Customer Reviews

SCJA Sun Certified Java Associate Study Guide (Exam CX-310-019) (Certification Press)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The writing style is bloated and awkward.
Example:
Even though it would be possible to return data back from a method by using this practice, it is not considered a good coding practice.
This should be something like:
A method can return more than one value to its caller by setting attributes of an object that it receives as a parameter. However, this is a poor coding practice.

There are so many typos that you don't trust the authors.

Some of the questions are so badly worded that you don't know whether they are trick questions, or the authors simply don't know how to express themselves clearly.

It's a shame that the authors didn't get a proofreader. If they had, this book could have been excellent.

Btw, the SCJP by Sierra and Bates contrasts with this book; SCJP is well written and well proofed.

There are so many bad things about this book that it's hard to even look past them and attempt to find any good qualities.
(1) This book is very poorly written and at times it seems as if it was written by a first year college student.
(2) For those who don't know, the SCJA is extremely easy. The objectives of the SCJA are very basic in nature and, for the most part, only require a very high-level understanding of most items. Yet, as simple as the exam is, this book leaves out a lot. If you are new to the world of Java programming and related items such as UML, then this book will set you up for failure as it leaves a lot to be desired for what is actually on the exam.
(3) I do not know who performed the technical quality control for this book but the exercises and practice exams are ridiculous. Many of the programming exercises have very obvious errors. Many of the exam questions are WRONG. Many people use practice exams to do a quick study of key points before a certification. What good does this do if many of the practice exam questions provided with the book are WRONG?

If you want to pass this exam, do not buy this book. The SCJA is too easy to fail because of a bad purchase. If you already bought this bought this book and have some experience with Java and object-oriented principles then Google SCJA Tips along with UML overviews and you'll be fine. If you have no Java experience and you bought this book, go back to the bookstore.

This is hands down the worst book I have ever used to prepare for any certification exam. I have over 7 years of professional java development experience and decided it was time to obtain my certifications so I thought I would start with this one. This book is not only full of errors, but it is horribly written and will only confuse you. Reading this book becomes frustrating as the examples are bad, there is no content background, and the material is skimmed over at such a high-level that the reader only walks away with more questions than before.

I would have given this book zero stars if that were an option. If you really want to gain some knowledge of Java, read "Head First Java", then pick up some quick reads about UML. This should prep you enough for this test. Whatever you do, avoid this book, it is terribly written, contains errors, and will only frustrated you when trying to prepare for the exam.

This is a study guide to prepare the reader for the Java 6 exam. It is similar to earlier books by the same authors, but updated for Java 6. The updates are well worth it. Each chapter has a section of notes at the end called the "2 minute drill". Reviewing these notes is a helpful study aide, as is a quiz at the end of each chapter. One of the best things about this study guide is that it demonstrates to the reader that the certification exam is not just a Java test, but a trick question test. Memorizing rules and knowing Java 6 enough to get a program to compile is not enough. A person needs to be able think in the rules, notice tiny details and discern wrong answers that are made to look very close to right answers. A person using this guide will discover that this is not easy to do and is a skill separate from knowing Java well. A companion workbook filled with nothing but practice questions would be valuable, as would more practice questions with the book. I do have one negative criticism that is not fault of the authors. The book includes 2 mock exams on a CD. The mock exam software runs only on Microsoft Windows. This is bad enough in this day and age of more than one prominent operating system, but it is also ironic as Java is cross platform language. I was able to get the exam software to run on Ubuntu Linux via the WINE software, but I am bothered by the publishers making the mock exam software platform dependent, given the price of the book. If I didn't get lucky with WINE I would have been gyped out of a valuable study aide included in the price of the book.

I have over 8 years of experience programming on the Microsoft .Net platform in C# and wanted to learn Java so I could program Android phones. I decided to use this book as a tutorial because it emphasizes what Sun/Oracle considers important for new Java programmers. I wasn't disappointed in my choice and am surprised at some of the negative reviews.

It was very readable and provided a good introduction and overview of the various subject areas. The two-minute drills were very helpful as well as the excercises. I did experience some minor problems compiling the source code for a few of the excercises but they were easily resolved.

Using this book I passed the SCJA exam on the first try with a score of 92%.

If you plan to use this book to study for the SCJA exam, before you start studying, I would recommend going to the Mcgraw-Hill website and downloading the errata for the book (a good practice with any programming book).

I waited 3 years for this book. It was delayed, delayed, delayed. And now I have it, I wonder what they did for 3 years. The writing is horrible, there are mistakes everywhere, half the sample questions are wrong, and it doesn't even cover the exam objectives.

There are way better books out there. Avoid this one.

On December 2009 I have passed the SCJA (84%) using this book.
I think this book worths 4 stars because it contains some minor mistakes, but I put 5 just to close its rating to reality. So, this can be your first book for learning Java, and you can use this book to pass the SCJA exam. Good Luck!

I would have to agree with others regarding the example questions. Numerous times in the examples does it give a wrong answer, or the list of possible answers within the answer section does not match the actual question it asks. While this is very annoying, it did force me to look into / better understand what the question was asking (which I'm sure is not done on purpose).

I give this book 4 stars because the content it does cover it does well. The 2 minute drills have been very helpful for memorizing key concepts.

As far as the comments regarding the writing style... It was written very "technical" vs. the "Head First Java" books, but that is what I was looking for when I bought this book.