In the next 6 months I will have to take one of the above exams to pass part of my course and I have been studying Java for the last 2 years in school and was wondering is there a huge difference between the 2 exams, Would I be better to just do the programmer exam and bypass the associate exam or is there a huge step up in skill from the associate exam.
Thanks
The Java Associate exam is more broad. It is targeted towards new developers coming out college, or developers switching languages. The Java Programmer exam goes more in depth. You need to know more of the finer points of the language and the language specification. It is targeted toward people with some experience.
I recommend taking a look at the following threads in the Java Ranch certification sub-forums. They go into some detail about the difference between the exams.
Given your situation, the Associates exam is probably the better place to start.
