This Book is *Not* a Study Guide

Well, technically it is. But what I really mean is our new OCP 11 Java Programmer II Book is so much more than that. In fact, it’s my favorite book we’ve written (don’t tell my other books!) because it dives deep into some really interesting topics like streams, concurrency, I/O and NIO.2, method references, etc that people often only have passing familiarity with.

It’s not written solely for you to pass the exam (although it contains plenty of strategies/tips/tricks for that too!). For example, maybe you’ve used annotations but been too scared to write you own? This book will teach you everything you need to know about writing custom annotations like a pro. Or maybe you’ve heard about lambdas and streams but don’t really understand them well enough to use them. Completely understandable! I was once terrified to use them too, for fear of looking unintelligent (aka dumb). Now, I use lambdas, streams, and method references to accomplish in a handful of lines what used to take me pages of boiler plate code.

Whether you take and pass the exam or not (and I sincerely wish you do), I hope that by reading this book you’ll gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Java. Oh, and if you’re more just starting out, I recommend reading our OCP 11 Java Programmer I Book first. That provides a solid foundation for Java classes, methods, and polymorphism.

If I sound excited, it’s because I am really proud of this book and all of the hard work that went into making it interesting, easy-to-understand, and perhaps… a bit of fun! Purchase now on Amazon while supplies last!

Assembling a mock exam

I like assembling the mock exams. I find it relaxing. I got a question yesterday about my process so writing it down

Question generation

  • Scott and I meet and decide how many mock questions will cover the material for each chapter. For example, we have an 80 question mock exam in our practice exams book. There are 12 chapters. This means some chapters have 6 questions and some have 7.
  • As we write each chapter, we both write mock exam questions for that chapter in a separate file.

Determining the order

  • I create a spreadsheet including the source chapter #, source question # and difficulty.
  • Create a column for mock exam question #
  • Fill it with =RAND().
  • Sort by the random number column.
  • Replace the random numbers by actual question numbers for the mock chapters
  • Fiddle with the list by trading question numbers so that there aren’t more than two questions in a row from the same chapter or same difficulty. (ideally not more than one from the same chapter in a row)

Assemble the questions

  • Copy/paste the questions from each chapter into a new file using the new order generated above. I find it fastest to copy all the questions that go with chapter 1, then 2, etc.
  • Proofread.
  • Run the program we wrote to check styles to make sure I didn’t mess them up on copy/paste.

50% off All Oracle and Java Exams!

Making a New Year’s resolution to get Java certified? For this month only (expires 12/31/2019), Oracle is offering 50% off all digital training and exam vouchers. This means if you want to get Java (or any other Oracle certification), you can do it for half the price! Better yet, the vouchers are good for 6 months from date of purchase. Why wait till the prices go up?

Need help? Our new book for the Java 11 1Z0-815 exam just went on sale last month! Jeanne and I offer a wide variety of books for Java 8 certifications including the Java 8 OCA 1Z0-808 exam or the Java 8 OCP 1Z0-809 exam, or if you’re taking both we offer a Java 8 Certification Kit and a Practice Questions book.

The first step to getting certified is making the decision to get certified! Then, you purchase a study guide and draw up a study plan. For example, you could decide to read one chapter a week. Finally, you start taking practice exams to determine what topics you need to study more. And since the vouchers expire in 6 months, you have a nice incentive to not give up!