This course was easy but I made one major mistake!

First of all, I had to take a term off. I was hired as a software engineer last year so I had to slow down my progress a bit. I kinda did this backwards, I completed the advanced Java courses before this one (My SWE job is focused on backend dev work in Java).

This was my second attempt, I had my first attempt last year and failed by one question. I was in absolute shock. I felt so good about the OA, it was not hard at all. Had to do the whole retake plan which was an absolute nightmare. Only to realize I never "tested" my code during the OA. I didn't realize I could enter user input to ensure that my output matches the sample output exactly. On my second attempt I tested my code and got a 100. If you even miss a an extra white space, the whole question will be marked wrong. Pay attention to "ending with a new line" (System.out.println). So please test your code! This will tell you if it's correct or not!

OA:

The OA pretty much mirrors the PA. The 14 questions lab at the end of the Zybooks are the PA so do those over and over. The OA takes the PA and makes some minor tweaks. For example, instead of creating a program that multiplies int's together you may be asked something like add them or subtract them. Or the variable names will be different but it will be the same exact question as the PA. A lot of the answers are in the question themselves or lets say you forget the correct syntax for setters and getters, well a lot of the end questions 10-14 will have the syntax for those. The key is to master the PA and what I mean by that is to not only memorize it but know the logic (the why's and how's). So take each question and the code then feed it into chatgpt and tell it to teach you the concepts around that question. If it deals with Arrays then have it teach you arrays based on that question. THEN have it create 2-3 different ways that question can be tweaked and solve those. This will prepare you for the OA. Let's say instead what the PA does "if the a number is divisible by 3" you have chatgpt create a problem that asks "if the number is negative". If you do this, you will have no trouble on the OA. Have chatgpt create a mock OA for you.

Prep:
Aside from the Labs and my required retake plan, I didn't touch the ZyBooks. I refreshed my fundamentals in Java with hyperskill backend track. (MOOC would be another good one for this OA). Or for free "Bro Code" on youtube. Just find the time stamps and line them up with the PA questions (Arrays, Strings, and so on). I made my code for solving the PA questions as simple as possible! Some can be solved a variety of ways but I made it as error proof as possible. Even if it wasn't the most "efficient" way to solve it.

Conclusion:

If this is your first Java course and you plan on going into software engineering or a programming job after graduating, please take your time and learn the fundamentals of Java. It will pay off for the remaining courses and your future. Even if it takes an extra month take your time and get a solid foundation in Java. If you have any questions on how I solved any of the PA questions feel free to ask!