SCJP Preparation Tips : Sun Certified Java Professional Study Guide

Many College Students asked me whether they need to give SCJP (OCPJP) exam or not.In this post I will try to clear many of the doubts related to SCJP.

Since Oracle releases  Java 7 , it change the name of the exams , that is SCJP (Sun Certified Java Professional ) now called OCPJP (Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer), while SCJA (Sun Certified Java Associates) now called OCA (Oracle Certified Associate).

If you want to pursue career in Java , then you should take SCJP exam .It is like an investment in yourself and in your career.So let us understand the most important question , why you need to take SCJP or OCPJP exam.


Why SCJP ?

1. It gives expression to the interviewer that you already know basics of java . Employer does not need to spend money to train you basics of Java.

2. Level of questions asked in SCJP is very good . You can give correct answer only if you precisely understand the concept. Hence , SCJP will make you study each basic topic of Java in detail.

Read Also :  How to Register and Buy SCJP exam : Complete Guide

3. After reading point 2 , you  will be scared, SCJP is tough , Can I clear it ? I spent 150$ already , what happened if I am not able to pass it ?



The solution to above questions is SCJP Dumps . Dumps is a set of  200-400 questions provided by the Oracle  for each version of Java .Every question asked in the SCJP exam will be from these 200-400 questions ,As of now  60 questions asked in SCJP 6 while 90 questions asked in SCJP 7 (OCPJP 7) .

There are three levels of Certifications from Java 7 onwards :

Basic Level  :           OCA (Oracle Certified Associate)

Intermediate Level : OCPJP (Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer)

Advance Level :       OCM (Oracle Certified Master)

We will discuss about two OCA and OCPJP.

Oracle Certified Associate (OCA) Details:

Oracle Certified Professionals Java Programmer (OCPJP 7) Details :




Note :  SCJP 6 Dumps will be different from SCJP 7 .  So if you are giving test of SCJP 7 then do not prepare the SCJP 6 Dumps . It wont help you . Try to gather SCJP 7 Dumps before giving SCJP 7 java certification.


Best Books  for SCJP Preparation

1. SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Exam 310-065
  by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates

2.  OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide (Exams 1Z0-803 & 1Z0-804)
  by Kathy Sierra

3. A Programmer's Guide to Java SE 7 Certification: A Comprehensive Primer (4th Edition)
  by Khalid Mughal


How to Prepare for SCJP ?

1.  Study from the book and understand concepts . Test your concepts by going through the exercises given at the end of each chapter. After finish reading the book , revise the concepts again.

2. The best way to prepare for exam is to write code , code and code . This way you will get more familiar  with the java syntax and keywords .

3. Plan ahead of the time and Read from the above mentioned books very carefully. After every question , you will be able to answer WHY the question is throwing compiler error or exception or a particular option is an answer.

4.  Collect SCJP 6 (for Java 6)  or SCJP 7(for Java 7) Dumps . Register for the SCJP Test after receiving the dumps .


Note :  Many of the answers given in the Dumps are Compiler error or Exception .Don't remember only answers otherwise you might get confuse in exam . So be careful to understand WHY question is giving compiler error or exception.

How To Get SCJP Dumps

You need to search online or take it from the person who has given the SCJP exam recently. Oracle will not provide you any dumps.


                                      Download SCJP 6 Dumps for Free


How to get SCJP Mock Test 

1.  Sample Questions of OCPJP 7 you can find here.

2. SCJP Exam Simulator,the best way to give a mock exam and prepare yourself for SCJP test, you can find it here  examlab.org  , just sign up and you will get 6 scjp mock tests for free.This is good

3. Enthuware  , here you will get scjp mock test  of OCPJP 7 after successful registeration.


Do I have to earn OCA certification  before earning OCPJP certification

Not Before Java 7 . If you are planning to give SCJP for Java 6 then you do not need to worry.

But for Java 7 , OCA level is prerequisite to the OCPJP.

You can find the updated information here .

How much  SCJP exam fee costs ? 

OCA     :  300 $
OCPJP :  300 $

Please reconfirm the cost of the certifications because Oracle changes cost from time to time.


Topics to Prepare in Java for SCJP/OCPJP 7 

All the topics which are asked in SCJP/OCPJP 7 are given below :

Java Class Design 

• Use access modifiers: private, protected, and public
• Override methods 
• Overload constructors and methods 
• Use the instanceof operator and casting
• Use virtual method invocation
• Override the hashCode, equals, and toString methods from the Object class to improve the functionality of your class. 
• Use package and import statements

Advanced Class Design 

• Identify when and how to apply abstract classes
• Construct abstract Java classes and subclasses
• Use the static and final keywords
• Create top-level and nested classes
• Use enumerated types

Object-Oriented Design Principles 

• Write code that declares, implements and/or extends interfaces
• Choose between interface inheritance and class inheritance
• Apply cohesion, low-coupling, IS-A, and HAS-A principles
• Apply object composition principles (including has-a relationships)
• Design a class using a Singleton design pattern
• Write code to implement the Data Access Object (DAO) pattern
• Design and create objects using a factory pattern

Generics and Collections

• Create a generic class
• Use the diamond for type inference  
• Analyze the interoperability of collections that use raw types and generic types 
• Use wrapper classes, autoboxing and unboxing
• Create and use List, Set and Deque implementations
• Create and use Map implementations
• Use java.util.Comparator and java.lang.Comparable
• Sort and search arrays and lists

String Processing 

• Search, parse and build strings (including Scanner, StringTokenizer, StringBuilder, String and Formatter)
• Search, parse, and replace strings by using regular expressions, using expression patterns for matching limited to: . (dot), * (star), + (plus), ?, \d, \D, \s, \S,  \w, \W, \b. \B, [], ().
• Format strings using the formatting parameters: %b, %c, %d, %f, and %s in format strings.

Exceptions and Assertions 

• Use throw and throws statements 
• Develop code that handles multiple Exception types in a single catch block
• Develop code that uses try-with-resources statements (including using classes that implement the AutoCloseable interface)
• Create custom exceptions
• Test invariants by using assertions

Java I/O Fundamentals 

• Read and write data from the console
• Use streams to read from and write to files by using classes in the java.io package including BufferedReader, BufferedWriter, File, FileReader, FileWriter, DataInputStream, DataOutputStream, ObjectOutputStream, ObjectInputStream, and PrintWriter

Java File I/O (NIO.2) 

• Operate on file and directory paths with the Path class 
• Check, delete, copy, or move a file or directory with the Files class  
• Read and change file and directory attributes, focusing on the BasicFileAttributes, DosFileAttributes, and PosixFileAttributes interfaces
• Recursively access a directory tree using the DirectoryStream and FileVisitor interfaces
• Find a file with the PathMatcher interface
• Watch a directory for changes with the WatchService interface

Building Database Applications with JDBC 

• Describe the interfaces that make up the core of the JDBC API (including the Driver, Connection, Statement, and ResultSet interfaces and their relationship to provider implementations)
• Identify the components required to connect to a database using the DriverManager class (including the jdbc URL)
• Submit queries and read results from the database (including creating statements, returning result sets, iterating through the results, and properly closing result sets, statements, and connections)
• Use JDBC transactions (including disabling auto-commit mode, committing and rolling back transactions, and setting and rolling back to savepoints)
• Construct and use RowSet objects using the RowSetProvider class and the RowSetFactory interface
• Create and use PreparedStatement and CallableStatement objects

Threads 

• Create and use the Thread class and the Runnable interface
• Manage and control thread lifecycle
• Synchronize thread access to shared data
• Identify code that may not execute correctly in a multi-threaded environment.

Concurrency 

• Use collections from the java.util.concurrent package with a focus on the advantages over and differences from the traditional java.util collections.
• Use Lock, ReadWriteLock, and ReentrantLock classes in the java.util.concurrent.locks package to support lock-free thread-safe programming on single variables.
• Use Executor, ExecutorService, Executors, Callable, and Future to execute tasks using thread pools.
• Use the parallel Fork/Join Framework

Localization 

• Read and set the locale by using the Locale object
• Build a resource bundle for each locale
• Call a resource bundle from an application
• Format dates, numbers, and currency values for localization with the NumberFormat and DateFormat classes (including number format patterns)
• Describe the advantages of localizing an application
• Define a locale using language and country codes

We will soon share scjp mock tests .

Please mention in the comments if you have any doubts or questions related to SCJP exams or OCA exams.