Cureless

First is passing the SCJP certification exam. (Yay! It’s time to update the resumé!)

Second is passing the PFT (although barely) despite a huge physical limitation.

I took the certification exam last Tuesday (27th of February), one of the reasons why I skipped several days of blogging last week. My bosses allowed me a week of leave (with no papers at all) which I spent cramming for the exam. My exam scores aren’t that bad (not that good either). And I would say that although I’m already happy for passing the exam with 77% (47 out of 61 questions answered correctly), I would have been happier it was 90% or above (which our boss (a military officer) got 2 years ago). I could have studied a little longer but my voucher is already about to expire on the 28th that time.

Not to give a tip or anything (you can ask me personally though) but the seemingly trivial things which are prone to being overlooked were present on the exam (e.g. is NULL a valid value for String?). The review books and mock exams on the Internet were helpful. Perhaps the most effective tip I can give to future takers is to answer as many mock exams as you can so you can familiarize with the type of questions asked.

After the mental exam comes the physical one which to my opinion builds up more anxiety than the former.

We took our PFT today (1st of March). I was really hopeless and unlike the previous 8 PFT’s I’ve undergone, I didn’t feel nervous before the test at all. I was complacent and very much ready to fail it. Plus the fact that I saw red in my undies after the situp test signify another “blessing in disguise“.

But I decided to finish the PFT. Pffft. Running with blood oozing from your hole is just no-metch. I did my usual slow-paced jogging. And with a positive attitude, I dashed to the finish line just to arrive just 5 seconds before the cut-off time for my category - 19:24. For the record, that was my longest time. Pffft again. But I’m still happy being able to defeat this bloody curse. Fluffy also passed. Although unlike before, we didn’t win any pizza today.