I picked this up to get a feel for the exam difficulty and to figure out what concepts I needed more focus on. I was not happy with this product for a number of reasons including:
*Linux Netscape Applet font problems (too big, can't answer questions) made it unusable on my preferred OS that was listed as being supporting.
*A couple of inaccurate questions in the first few tests(one was coverd in eratta on the Sybex site, a couple others weren't).
*Answer Explanations that simply told you to check a chapter and section in ANOTHER Sybex product (read: "Go buy more of our stuff").
*Tests 1 and 2 ran fine under Win98 and/or NT but 3 and 4 both got confused and would not score (telling me I hadn't answered anything, but still allowing me to review and get answers one at a time). Tests 3 and 4 also got confused the same way under Linux, while still having font problems.
For the record, I gave up after test 4 and bought another exam sim w/ over 600 questions written entirely in Java Swing that
fit on a floppy and gives full explanations where needed quoted from the JLS (Java Language Specification) for .... It's called JQPlus from a company called Enthuware. No I don't work for them, no they didn't pay me. But at less than half the cost of Sybex Java 2 Certification Virtual Test Center, it's worth 3 times as much. I know. I passed my Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 on the first try September 17, 2001 with a score of 84% over all.
I hope Sybex takes some time to seriously clean this product up and figure out whom their audience is. It's a fine idea, but the technical implementation bugs and the "answers" that tell you to buy their other book would prevent me from recommending this. Until then, I highly recommend people take a good look at the small Java certification "community" for products like JQPlus.