Passed Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 17 Developer 1Z0-829 (80%)

The exam had 50 questions to answer in 90 minutes. I felt like the time was adequate.

I read the book from Boyarsky and Selikoff - as always it is the best resource, perhaps the only one you will need (depending on your experience, the less experienced programmers might want to read/practice from more books, for my first Oracle certification I read from 3 Books - http://www.pmsas.pr.gov.br/wp-content/?id=coderanch-1z0-809&exam=t/716585/certification/Passed-OCP-Java). Other than that I did 6-7 exams on enthuware. Felt like enthuware questions gotten harder over the years:).

Regarding the exam there was one grammatical mistake and one compilation error that was not intended (there was no "wont compile" option) so that was a bit annoying - had to spend a bit extra time on figuring out how to answer the question.  I feel like Oracle recently switched exam providers or something in their process so they are still sorting things out. Also the exam registration was cumbersome (hard to figure out with their new website exam registration layout)

Also beware that the Safe Browser which you have to download to take the exam gives a lot of trouble on Windows - keeps demanding that you turn off some background processes that are impossible to find and doesn't let you get to the exam until you do. I was lucky to be able to switch to mac where this problem doesn't appear, but if you have windows I would suggest borrowing a Mac from a friend for the exam to avoid the hassle, otherwise you might end up missing the exam (which you then should be able to reschedule but that doesn't solve the original issue).

All in all I am happy I passed but I would almost advise people against this certification by now. It is one of the most expensive ones and at the same time some other certifications like from some cloud provider like AWS might be more beneficial in terms of marketability.

Firstly, congrats !!! 80% is a good mark.

- I it mandatory to take the exam online or can I schedule at an "Oracle centre"? like in the past?

- Does my computer need a web camera working?

thanks:) I didn't see the option to take it in the exam center perhaps that will appear with time or depends on the region.

And yes, the camera had to be on the whole time in a zoom call with bunch of other people and 3 moderators, other exam takers seemed all busy with their own questions and you stopped seeing them once switched to questions

How long did it take for you to prepare? I have a fulltime job, I started preparing for OCP. Half way thru I am already worried that there is so much to remember and wont pass the exam.

I scored 90 above in 1.4 when I was in school. But with new OCP 22 chapters to study, it feels like a nightmare. any advice?

That would depend heavily on where you stand. Since Java 1.4 biggest milestones would be

Collections (Java 5)
Stream Api and Lambdas (Java 8)
Java Modules (Java 11)
Records (Java 17)

If you are an experienced programmer I would think 2, max 3 months maybe just to catch up with things and learn Modules that no one uses except framework developers:)  A generally good way of assessing yourself is to take practice tests (such as enthuware) and see how you progress and what your weak areas are, once you are hitting consistently around 80% you should feel comfortable scheduling the certification (passing grade is 68%)

It took me about a month or two but I felt like I knew most points already and just needed a refresher

Javid Asgarov wrote:. . . . Since Java 1.4 biggest milestones would be

Collections (Java 5)
Stream Api and Lambdas (Java 8)
Java Modules (Java 11)
Records (Java 17)
. . . .

I think I disagree, I am afraid. The Collections Framework is much older than that; records were (I think) Java16, and modules appeared in Java9.
I would say that generics, enums, and the new classes for concurrency were bigger changes in Java5; the “new” memory model was also a Java5 feature, but users never seem to notice it. Why haven't you mentioned the new forms of the switch statement?

Charlie Chen wrote:. . . any advice?

Consider why you want to sit a certification exam. Do you need it at all. If you were trained in Java1.4, you will have anything up to twenty years' experience. That will count for more than an exam.
But I know some people sit exams to make sure they are up to date with the newer features.

Javid Asgarov wrote:. . . I am happy I passed . . .

Congratulations

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Charlie Chen wrote:. . . any advice?

Consider why you want to sit a certification exam. Do you need it at all. If you were trained in Java1.4, you will have anything up to twenty years' experience. That will count for more than an exam.
But I know some people sit exams to make sure they are up to date with the newer features.

You are right of course - I said collections but I meant collections with generics. And with the other points I rounded them up to the LTS versions but again you are right, Project Jigsaw (JPMS) saw light in Java 9 and Records are since Java 14.

I didn't mention switch expressions because I was trying to list things that would take someone longer amount of time to learn. Switch expressions, pattern matching and text blocks are all very nice features but require little time to understand:)

You are absolutely right. I have been in the industry doing full stack/java programming all these years.

I want to take the exam just to be up to date. thats all. Its just time management that I am struggling with.