Not so long ago I became a happy owner of this certificate (SCJP 6.0), that's why I would like to share my impressions about preparation to the exam and the process of receiving it.
First of all, I need to say that there are several certificates from sun java. This certificate is fundamental and includes language base, basic knowledge of standard libraries, API, some basic principles of working with java virtual machine. It is necessary for getting other, more professional certificates (web component developer, java developer, business component developer etc.)
Almost half a year ago I didn't think of any certification or java-certificate. I didn't have enough knowledge desire and information about certificates.
Everything cardinally changed at the end of September 2009 when our instructor Ishcheriakov Serhii Mychailovych announced admission to the courses of certification from Sun (now Oracle) programming language Java. I joined these courses for three reasons: first of all java platform is a world leader and is used by almost 9 mln. developers, second, on my fourth year of study at the university I got a chance to learn something useful and get the professional certificate and third, the courses were held by Ishcheriakov S.М., and it was worth attending them.
The courses were held 2 times a week during 4 months. The first 2 months we learnt java using Russian literature (unfotunately, I didn't see Ukrainian literature of good quality), later only English literature specially for those who prepare to get the certificate. After each class we had tests regarding the material we have learnt. The tests were pretty much the same as those for the real certification exam (all the tests from the beginning were in English). Almost once a month we had exam consisting of 72 questions (until recently the certification exam included the same amount of questions, now – 60) with duration 3,5 hours.
The courses covered the topics of the certificate. You can find more detailed information about the certificate here http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_i... , about the courses and all the details - www.ism.if.ua.
At last after learning all the material, we passed tests in certification exam emulators where questions are more complicated than during real exam. These emulators are available on the internet, some of them free.
The first who were ready to pass the certification exam in Lviv according to Serhii Mychailovych: Yurchuk Andrii (PZ-06-2), Kaniuka Andrii(PZ-06-1), Kvych Volodia(Halytska academy) and me Nazarii Kostiv(PZ-06-2). Because the corporation joined Oracle Sun, we have been waiting for 3 weeks to pay for the certification and on February 17 successfully passed it. Because of the payment, other people were delayed in certification but in the nearest month they will pass it.
The process of passing certification exam is very simple. It was held in Lviv SoftServe University. We registered beforehand on the specific day, came there, got our places before the computers, saw the familiar exam program. 60 questions and if you have 59% of correct answers - you get the certificate.
That is how being students we became certified developers. In the nearest future I would like to get the certificate of web component developer and then we'll see :)

The student of PZ-06-2 Kostiv Nazarii