Java 8 OCA (1Z0-808) Certification – Master the Fundamentals | Udemy

MAJOR NEWS – this course has been selected by Udemy for inclusion in their Udemy Business program.

• “Udemy Business is a curated (carefully chosen) selection of high-quality Udemy courses — like yours” [Udemy email].
• “Only 3% of all courses are chosen for Udemy Business.” [Udemy email].

To celebrate the courses induction into the Udemy Business program, I have added 9 extra quizzes and 2 FULL Practice Tests. The Practice Tests mimics the actual Oracle OCA exam in that each of them have 56 MCQ’s. You have 2 hours to complete the test and need 65% to pass (ref: Oracle, April 2024). The course now has a total of 248 MCQ’s overall; each of which is explained with a video solution (where whiteboards and diagrams are used extensively). These MCQ’s will help you understand Java at a deeper level and prepare you for the Java 8 OCA (1Z0-808) exam.

[UPDATE AUGUST 2024] – I have made available, on my GitHub repository, all of my source code that I developed as part of the course (68 java files). This will save you a lot of time getting setup with sample programs. Please see the “Cloning my GitHub Repo(sitory)” lecture early in the course. Note also that a downloadable zip file of the source code exists with the Scope lecture (also early in the course).

[UPDATE APRIL 2023] – several learners have requested my notes in order to help with the learning experience. This is a very good idea, so I have retrofitted the course to include them. The PDF’s zip is attached to the second lecture Scope, in the first section Java Basics.

[UPDATE APRIL 2022] – Based on learner feedback, practical exercises (called ‘assignments’) have been added! This includes a PDF of the instructions and both solution code and videos.

This course is a systematic approach to Java Fundamentals and the Oracle Java 8 1Z0-808 (OCA) Certification exam. All of the topics on the syllabus on Oracles website are covered. This course helps you master all the the critical fundamental concepts in Java. It is ideal for students learning Java for the first time (as a lecturer I can certainly appreciate this); professionals wishing to upskill and especially those targeting Java certification.

Topics include:

• Java Basics
• Working with Java Data Types
• Controlling Program Flow
• Working with Methods and Encapsulation
• Java Object Oriented Approach
• Exception Handling
• Arrays
• Working with Selected classes from the Java API

I have included 248 Oracle style multiple choice questions as part of the course. Each question contains a video explaining the answer.

As well as using an IDE to explain concepts, I use a whiteboard wherever I can. I find it an excellent learning tool; particularly around the topics of:

• Objects versus references
• Call-by-Value and it’s implications when passing primitives versus references
• String and wrapper-class immutability
• Arrays
• Inheritance – upcasting, downcasting, ClassCastExceptions (why they occur)
• Garbage collection

I am a lecturer since 2002 and I have taught the OCA (and OCP) syllabus since 2013 on behalf of a highly regarded software company. On completion of my training, graduates then face the company’s own internal Java Certification exam (similar in style to Oracle’s). I have no visibility into the questions they will face. It is a 3 hour long intensive exam. The company are delighted with the pass rate (100% since year 1).

I love teaching and this course has all my experience in explaining the critical fundamental concepts of Java. In addition, I have a strong attention to detail which lends itself perfectly to the Oracle Java Certification exams.

Note: This course started out as a Java 11 course (1Z0-819) and as a result many of the multiple choice questions are from the Enthuware Java 11 question bank. However, I have removed the Java 11 specific questions and left only questions relating to Java 8 OCA. I have not removed some questions which trivially use the “var” keyword (introduced in Java 10) – I have included a comment on these lines to explain the Java 8 equivalent, so that you can answer the question.