SCJP

Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)

The Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) exam is the entry level Java exam and is a prerequisite to a number of the other Java-related certifications. SCJP 6, designated CX-310-065 by Sun, was released in December 2007.

It is designed to have a fairly detailed test of basic knowledge of the essentials of the Java programming language. It tests looping constructs and variables, and does not cover specific technologies such as GUI creation, Web or network programming.

It is assessed through an automatically administered multiple-choice test system and consists of 72 questions which the candidate has 210 minutes to answer. At least 47 questions are needed to be correct to pass (around 65%). The exam is taken at a Prometric test center, and to take the test a candidate must buy a voucher from Sun (approximately US$200 in the US, but £150 (excluding VAT) in the UK) and book the test at least a week in advance. The test consists of multiple choice and drag-and-drop questions, the latter comprising 20-25% of the questions.

The SCJP 5 exam tests a candidate on knowledge of declarations, access control, object orientation, assignments, operators, flow control, assertions, string handling, I/O, parsing, formatting, generics, collections, inner classes, threads and the JDK tools[1]. The test is available in English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Previous versions

There have been a number of previous versions of the SCJP. The current version, SCJP 6.0, is aimed at the JDK 6.0 release of Java. It introduces new topics covering Console, NavigableSet, and NavigableMap.

SCJP 5.0 (designated CX-310-055) was based on JDK 5. It introduced variable arguments, autoboxing, and generic types, and dropped the bit shifting topics from previous exams.

SCJP 1.4 (designated CX-310-035) was based on JDK 1.4. Compared to the previous version of the exam, SCJP 1.2, it dropped questions on GUI topics and shifted the emphasis towards core language features[3]. SCJP 1.4 features 61 questions to be answered within 120 minutes. 32 questions or more (52%) need to be answered correctly in order to pass.

SCJP 1.2 (designated CX-310-025) was based on JDK 1.2, and was first live on 15 June 2000. The exam had 59 questions (both multiple choice and short answer) to be answered within two hours. The pass mark was 61 percent. However, exam 310-025 has been withdrawn from the market; certified professionals can retain their certification and use the title, but this version is no longer being offered.