Rating: 
Summary: Essential read for those taking the test
Review: This book is definitely not intended for those who want to learn J2EE or the design patterns. However, it is an essential guide for those with a background in systems design and architecture who want to get certified. It is concise and covers most of the required material.
Rating: 
Summary: Succinct coverage of most of the exam obejctives
Review: This book is just an expansion on the objectives posted on the sun website. This is a helpful guide as to what topics to focus on to prepare for the certification. This guide by itself is not at all sufficient to get certified as java architect. BTW, certification by itself is not sufficient to be a Java Architect. One needs real life experience and 'a lot of scars on the back' to be an architect. I have seen a lot of so called 'architects' who are very good at pulling wool over managements eyes and BSing developers.
Rating:
Summary: Ok book, with a few typos and UML errors.
Review: This book is not too bad for preparing the SCEA. However, there are some typos and errors: Typos:
1) Page 14, section 2.3, "the standalone programs than (? that) runs inside the Application Client container". And "The following APIs are required for the Application Client container: J2SE, JMS, JNDI, RMI-11OP (?IIOP), and JDBC. This container is provided by the application server vendors" Errors:
2) Page 36, Collaboration? It is not standard UML.
3) Page 37, Active class? It is not standard UML.
4) Realization page 41, diagram is wrong!
5) P49, activity diagram is wrong. The activities between fork and join are not right. Activity4 can only go to activity6 via join. The author should consult some UML books, or the UML 1.4 document from ...
Rating:
Summary: Very well written but a little thin on content
Review: This book is very well written and works well as a review book for the Architect exam. It doesn't really contain enough to cover the whole exam but it is a very good start. Some exam objectives are missing and others are just skimmed over. If this book contained double the material it would be excellent. It is much better written then the Paul Allen book.
Rating: 
Summary: Thin and broad. Good for a review before the exam.
Review: This book makes an assumption that the reader is already well prepared for the exam and all that needs to do be done is to summarize key points that might be useful in the exam. The book however lacks discussion on Messaging that is a considerable chunk of the exam.
Rating:
Summary: Does what it is supposed to
Review: This book powers through a lot of the concepts, but that's a good thing if your goal is to complete the exam and get on to the assignment. Will need to be supplemented with other materials such as the J2EE tutorial and Blueprints and, of course, work experience. Doesn't have anything on Messaging or Connectors. Hope this is included in the second edition.
Rating:
Summary: Good Coverage of a very broad set of topics
Review: This book summarizes things that you must find out from years of experience and from a host of other books. Some people would expect this book to teach them everything, but the architect test is too broad for one book to ever do justice to. I would buy the Design Patters book (Gamma), the Professional EJB book & Java Server Programming J2EE Edition (Wrox), UML Distilled (Fowler), the Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (Sun). Then I would write some i18n apps, write some simple beans on JBoss, disect the Java Blueprint sample app, then READ THIS STUDY GUIDE, and THEN I would take the test. But then what do I know, I missed 3 questions on the test. If you're lazy and want to pass the test from reading one and only one book, you're SOL, it ain't gonna happen.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't contain what it says in the back cover
Review: This book totally omitted "Legacy Connectivity", "Messaging". Other objectives are also not detailed enough. I don't know if it is deliberately done or not...
Rating: 
Summary: not usefull
Review: this guide really has nothing interesting better than this are the notes published by few certified people on javaranch.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for J2EE Architect exam
Review: This is a good book if you are serious on becoming an Architect. This book shows the right direction and clarifies the expectations of the Architect exam. If you are experienced with Java/J2EE technology and distributed computing, then this book is sufficient to clear the exam. I am an experienced J2EE professional and I got 81% by studying only this book. This book helped me to know the expectations of the exam objectives. I recommend this book, if you got over 3 years of experience with Java/J2EE technologies.
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