Rating: 
Summary: This book is for last minute REVISION before Java exam.
Review: Its a pretty good book for those who are already working on Java and would like to appear for java exam. As it is well known that many people with java experience also fail the exam becuase of lack of fundamental knowledge, this book gives most concise and complete recollection of Java exam contents. This is not for newbies and less experienced people. Mind you it is exam CRAM, not exam GUIDE.
Rating: 
Summary: A handy notes not better than Roberts Heller
Review: I bought this book(the first book for Java2 platform exam) a week back. But, I got disappointed when I looked at the contents. This book is no more better than Roberts Heller. Because this doesn't explain concepts, but recollects what we've been studying with. It remembers what else to be practiced. But the plus point is that it gives good insight into inner classes. Coverage on Collections and IO were very poor. And I studied only four chapters, and last interest on this book. If you already have Simon Roberts, then this may just give an additional of 25% knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, and Easy to understand
Review: I did not put 5 stars for this book because the book doesn't cover a lot about Java.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for the experienced Java Programmer
Review: This book certainly cannot stand by itself for the reader that who is inexperienced with Java -- however, for reasonably experienced programmers it is an outstanding, compact guide to taking the Sun Certified Programmer test. I was able to read the book in a week and pass the test very easily. However, in my opinion it covered the new Collection features of java.util packages very poorly. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Way off the Mark
Review: Although I did pass the exam, it was with no help from this book, the exam questions are nothing like the reall exam, save yourself the time, use another study guide and get yourself self test software
Rating:
Summary: Regarding A reader from Lee's Summit's Review
Review: I had just passed the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 1.4 Platform exam (with a score of 80%), and I want to help prospective test takers in finding the "right" Java study guide. I bewildered by the number of books available, and I had to try many of them before I settled on the right one. Here are my short reviews for each of the major Java study guides: "Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates (five stars): I felt this book was the best among all the Java study guides. Both the authors were responsible for the Java certification exam's development, and the practice questions are *very* similar to the actual exam. The authors also cover exactly what will be on the 1.4 exam, pointing out potential topics, questions, and pitfalls. I can't recommend this book highly enough. "A Programmer's Guide to Java Certification" by Khalid Mughal and Rolf Rasmussen (four stars): This is a good choice if you plan on taking the 1.2 exam. The book also has a dual purpose of teaching Java and sometimes goes beyond the actual scope of the exam, but it is nonetheless excellent. However, as the title suggests, this isn't the book for you if you don't have any programming experience. Also, the book's practice questions are much, much harder than the actual exam. "Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide (3rd Edition)" by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts (two stars): This was the most disappointing book of all. I don't know why so many people swear by it, but the book appeared to have been rushed into production. Many of the errors and typos have been updated in the book's second printing, but the book's coverage of topics is quite weak. Lastly, the practice questions were not only too easy, but they don't look very similar to how questions look on the real test. It's not a terrible book (many people appear to have passed the exam with just this book), but there are better options. "Java 2 Exam Prep" by Bill Brodgen (three stars): This compact study guide isn't a bad choice for prospective test takers with a good Java foundation. It covers all the exam's topics succinctly, but as another reviewer noted, it should not be your primary study guide. I personally did not find the book particularly useful. Lastly, sign up for Sun's ePractice practice exams. You'll get three sample tests, and they will help you prepare for the exam by showing you how the questions will look and what type of questions they will ask. I didn't like the idea of spending the extra money, but the practice exams definitely helped me prepare for the real thing.
Rating:
Summary: This book is worthless. Buy another Certification Guide
Review: I used only this book to study for my exam, and I did all the practice questions in the book. When I took the exam, I was suprised to find that the questions on the actual exam are no where like the practice questions. In addition, the book does a poor coverage on Java IO so I failed the IO section of the exam miserably (and that section weighs heavily in the exam). To be fair, the book covers everything else nicely and did get me through the exam (although I barely passed it). I still use it as a reference from time to time.
Rating:
Summary: Concise - sees the exam objectives from a different angle.
Review: I took the SJCP last week, so this review is fresh! This book is very concise and much smaller and manageable than "The complete Java Certification study guide". It's great for carrying around for when you have a spare minute or two to quickly go over your Java rules. I bought this book "Exam Cram" about a month before I was due to take the SJCP exam (310-025). Up until then, I had been using "The complete Java Certification study guide" as my main source of study. I was hoping that another book by a different author would provide a well-rounded preparation, not just focusing on areas that just one book deemed as important. The emphasis in this book is slightly different to "The complete Java Certification study guide" and this is probably down to interpretation of the Sun Objectives as well as the fact that it is a "cram" rather than a "guide". Strangely, although smaller than "The complete Java Certification study guide", it actually seems to cover more ground than it. For the most part, this extra information and different emphasis on areas seems superfluous, as the extra parts did not come up in the real exam for me. But maybe, I was just lucky, as I can't speak for everyone's exams. One thing in particular that I would not have known about if it were not for Exam Cram is the join() method. Not covered in "The complete Java Certification study guide", it WAS mentioned in the exam that I took last week. As for the sample final exam, it was easier than most of the (pretty tough) end of chapter questions but the result matched pretty closely to what I got for the real thing. Sample final exam: 74%
Real exam result: 79% Warning - just because I did better on the day does not mean that the real exam is easier than the sample exam provided. If anything it was harder as it took me nearly the full 2 hour allocation to complete, whereas the sample exam took just over an hour. In summary, this is a well-written and concise set of notes for the SJCP. I'm only giving it 4 stars however as the content and emphasis in "The complete Java Certification study guide" seemed to match the real exam more closely than this book. On it's own, this book is probably not enough to prepare but in conjunction with a good study guide, it almost plays devils advocate, asking you to think about things from another angle, placing a stronger emphasis on what may not have seemed that important in the first book.
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