center handed me “Score Report” which had nothing on it except instructions to go online. My score was not printed.
Conclusion
So, that’s my personal experience taking the new Java 11 1Z0-819 exam. At the end of the day, I’m actually happy Oracle dropped the two exam requirement for the certification. After all, it cuts the price for certification in half! I just wish they had started with this approach, rather than retiring the 1Z0-815/1Z0-816 merely a year after they were released. Their roll of out the new exam was hastily done to say the least.
Jeanne and I have heard from numerous readers that this has thrown their study plans into complete disarray. To those readers, I completely empathize. Just imagine how it’s impacted two authors who’ve devoted a significant amount of time in their lives to creating study material for the Java 11 exams. It’s been quite a ride, but happily our Java 11 books are still the best source of material for studying for the exam!
Hi, I have a question regarding the exam format. Oracle gives you the number of correct answers for each question or you have to decide if it is a multiple answers question or a single answer one?
@Catalin They tell you how many are correct. It may be one, two, or three.
@Scott Thank you very much. I have already read “Programmer I” guide and it helped me a lot. Now I intend to read the second book and prepare for taking the exam in February.
Hi Scott,
This may have been answered before (and I apologize if I missed it), but does the 1Z0-819 allow partial credit; or must the full correct answer be given, even when it has 2 or 3 correct choices?
Thanks.
@John Nope, you must answer the question correctly. There is no partial credit.
@Scott, thanks for confirming; much appreciated.
Hi, just took the 819 test online and passed! Used the 815 and 816 books to prepare which were excellent.
Just a word of warning – I did in fact get a question on CallableStatements!
For everybody who is still learning for the exam:
CallableStatement are not gone. I’ve recently finished my exam and I got a question with a CallableStatement. Also, from the question, it was pretty clear that it is related to JDBC and not a tricky question for something else masked as a JDBC question. So, please do not skip that part from the book.
Hi,
I have purchased the Java 11 Complete Study Guide which is excellent and well worth the cost. My issue is with the Oracle exam itself, which according to the guide, is littered with trick questions designed to catch you out rather than test your understanding of Java. I haven’t taken the exam yet but would be upset to fail simply because I didn’t notice a missing semi-colon in 20 lines of code. My other concern is the time limit. The purpose of the exam should be to test whether you understand the concepts and not how well you cope under pressure. Many people will fail simply because they don’t have enough time and not because they don’t know the answers. I hope Oracle will change this in the future.
@Tony
The only place you have to watch for semicolons is enums (the end of the values list needs them when there are other members) and anonymous inner classes (they need one>) But yes, there are tricks. Time is a legitimate issue on the 819. Practice our questions until you get faster at them. Think of them as speed drills once you understand the material :). And I hope Oracle increases the time in the future as well.
Hi Scott/Jeanne,
I’ve used your book to get the OCA8 over 18 months ago (cheers!) and now have bought the Complete Guide for the OCP11 (twice by accident since I wanted an eBook version for non-Kindle devices).
However, even using metalearning (with flashcards, typing things out, creating a visual branch of what I’ve learning in concepts etc.) the sheer scope is too big to properly remember in one sitting for me partly studying takes so long next to a family/work/friends/healthy life that I start forgetting the earlier studied material. Combine that with the quite hefty new time pressure of 1Z0-819 and I just really want to take a different approach. Therefore I would like to specifically take 1Z0-809 to 1Z0-817 route.
For both:
A read of the Part I of the book since it’s all fair game. Skip Annotations (only @override marker) and Security chapters entirely in Part II.
1Z0-817:
Chapters 2, 11, 12, 14 (not in objective map), 15, 16, 17 (focus), 18 and 20
1Z0-809:
Here I am questioning if I can use the Complete Guide as well. Leaving out (and picking up for the upgrade):
* var keyword / type inference (including locally for lambda’s)
* isBlank() method from String, stripLeading() and stripTrailing()
* The (static factory) methods for certain collections (.of and .copyOf)
* Everything about modules.
* Stream.iterate()
* Files.isSameFile()
* Optional.ifPresentOrElse(), Optional.or(), Optional.stream(), Optional.isEmpty()
* private methods in interfaces
* since and forRemoval fields on @Deprecated
Exam topics:
Class/Advanced Class design: Chapters 8 and 9
Generics/Collections: Chapter 14
Lambda/Functional Interfaces/Stream API: Chapter 6 into Chapter 15
Exceptions / Assertions / Localization: Chapter 10 into Chapter 16
Date / Time: here I will need to find my own material
Concurrency: Chapter 18
IO / NIO: Chapter 19 and 20
JDBC: Chapter 21
Am i missing some major things in this learning plan or could you provide me with some tips / feedback on this approach and if this would solve my problem of the “too large chunk” at once?
Thank you for your great material!
@Marcel: The complete study guide covers much of what you need for the 809, but not everything. The table in https://coderanch.com/t/735313/certification/Java-Java shows the 808 and 809 to Java 11 exam mapping. The ones that aren’t covered in the Java 11 exam aren’t in the book you hold 🙂
Hi Scott, I just ordered the entire set (study guides 1 and 2 and the newest test bank, all physical copies) from amazon and received it a couple of days ago. i want to access the online resources as well but when i follow the instructions on the website, it won’t let me do anything! for info, i am trying to connect from france. I had your java 8 books, the complete set as well and the online resources were working just fine for those. what am i supposed to do? 🙂
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the feedback!
Stupid question, but how is it possible to score an odd percentage (87%) if there are 50 questions, each question having the same weight? Which indirectly means that each good answer gives 2%.
I bought the Java Programmer 2 study book, full intending to take the 817 upgrade exam as I have both OCP 6 & 8 already. But since Oracle are running a promotion at the moment for 90% off the 819 exam I decided to book that one in. Only just realised that this will include material from the old 815 exam too and I have not studied anything for that one, and do not have the Java Prorammer 1 study guide.
Do you think I’ll be fine with the former knowledge and study guide 2, or are there specific things I’m not goin to know?
Hi everyone, i just wanted to inform you that i had one question with a CallableStatement in my 819 exam last friday in germany. It was in a try with resources and i cant remember the question exactly, if it was about compiling or not. But in that situation if you don’t know the callable statment you could have only guessed.
In the end it was just one out of 50, so ok, you can probably skip it. But i would just tell you that it is better if you know the statement and how it is handled.
Nevertheless i failed because for me timing was a huge issue. I had only answered 40 question when i ran out of time. That said, i am already OCP6 and OCP 8 certified, but the cert last friday was very very difficult.
Dear Scott and Jeanne,
Thank you SO MUCH for all the preparation materials, books and sharing your experience passing the exams! I took my exam last night and scored 87%! I mostly used the Complete preparation guide, and it’s GOLD! I really appreciate your delivery of the material, it made me think more carefully about what’s going on behind the scenes and analyze code better. This is invaluable!
On the exam I had a question about FileChannel – I might’ve skipped something, but I don’t remember seeing that in the preparation book. The question was basically about how to correctly obtain it. Apart from that, everything else that was on the exam the book PERFECTLY prepare for.
Once again, a million thanks!
Today i failed a second time. 48% again after my first fail(also 48%),
although i managed to answer 49 instead of 40 questions before ran out of time.
So it seems my extra 9 answered questions were all wrong ?!
By the way, i had the same questions again. Nice Oracle. Seems the pool gets not shuffeld whithin 7 days.
Very frustrating. I am already OCP 8 and 6 certified, but it seems this here is much more difficult.
Frankly saying i had not the very best preparation and i knew it, but because of the discount for the cert i tried it. Something like a “free” bullet.
I do not see the point in putting so much time pressure on this exam.Why did oracle do this ? Whats the point ? On the job you are also more interested in have it proper working instead of rushing it through.
So i really don’t see the point.
Also i see it is more about understanding of the concepts than an on-the-job help, but it should slightly go more in that direction from my point of view.
To many “Will it compile ?” here. Again, whats the point ? Nowadays in no IT job on this planet you will write code without an IDE, so wou will
see if it compiles or not and if so you will have the reason in short time if your basic understanding is ok at least.
Just because you did not remember the slightest return parameter of some function does not make you worse on the job.
There shouldn’t be a single question about “if it compiles?”. This should never be an option.
Also the result report list does not help for improving.
In the end if you had a lot of questions partially right for example, from what i believe i had many times in my case, then you only see the very general
topic where you answered wrong. With this concept in the end you can see in my case that you can read de facto everything over again.
This all or nothing concept of right answers is in my opinion also not as good as a system of 1 point for a right check and -1 point for a wrong check in one question.
Then you get a much more realistic picture of the candidates overview of the concepts.
For example:
3 questions with 3 right markers to do.
Programmer A does in all 3 questions 2 right and each 1 wrong. Will be 0 point with todays rating.
Programmer B does 1 right and has no clue at all in both of the other two questions. 1 Point for him with todays rating.
So programmer A has for sure the broader knowledge of what is going on, but with this rating he will be leveled below programmer B.
At least arguable i think.
Well in the end it is like it is and i will continue with study for this certification for sure, because i already put too much work into it.
But this will be my last Oracle certification for sure i will complete. I am finished with this concept and style of questions.
I don’t get the logic behind these changes.
It’s 90mins to get to from zero to Java 11 OCP now yet for existing Java 6-8 OCP holders it’s a *3hr* exam (on top of the previous 5hrs of exams)?!
The upgrade exam is easier though.So more time, but less studying to pass
To answer my own question above – yes I was fine. Passed the exam, and found it pretty straightforward to be honest having studied hard for the programmer 2.
Also in response to one of the above I also had a question about using a FileChannel – and it’s not something I studied in the material, or have ever used in my work life. Thought it might be one of the experimental questions they slip in because I ended up having to answer more questions than the advertised amount so there were a few of them in there. Had no clue on that one though so had to guess (unsuccessfully!)
We’ve gotten a few reports that CallableStatement was not removed so the 819 page no longer says it was. Conveniently, the material has always been in the book. But we are no longer advising people to skip it.
I too, had a question about some kind of Channel. Can’t confirm it was a FileChannel, as commented above, but it definitely was a Channel. And it was present in the answers too, so it could not have been a question about something else.
I remember it, because I hadn’t read the chapters on IO(and the question definitely suggested IO) and made my mind to find out about it, but as I had no clue what it is about, I didn’t remember the question. I was under pressure too, because I knew the time was of a concern. Now it was at the end of April, the last day of the promotion, so I eventually forgot about it and these days when I finally got to those chapters, I got reminded of it by a note.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t answer more than 50 questions as I was watching the clock and my progress. I’m confident if it was unnumbered, I’d notice the discrepancy, yet I can’t completely exclude the possibility it happened and it was an experimental question, as suggested above. I too had an uneven result, so it might have been 49 or even less questions that really counted. However I think that was not the case. Knowing me, there’s no way I could have answered that many questions completely right. Points should have been counted on every correct option, otherwise I couldn’t have scored 63%, a near miss of the passing mark.
Now, on timing – I even got the chance to review the questions I had marked for a review, I think they were 12. But this is pointless, as the questions are so well chosen that there’s no way another question could help you figure out the answer. So in my opinion, if you did your homework, you wouldn’t have to worry about timing. Just don’t spend too much time on a question. You either know it, or don’t. that’s it. You won’t get it clearer, wasting time on it, trying to come up with something.
Use your writing materials provided in the center. I wouldn’t suggest an online exam as you don’t have the opportunity to use them. There’s an electronic board that would waste your time trying to write on it (with your mouse or touchpad, I imagine). Choose that option only if you’re very confident you don’t need them.
Use the technique of elimination. There’s no option to mark an answer as wrong any more. At least there wasn’t in April.
Hello! I have no previous Java Oracle certifications. Can I take 1Z0-819 without any previous certifications directly? Or should I take other Java certification(s) first?
Thank you.
Taylor: The 819 does not have any pre-req exam