Taking the Programmer's Exam
In a perfect world, you would be assessed for your true knowledge of a subject, not simply how you respond to a series of test questions. But life isn't perfect, and it just isn't practical to evaluate everyone's knowledge on a one-to-one basis.
For the majority of its certifications, Sun evaluates candidates using a computer based testing service operated by Sylvan Prometric. This service is quite popular in the industry, and it is used for a number of vendor certification programs, including Novell's CNE and Microsoft's MCSE. Thanks to Sylvan Prometric's large number of facilities, exams can be administered worldwide, generally in the same town as a prospective candidate.
For the most part, Sylvan Prometric exams work similarly from vendor to vendor. However, there is an important fact to know about Sun's exams: they use the traditional Sylvan Prometric test format, not the newer adaptive format. This gives the candidate an advantage, since the traditional format allows answers to be reviewed and revised during the test.
To discourage simple memorization, Sun exams present a potentially different set of questions to different candidates. In the development of the exam, hundreds of questions are compiled and refined using beta testers. From this large collection, questions are pulled together from each objective and assembled into many different versions of the exam.
Each Sun exam has a specific number of questions (the Programmer's exam contains 72 questions) and test duration (210 minutes for the Programmer's exam) is designed to be generous. The time remaining is always displayed in the corner of the testing screen, along with the number of remaining questions. If time expires during an exam, the test terminates, and incomplete answers are counted as incorrect.
At the end of the exam, your test is immediately graded, and the results are displayed on the screen. Scores for each subject area are also provided, but the system will not indicate which specific questions were missed. A report is automatically printed at the proctor's desk for your files. The test score is electronically transmitted back to Sun.
Question Format
Sun's Java exams pose questions in either multiple-choice or drag-and-drop formats.
Multiple Choice Questions
In earlier versions of the exam, when you encountered a multiple-choice question you were not told how many answers were correct, but with each version of the exam, the questions have become more difficult, so today each multiple-choice question tells you how many answers to choose. The Self Test questions at the end of each chapter are closely matched to the format, wording, and difficulty of the real exam questions, with two exceptions:
- Whenever we can, our questions will NOT tell you how many correct answers exist (we will say "Choose all that apply"). We do this to help you master the material. Some savvy test-takers can eliminate wrong answers when the number of correct answers is known. It's also possible, if you know how many answers are correct, to choose the most plausible answers. Our job is to toughen you up for the real exam!
- The real exam typically numbers lines of code in a question. Sometimes we do not number lines of code—mostly so that we have the space to add comments at key places. On the real exam, when a code listing starts with line 1, it means that you're looking at an entire source file. If a code listing starts at a line number greater than 1, that means you're looking at a partial source file. When looking at a partial source file, assume that the code you can't see is correct. (For instance, unless explicitly stated, you can assume that a partial source file will have the correct import and package statements.)
Drag-and-Drop Questions
Although many of the other Sun Java certification exams have been using dragand-drop questions for several years, this is the first version of the SCJP exam that includes drag-and-drop questions. As we discussed earlier, the exam questions you receive are randomized, but you should expect that about 20–25% of the questions you encounter will be drag-and-drop style.
Drag-and-drop questions typically consist of three components:
- A scenario A short description of the task you are meant to complete.
- A partially completed task A code listing, a table, or a directory tree. The partially completed task will contain empty slots, which are indicated with (typically yellow) boxes. These boxes need to be filled to complete the task.
- A set of possible "fragment" answers You will click on fragments (typically blue boxes) and drag-and-drop them into the correct empty slots. The question's scenario will tell you whether you can reuse fragments.
Most drag-and-drop questions will have anywhere from 4 to 10 empty slots to fill, and typically a few more fragments than are needed (usually some fragments are left unused). Drag-and-drop questions are often the most complex on the exam, and the number of possible answer combinations makes them almost impossible to guess.
Related Topics : C++ Aptitude & OOPs
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