SCJP: Sun Certified Programmer for Java Platform Study Guide: SE6 (Exam Cx-310-065) [Paperback]

This is a nice book that covers all the basics for the SCJP Java SE6 exam. Raposa has lots of example code and hundreds of practice questions to help you prepare for the exam. However, his text reads something like the Cliff Notes version of Java. He covers all the topics, but he does it rather quickly. If you already have a firm grasp of Java, and you are just looking for a tune up, then this relatively short study guide is a good choice. It also makes a nice "second pass" for one of the other more popular study guides. That's the reason I bought it. I'd already finished Kathy Sierra's book, and I wanted a 2nd perceptive. Raposa's book worked great in that role. Bottom line is if you're going to buy just one SE6 Study Guide, don't buy this one. However, if you want a 2nd Study Guide, then this is a nice choice.

After reading the last paragraph, you might be wondering why I rated this book only three stars. I give the text of the book four stars for all the excellent examples and sample test questions. However, I subtracted an extra star for two problems that have nothing to do with the text itself. The first issue is the poor quality paper the book is printed on. It this was some fantasy novel, it wouldn't matter. But being a textbook which readers will probably want to highlight passages from, the paper is so thin that the highlighter bleeds right through the page. The second issue is something called the Sybex Test Engine. As I've previously stated, one of the best features of this book is all the sample questions. Sybex, the publisher, put them all on a CD to practice with, which is really a nice idea. However, their test engine displays only a few lines of code at a time, making the reader scroll up and down through the question. This makes the questions unnecessarily difficult.

I just wanted to agree with the previous review. I used this book as a secondary book in my SCJP studies. I used the K+B book first and mainly used this book for its quizzes and test exams. I also agree with the previous review that the content of the book is a little on the brief side if you are starting from scratch. Also, the book covers several areas not on the exam (bit shifting, others). If you are looking for a good secondary source, I would recommend this book. Between the Bert and Sierra book and this one, you have a very large pool of questions to study from.

This book has all the essentials necessary to clear the certification exam. I used this book and only this twice (once in 2002 and once in 2009 for upgrade). I did not go through any brain dumps. But, you should be very careful reading every tit bit in this book before giving the certification.