Two of our content developers took the new OCP Java SE 17 Developer Certification exam (Exam Code 1Z0-829) and here is what they had to say about the exam.

The first thing that stands out in this exam is the number of question and the amount of time that you get to answer them. There are 50 MCQs and you get 90 minutes. As such 50 questions in 90 minutes doesn't look too daunting but if you take a look at the exam objectives, you will notice the breadth of the topics that you need to study for this exam. They range from basic, such as variable decarations, classes, loops, conditionals, overloading, and overriding) to really advanced, such as concurrency, Date API, JDBC, and NIO. Such a wide range of topics means that you may not get a question on all the topic in the exam. But believe it or not, this is a very good thing. In the past, it was easy to cheat on the exam by using "exam dumps" (which is just a euphemism for real exam questions). This reduced the integrity of the exam and reduced the value of the certification for those who study using genuine study material. But now, it will now be very difficult to pass the exam just by studying dumps. No two candidates will get the same questions. So, even if one studies from exam dumps, they may get a totally different set of questions.

Our content experts got questions on the following topics, and as explained above, since the number of questions were so less (only 50), some topics were completely left out. Of course, this doesn't mean that the exam doesn't have questions on these topics. Another candidate may get a different set of questions, which may include questions on these topics.

Feedback on the content of OCP Java 17 Certification Exam

1. Java Language updates:
   • Basic questions on records and sealed classes. Sealed interfaces were also included.
   • Questions on instanceof with pattern matching. Must know "flow scope".
   • Several questions used the new multiline strings (text blocks) in their problem statement, but only a couple of questions were specifically about this feature.
   • Several questions used the new switch expressions even though the question was not really about case expression as such.
   • Questions on less commonly used interfaces/methods of the Collection API such as Spliterator.
2. Localization: Questions on various API methods such as NumberFormat.getCompactNumberInstance.
3. Modules:
   1. Questions on almost all areas in Modules.
   2. Advanced topic such as services, migration strategies, command line options, were also included.
   3. No question on jdeps output or jlink.
4. Questions requiring thorough knowledge of the java.time package (the new Date API), including time zones and Daylight savings time.
5. JDBC:
   1. Questions requiring knowledge of TYPE_SCROLL_SENSITIVITY and CONCUR_UPDATABLE.
   2. No question on ResultSetMetaData or savepoint.
6. Multithreading/Locking:
   1. Questions requireing knowledge of classes in the atomic package (such as AtomicInteger)
   2. Question on Lock and its methods (tryLock() and lock())
   3. Tough questions on ExecutorService
   4. An important change that we have observed is that there were questions requiring knowledge of ThreadState and Thread's sleep() and interrupt methods. There were no questions on wait and notify though.
7. File I/O:
   1. Questions requiring thorough knowledge of Files and Path classes.
   2. Tough questions on seriaization
8. Arrays/Collection/Stream: Several questions
9. Overloading: Complicated questions on method resolution when using ambiguous arguments involving int/float/long/double.
10. Advanced questions on Enum. Must know about methods such as valueOf() and ordinal().
11. Moderately tough questions on exceptions.
12. No question requiring knowledge of Annotations, Logging, or Math.random().

General Feedback about the OCP Java 17 Certification Exam

• Most questions have 5 to 6 options but some of them had 7 or 8 options as well. 
  
  
• Only a few questions were very lengthy to read (they had a long problem statement). Most were not so much.
  
  
• Time is enough if you know the material. Only a few questions required "thinking" or working out values of the variables. Most questions can be answered easily if you can recall APIs quickly.

How to prepare for 1Z0-829 exam

1. Books: There is currently is only one book specifically targetting the 1z0-829 exam, written by Scott Selikoff and Jeanne Boyarsky. Although is an expensive book, it is worth buying because you will find all the topics required for the exam in one place. Without the book, you will have to find all the relevant material on the internet and also be extra careful about changes that have happened to Java 17 since Java 11.
2. Mock Exams: Use 1Z0-829 mock exams to practice answering certification style questions. Since this exam covers a very broad range of topics, you will need to practice with a large number of questions so that you don't miss any topic.