Exam Sun Certified Web Component Developer for the J2EE Platform (SCWCD) Exam (310-080) Certification, Vendor SCWCD, Sun Microsystems Status Live Reviewer's Rating "Requires much more hands-on practice than the SCJP." Test Information Apx. 60 questions, 61 percent needed to pass. Cost: $150 (U.S.). Must purchase the exam voucher through Sun. Who Should Take This Exam? Sun Certified Java Programmers who want to immerse themselves in this technology. What Classes Prepare You? Click here Test Objectives Click here

Exam Basics
The SCWCD exam is meant for those already certified as Sun Certified Java Programmers (SCJP) who want to go the next step. The major areas covered by this exam include:

• The Servlet Model
• The Structure and Deployment of Modern Servlet Web Applications
• The Servlet Container Model
• Designing and Developing Servlets to Handle Server-Side Exceptions
• Designing and Developing Servlets Using Session Management
• Designing and Developing Secure Web Applications
• Designing and Developing Thread-Safe Servlets
• The Java Server Pages (JSP) Technology Model
• Designing and Developing Reusable Web Components
• Designing and Developing JSP pages Using Java Bean Components
• Designing and Developing JSP pages Using Custom Tags
• Designing and Developing a Custom Tag Library
• Design Patterns Overview.

Complete objectives can be found on Sun's Web site, here.

The exam currently features 60 questions, with a pass rate of 61 percent, and you have 90 minutes to complete the exam. The fee is $150 (U.S.). The SCWCD exam is available at Prometric testing centers worldwide. Just like SCJP, if you fail and have to retake it, you pay the fee again and you get a different random selection of questions. This means it's going to be just as difficult every time you attempt the exam. But there's hope: The SCWCD is marginally easier than the SCJP in its preparation and attempt.

The SCWCD Experience
The SCWCD exam interface is very similar to the SCJP. The test itself consists of multiple choice, short answer and drag-and-drop questions.

Most questions on the exam will require you to click on the exhibit button, which will bring up code for you to review. Most of the codes are short and straightforward, requiring a simple selection of multiple-choice answer(s). Yes, there can be more than one answer! But fear not: Unlike the old Sun exams, Sun now tells you how many answers are correct.

Expect to run across around nine short answer (a.k.a. fill-in-the-blank) questions. Here, you will need to type in what the answer will be. I've found it's very easy to make mistakes on these types of questions, so don't be hasty: Be sure to double-check your answers for spelling mistakes and other typos.

Getting the drag-and-drop questions in your exam is dependent on the luck factor. Keep your fingers crossed that you will get these questions because these are typically relatively easy to score in.

Also, like the SCJP, an indicator will appear on the screen telling you how much time is remaining. One nice thing about Sun exams is that you can indeed go back and review your answers if you've got the extra time.

At the end of the exam, you'll be given your overall score as well as a breakdown of your score by topic. This is a great help toward identifying your major weaknesses and strengths in case of re-test, or just to improve your score further.

How I Prepared for the SCWCD
Preparing for the SCWCD is less rote learning and more practical work. I've heard that it takes an average of 90 hours before most people are ready to attempt this exam. I was working on a budget, so couldn't afford any of Sun's training workshops, which are supposed to be very helpful. To find out more about Sun's training options, click here.

If you don't mind spending a little money for the preparation, there are other resources on the Internet that will prove helpful. Two exam simulators to try out are Whiz Labs and JwebPlus. These simulators are as close to the real exam as you can get. (Sun's own mock exam, available on the Sun Web site, is very easy -- I got 95 percent on my first try). Trial versions of these are also available, so even if you can't afford to pay for the complete simulator, you can get an idea of what the WCD exam is like from the demo.

My first step in preparing was to download the following tutorials:

• Sun's Tutorial notes for J2EE
• For design patterns
• For JSP
• For Servlets
• Jakarta Taglibs Tutorial
• Listeners Tutorial

There's nothing better than letting the people who invented Java teach you in their own style. In my opinion, these tutorials are far better than anything that you might find in books (although I used those as well.)

Then I went to the best site on the Net as far as Java certification is concerned, Java Ranch. It has links to everything you need to get this certification. And you don't have to pay one cent to access all this material.

From here I downloaded the notes of Miftah Khan, Michelle, Velmurugan Periasamy and Ken Zrobok. These reviews are concise and to the point. My thanks go out to these people for taking the time to make and publish them. Depending on your technical level, you could get by with just these.

In addition, I studied the Servlet and JSP API documentation in detail. Documentation holds the hidden answers to every question that Sun can throw at you, except for design patterns. But remember, while thorough, combing through this stuff can also be very time consuming. Skip these if you're under any kind of time constraint.

I also took many free mock exams available on the Web. I especially recommend Eduardo Cobian's, which some believe is tougher than the exam itself. Also, Java Ranch's mock exam is very helpful. It's complete and very near the technical level of the actual exam.

As for books, some of the titles I used include:

• Inside Servlets: Server Side Programming for the Java Platform by Dustin Callaway
• Java Servlet Programming by Jason Hunter with William Crawford
• Web Development with Java Server Pages by Duane K. Fields and Mark A. Kolb
• Professional JSP published by WROX.
• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides.
• Thinking in Patterns (Downloadable from www.bruceeckel.com) by Bruce Eckel.

Of all these books, I liked Jason Hunter's Java Servlet Programming the best. It's complete, and its programming code goes a long way toward ironing out any deficiencies in your learning.

I will say, however, that Inside Servlets is perfect for those of you who want a simple and concise textbook to form a base in Servlets. It's well written and easy to understand.

Even then, however, my preparation was not complete. Again, unlike the SCJP, the core learning for the SCWCD does not come from reading a lot of books or material, it comes from practicing. I spent more time in front of my computer writing code for exercises than actually reading any text itself. I worked with Tomcat Apache 3.2.1 and then later switched to the 4.0 beta version as my server. I also practiced the coding given in the books, which helped a lot. During the main exam, it was easier to remember the coding methods that I had practiced then the ones I had tried to memorize. Most importantly, I tried to make a shopping cart application using JDBC, Servlets and Beans. This proved to be the most effective method of learning that I undertook. It helped me develop my feeling for the code and proved very effective in helping me with the exam as well.

Last, I signed up for several mailing lists, including those at Wrox, as well as discussion groups at Yahoo Groups and Java Ranch. All are excellent for getting difficult questions answered.

Final Tips and Tricks
Here are some other tips I can share with you for preparing for this exam:

• Read the specifications for JSP and Servlet and try to remember the names of elements and their use within the deployment descriptor tags. If you can, memorize some names like those appearing in the deployment descriptor and also know which of them are mandatory and which of them are sub-elements of what, etc. On many questions, Sun expects you to distinguish between various options with very similar element name. For example, you can have something like , , , .
• For design patterns, make sure you know the advantages of each of the patterns specified in the objectives and where and when they are used. That should be enough to get you through the exam.
• Understand the implications of implementing the SingleThreadModel. It seems to be one of Sun's favorite topics.
• Have the Custom-tag library down cold -- you'll be glad you did.
• Be careful with listeners. Be sure to prepare for and ready to identify listeners that affect the Web application context.

Is It Useful?
The SCWCD exam is by far the best base possible for making Web Applications for Web Services (using protocols like Soap, XML, JNDI, etc), Dynamic Web Pages using JSP and Servlets and much more. With the recent initiative by SAP to include Java in its technologies, Oracle with its own Java applications, and Sun's own initiatives in this technology with SunOne, the field is ripe for SCWCDs. I wish you luck on your exam.

More articles by Umair Mohsin:

• The UML Experience