MS:ISA begins June 1

I recently applied to WGU for the MS:ISA program, and barring an issue with the last bit of paperwork, I am all set up to begin the courses on June 1.

I know the program has its goods and bads, but I needed something to take up some of my time while I look for a job. Every time I finish studying for a cert and take the test, I'm bored out of my mind the next week so I start anew. I graduated last December, and since then I've gotten a new cert every month (except for May as I prepare for WGU).

I've also applied to the Georgia Tech OMSCS program, and my goal is to eventually complete both programs.

I know it is still a ways away from June, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

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Comments

GreaterNinja

Good luck xeruan! I tried OSMCS and they want 2 years of solid programming experience on my college transcripts. MS - ISA can be boring and fun, but its definitely a respectable degree. So far i'm 27% done.

xeruan

A lot of you have talked about what a soul-crushing course 'Security Policies and Standards/VLT2' is, so my plan is to take that course 2nd, so I'm still in my initial flurry of beginning the program and hopefully it doesn't bog me down.

I keep telling myself that I want to finish the degree early (in 3 terms), but in actuality, I feel like if I can devote 6 days per credit hour (2-2.5 weeks per course), I should be able to finish everything in 1, minus the capstone. I'm still waiting to hear back from Georgia Tech, but my thought was if I can finish this degree up fairly quickly, I could potentially start the OMSCS program next Fall.

nelson8403

Will they let you take it second? I had to follow a mostly structured plan when I took mine even though I was able to heavily accelerate. If you need any help on VLT2 try and stick to the rubric, submit early and often and work on all 4 papers at the same time. You can have them all submitted instead of waiting 2-3 days for it to be returned in taskstream. It wasn't as bad in my opinion as everyone else made it out to be, but I also had a small background in the topic.

Just put your head down do a little bit every day and you'll be done before you know it! I finished in 7 weeks total, but my results are not normal haha

xeruan

Finished the remainder of the paperwork, so I'll have to wait until the 15th to begin the orientation course. I've heard of others being able to make changes to the order of the coursework, so hopefully I'll get the chance to. I'm hoping to switch it for 'Cyberlaw, Regulation, and Compliance' but if they won't let me, I'll try to move it up in my list when I accelerate.

Since I don't have a 40hr work week like most of the others who have discussed the program, I'm hoping I can move a bit faster, making this my job for the time being. My plan is that I'll continue applying for full-time jobs, but I am holding off on applying for <6 mo contract work while I work on this degree.

I don't have a lot of formal work experience in these areas, but I've already acquired (what I feel like) is a broad understanding of the required knowledge for many of these courses.

xeruan

Now that all of the paperwork is complete, I received access to the Education without Boundaries course around midnight of the 15th, and submitted it a few hours later.

With that now showing as finished, I have a call with my Enrollment Counselor this week, and am just waiting to hear from my Student Mentor.

I've been browsing some of the material, but haven't really been able to start too much yet since most of the assignments are task related and still locked.

My goal is enroll for 4 courses for the first term, but (optimistically) I'm hoping I can move much quicker.

xeruan

Heard from my Student Mentor (Kirk K. if anyone else has him) yesterday, filled out the new student inventory, and have my initial call set up for next Tuesday (26th). I should have my last call with my Enrollment Counselor the day after, and then it'll only be a few more days until I begin my coursework.

In other news, I was accepted into the Georgia Tech OMSCS program for Fall 2015, but I am planning on pushing my enrollment back until Spring 2016 to give myself a full term at WGU before I begin. I'll try and knock as many courses as I can during the first term, and hopefully only have a couple more classes to finish up while I'm dual enrolled between WGU and GT.

nelson8403

Good luck with WGU! I hope you can get it finished at an accelerated pace but don't be discouraged if your tasks come back, just keep working on completing a task a day and you'll be done in no time!

nathandrake

xeruan, while VLT2 wasn't the most interesting or fun class to take, it wasn't as bad as some of the comments made it out to be. I'm submitting my last task on it tonight and hope I'll be done with it. It only took me about 2 and half weeks to finish it, and that was only dedicating two hours a night Sunday-Thursday night. So it wasn't bad at all. I would highly recommend getting with the course mentor as soon as you start the course as she has a little tip sheet she created for each task that I found pretty useful. It helps with some of the vague tasks.

xeruan

Do you find that most course mentors have an available tip sheet? and if so, is it worth it ask for it out of the gate, or do you normally have to show that you've put forth some effort first? I know that sounds sort of cheap - while I don't necessarily want to work as quickly as possible, I do want to work as efficiently as possible.

I've seen a lot of comments mentioning that once you submit a task, continue working on the next task without waiting for a response. I also plan on reading through the tasks before I approach most of the material so I am able to make notes.

If anyone has any other tips as far as the tasks are concerned, I'm always open to suggestion.

*Specific Question: I thought of this the other day, and wanted to ask here (I plan on asking my student mentor during our initial call, but I thought I'd ask here first in case others might know the answer). If you plan on accelerating the program and enroll in an additional course but aren't able to finish it by the end of the term and receive a 'Not Pass' on your transcript. (Disregarding the 7-day extension available) when you re-enroll in the course and pass it in the next term, will you continue to have a 'Not Pass' for the initial term for the course, and a 'Pass' for the consecutive term.

nelson8403

Xeruan I can send you all of the notes I receiver for the classes if you think it'll help get you a head start, it's not my personal notes but the ones shared by the course mentors. I completed my MSISA in 7 weeks through WGU so I gathered as much information about the program beforehand to get a jump start.

Yes the not pass will always be there and the class will be passed in the following term.

xeruan

I certainly won't say no to some notes.

cyberguypr

Even easier, some of the courses have a section on the right of the page labeled "Course Tips" which include really good stuff to guide your work.

xeruan

cyberguypr wrote: »

Even easier, some of the courses have a section on the right of the page labeled "Course Tips" which include really good stuff to guide your work.

I've seen the section, but I presume I won't be able to see anything until I'm fully enrolled in the course. Thanks for the heads-up.

xeruan

Just finished my final call with my Enrollment Counselor, so that's at least done. Also, I spoke with my Student Mentor yesterday, and set-up a call for next week to finalize my degree plan and all. I was hoping to start closer to June 1, but since I already have access to the material and the tasks, it really makes no difference to me.

Since I have time before I can submit anything to TaskStream, it allows me to set a mini-goal for myself of finishing 2 courses before I am officially enrolled. I'm shooting to complete Current and Emerging Technology (already finished task 1 and part of 2) and Cyberlaw before June 5. I also took the Cryptography pre-assessment and got a 78%, but I don't plan on working on that material until I've finished studying for the CEH (class #5 for me).
I've decided to just stick with the normal degree plan, since I can accelerate the specific courses I want.

For my current degree plan, I'll take both Hacking Countermeasures and Techniques and Vulnerability Assessment before the CEH class, and then after the CEH, I will take the Cryptography test followed by the CHFI. If all goes according to plan, I hope to finish (at least) through CHFI by the end of the term, leaving only Security Policies and Standards, Risk Management, and Disaster Recovery Planning with my Capstone in term 2.

While I had been planning to anyway, I've decided to defer my acceptance to the OMSCS program at Georgia Tech until Spring 2016, so I can make as much progress with WGU as I can before I begin at GT.

nathandrake

xeruan, if I could make just one suggestion to your plan. I would suggest doing the CHFI right after CEH since so much information you learn on the CEH is on the CHFI exam. If I had to say there was any course I struggled with,it was the cryptography one. I had to take that exam twice. I spent a lot more time than expected for that course. So depending how well you retain stuff, you may forget some of the stuff you learned from the CEH exam if there's too much of a time gap between the two courses.

This is coming from someone that didn't have a lot of experience in cryptography other than knowing the terms and basic use. You may pass that test only spending a few days reviewing the material and this suggestion may not apply to you.

xeruan

I had thought about taking the CHFI right after the CEH, but figured the courses weren't very similar so I thought about breaking it up with Cryptography. As I mentioned earlier, I'll always listen to any advice that someone has. I appreciate your suggestion, I didn't realize there was a large similarity between the CEH and CHFI material. In that case, I definitely will look at studying for the CHFI exam immediately after I take the CEH.

I passed the Cryptography pre-assessment with a 78% but ideally I'd want to look over the material for a bit in order to get an 85-90% on the pre-assessment before I attempt the exam. I understand most of the basic facts about the different algorithms and I feel like I have a good grasp on symmetric vs asymmetric/PKI, but I still need to spend a few days studying the material.

I've now finished Task 1 and 2 from Current and Emerging Technology, but I think I'm going to switch it up and try to finish a task or two from Cyberlaw before I go back for C&ET's Task 3.

cyberguypr

CHFI after CEH is a good idea. As much as I dislike the CEH it looks great when you stand it up next to CHFI. Seriously, and MTA exam may be harder than CHFI.

novovictus

xeruan, I am starting the MSISA as well on June 1. Your progress so far is nothing short of amazing! The term has not started and you are already breaking ground on some of the courses. Unfortunately, my experience has not been as 'accelerated' as yours. I too would like to complete in one term, but have only heard initially from my mentor Julia Smith as a bulk message last night. I have had my CEH for a few years and was able to transfer it in, so the CHFI will be a good refresher. Hopefully we run into each other along the way!

xeruan

novovictus wrote: »

Hopefully we run into each other along the way!

I look forward to it.

So far I've completed 2 of 3 assignments for LYT2, and 1 of 4 assignments for TFT2. My hope is to complete both courses before my degree plan call on June 4th. If I can get more done before then, that'll just be extra.

Since I don't have a job, it's easy to find them time to do stuff - but more difficult to find the will... One task at a time, and we'll graduate soon enough.

novovictus

another member told me he set a pace of 1 task per day, if i could keep up with that i may be able to get done in 1 term. hopefully i can access the course material this weekend and see how doable that is.

xeruan

1 task per day is my current goal, but I am planning to give myself 2 days for the last task of each class since they seem to be more involved.

I've been skipping around a bit, but I have currently completed Tasks 1 and 2 of Current and Emerging Technology, and am planning to complete the last task (Task 3) by the end of today. I've also completed Tasks 1 and 3 of Cyberlaw, with the plan of completing Task 2 on Saturday, and the last task (Task 4) by the end of Monday. I decided to jump over to complete Task 1 of Hacking Countermeasures and Techniques, and am hoping to complete Task 2 and 3 next week before my Group Degree Plan call on June 4.

I'm interested to see how my student mentor reacts when I let him know of the progress I've made so far, as I think it will help me to determine if he is the best student mentor for me and my pace.

I initially divided the 180 day term into days per credit hour for each course, giving myself 12 days for 2 credit hour courses, 18 days for 3 credit hour courses, and 24 days for the capstone - but I've found that if I can keep up my current pace, or even giving myself 2 days per task I'll drastically out pace my original goals.

My current goal, with what I've already completed and want to complete, is that I will be able to complete the first 13 hours (Current and Emerging Technology, Cyberlaw, Hacking Countermeasures, Vulnerability Assessment, and Ethical Hacking) before the end of June.
My next goal is to finish the next 11 hours (Forensic and Network Intrusion, Cryptography, Security Policies and Standards, and Risk Management) by the end of July, which will only leave me with a 2 credit hour courses Disaster Recovery Planning) along with the Capstone for the remaining 4 months.

novovictus

nice, awesome work man, hopefully i can keep up with you!

xeruan

If you leave yourself a full month for the Capstone, all of the other courses have a combined 23 tasks along with the CHFI and Cryptography exam, which for purposes of calculating time, I'll count them as having 3 tasks each.

Since you've transferred in the CEH, you'd have ~29 tasks to complete over the course of 5 months (again, leaving 1 full month for the capstone). Completing 29 tasks over the remaining 150 days of the term means you only need to complete 1 task on an average of every 5 days and you'll still be able to complete the program in 1 term. At the same time, some of the tasks might come a little easier for you, which means you'll have some leeway if a particular task takes a bit longer.

novovictus

Wow, thanks for that! I had not thought about breaking down the tasks like that.

novovictus

xeruan wrote: »

Heard from my Student Mentor (Kirk K. if anyone else has him) yesterday

So I literally just got off the first call with my mentor, and I am not sure this is a match. She told me what you are doing is not possible. I will have access to the courseware June 1, but will not be able to submit anything until I am enrolled. I have to attend a call on Thursday, then can be enrolled next Friday. She did say if you were not a returning WGU student, that you could have had access to your courses early but that no one should be able to submit. I am guessing you are just stock piling your completed papers until you can submit them into taskstream? I am curious what info you can provide to help me untangle this web.

Also how is your mentor? Mine seems to be fairly aggressive and wants to implement a very rigid plan. I explained how self motivated and managing I am and would like to get started asap, but she insisted on taking time to work through the process.

I have to admit that I feel a little uneasy about this process so far...

cyberguypr

Notice he said "completed" instead of "passed". As you said, Taskstream submissions are usually enabled right when the term starts. My educated guess is he's just piling them up for mass submission on day 1 and hopefully everything will come back as "Meets Requirements". I did this with several tasks and got me up to a great start.

xeruan

You're both correct, I only have access to the "Preview" version of TaskStream Assessments currently so I just have a folder of completed tasks, but I can't submit them for a grade yet. The first day that I am enrolled in the actual courses, I will just spam TaskStream with my already completed papers and hope for the best. You might want to log in and click the "Preview" button under the Assessments tab for a course, you may already have access to the course tasks as I do. Note: I am not a returning WGU student, I completed BS degrees elsewhere.

Like you, I have the Group Degree Plan call next Thursday, and then I will have a call with my Student Mentor next Friday to confirm my Degree Plan before I enroll in the courses. I've only spoken to my Student Mentor once on the phone, but overall, he seems like a good guy. He seems like a more laid back student mentor - such as if I have questions during our call, he'll answer them, but if I don't and our weekly call takes 5 minutes - that's good by him since he doesn't want to waste his or my time. He referred to his Supervisor quite often when discussing changing the Degree Plan from the "Standard Degree Plan", which I think may be normal across all mentors. He didn't seem very rigid about the plan though, granted he doesn't know how many of the tasks I've already completed, but he seemed very eager to help me accelerate through the program as quickly as I was able to. Though he also stressed sticking with the initial courses first and then accelerating after those were complete so I don't get in over my head, which is understandable.

My answers to the New Graduate Student Inventory may have something to do with this attitude, but I don't know for sure.

On a side note, I should complete Current and Emerging Technology Task 3 tonight, so I will have my first course complete and ready for submission as soon as I enroll. I apologize for any confusion regarding my completion, and not submission, of tasks.

nelson8403

Good job progressing so quick! You may beat my time

Just make sure you don't get discouraged by getting tasks rejected by TaskStream, I probably averaged 2-3 rejections per task, but every time I got closer, you'll definitely get there in the end!

With TaskStream you can view all of the tasks before you take the class into your AAV, and you can take the pre-assessment for the Cryptography test before you have accepted that as well, it will help you accelerate a bit quicker, I was only able to update my accepted classes usually every week so make sure to keep pressing on so you don't start putting things off and then end up way behind your planned schedule.

xeruan

nelson8403 wrote: »

Just make sure you don't get discouraged by getting tasks rejected by TaskStream

I fully expect to have some tasks sent back, not because I'm intentionally doing a poor job, but I feel like it is more inline with how I should set up my expectations so that I'm not discouraged. If I get some back, or even if I get them all returned, it's a quicker turn-around for me to make the changes rather than having waited to complete the entire task.

I got bored with writing one day, so I took the Cryptography pre-assessment. I passed with a 78%, but I will look over the material to improve my score to an 85%+ before I feel comfortable with taking the assessment.

To nelson8403 and anyone else: Did you normally request access to the next course prior to completing all of the assignments, or did you wait until you had at least submitted all of the previous assignments before you requested an additional course. I plan on discussing this more with my mentor during our next call, just wanted to get an idea of how others approached acceleration as well.

nelson8403

Normally I'd shoot an email off to my mentor as soon as I submitted my last task (after the rest were passed) that way you show you're basically done and ready to move on. It depends on the mentor but as long as they support your acceleration you should be fine with that.