Failed C169 Objective Exam

yellowpad

Week 6 now, passed the project, passed the pre-assessment exam with a 78%. Thought I was ready!!! I failed the final Objective Exam tonight badly!!!! Seems like most of the questions are trick questions. How did you guys passed this stupid exam? Please help.....

ratbuddy

Roughly 99.9% of people reading this post (even those who have done the class) have no idea what class carries the code 'C169.' How about some detail such as the class title, and which sections you struggled with?

NicWhite

@ratbuddy

This is the Scripting and programming applications class that focuses on Java. This is my next class as well. I will keep an eye on this thread.

Gess

ratbuddy wrote: »

Roughly 99.9% of people reading this post (even those who have done the class) have no idea what class carries the code 'C169.' How about some detail such as the class title, and which sections you struggled with?

This is a WGU recruiting board so I'm betting most people could put two and two together. For those of us that don't care about WGU it's getting tiring coming into 'IT Jobs / Degrees' and seeing it devolve into a place where whole threads are dedicated to one test in one WGU class.

bpenn

Hey there, yellowpad. I feel your pain and it still lingers. I just completed this class last week and I failed the exam twice before I passed. I can give you some tips that helped me:

chortle.edu Java lesson - this website was great to go over the concepts and to practice what I had learned. The author explains it well and goes extremely in depth in later chapters if you need further information.

Horstmanns Practice Qs - Im sure your mentor gave you this advice but it holds true. The practice questions here are quite similar to how the actual exam is set up and having a thourough grasp of every chapter will help you immensely.

Headstart Java - Ok, this was the crown jewel of resources for me. My course mentor recommended me this book after I failed the second time and it has been my savior. You can find it in the WGU e-library. I went through this book from page 1 to about 200 and re-learned every concept like I was seeing it for the first time. The author does a fantastic job of relating Java to something that anyone can understand. Its like it finally just clicked for me after 2 months of being stuck on this class. I finally understood how inheritance, polymorphism, overloading, and other OO concepts work that I just couldnt grasp any other way. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with the overall concepts.

Lastly, having a thorough understanding of objects, methods, and classes is crucial. Be able to identify different part of code like a constructor, accessor, mutator, local variable, instance variable, parameter variable, etc. Know your order of operations and REALLY know your operators ( ||, ==, ++,--, &&). Make sure you know how looping constructs work and decisions. The opening Intro to Java section of the rubric is weighted heavy on the exam. Make sure you know what the JVM, JDK, and JRE are and the differences between the them. Know some basic history of Java and why it was designed and its purpose. Open your coaching report and FOCUS hard on the sections you did poorly on. My second exam I did poorly on Objects and Classes. I studied HARD on that topic, ensuring I had a strong grasp of Advanced Object Oriented concepts and everything object, class, and method related. Know what null means and also what "" means. Another important concept to grasp is booleans.

If you focus on these concepts and dive into another book I believe you will be successful next time. I failed the first two times with a 65 (need 67 to pass) and I passed the third attempt with a 78 (I will take it!). Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

yellowpad

I apologize if I offended anyone with my posts seeking for a little suggestion to past this Java class @WGU. I also apologize to have assumed that everyone here knows what I am talking about...that is my mistake.

bpen, please accept my appreciation for your detail suggestion how I can past my Objective exam. I will definitely take 100% of your advice and follow it. Thank you....

jak096

yellowpad, thanks for the post. I'm not offended. Good luck on your next attempt.

bpen, thanks so much for the detailed tips.

Gess, I understand how you must feel.

Gamesta400

That was the hardest class I ever had at WGU. Their are several treads about it in the WGU section on reddit. Their will probably be some very useful info for you there. I had made several long post there myself.

PJ_Sneakers

This one was pretty tough. Mostly because the course material was crap.

ratbuddy

For any programming exam, I'd suggest practicing manual looping and variable state tracking on paper/whiteboard. It can be hard to follow A, B, and C (or whatever they call the variables) in your mind while iterating through loops. If you simply write down the variables and keep track every time they change, it's much easier to work through the code snippets.

I just write out all the variable names on one line each, then write the initial values next to them. I then cross off the value and write in the new value every time it changes. The technique is extra helpful when they throw nested loops at you

Gess

yellowpad wrote: »

I apologize if I offended anyone with my posts seeking for a little suggestion to past this Java class @WGU. I also apologize to have assumed that everyone here knows what I am talking about...that is my mistake.

bpen, please accept my appreciation for your detail suggestion how I can past my Objective exam. I will definitely take 100% of your advice and follow it. Thank you....

No need to apologize, yellowpad. We're all here to help and be helped, my comments weren't directed at you specifically. My apologies. Keep posting.

bpenn

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

This one was pretty tough. Mostly because the course material was crap.

Agree, completely. Nearly 100% of my resources were books/websites that were NOT apart of the curriculum. I begged my course mentor to make the Headstart Java text book required reading. That book taught me inheritance and polymorphism in 1 hour.

Drakeisa

Better luck next time

vaguemedia

I looked through the material for that course, it looks horrendous. At the time when I was looking at it, code academy didn't offer a java course. I attribute my passing the python course solely to code academy. Udacity was never a resource I could really keep my attention on.
I wish they would offer a course in powershell as an alternative. With everyone slowly moving to azure/exchange online, there's a huge skills gap for powershell.

yellowpad

My report............FAILED TWICE NOW. I know how to write this **** and can do a simple app, but wording on this stupid exam sucks!!!!!! grrrrr

Gamesta400

I failed it twice as well. It is a horrible class.

I hope you wrote down everything you did not know after each test and researched them. I did and it paid off because the 3rd test was the same as the 1st test.

yellowpad

was really frustrated after having seen my failed score, I forgot everything that was on the test.

Gamesta400 wrote: »

I failed it twice as well. It is a horrible class.

I hope you wrote down everything you did not know after each test and researched them. I did and it paid off because the 3rd test was the same as the 1st test.

bpenn

How bad did you fail? I had failed twice with a 65 each (cut score 67) and made a 74 on the third attempt. You can do it, just really hammer that coaching report and focus on your weakest areas.

NicWhite

bpenn wrote: »

Hey there, yellowpad. I feel your pain and it still lingers. I just completed this class last week and I failed the exam twice before I passed. I can give you some tips that helped me:

chortle.edu Java lesson - this website was great to go over the concepts and to practice what I had learned. The author explains it well and goes extremely in depth in later chapters if you need further information.

Horstmanns Practice Qs - Im sure your mentor gave you this advice but it holds true. The practice questions here are quite similar to how the actual exam is set up and having a thourough grasp of every chapter will help you immensely.

Headstart Java - Ok, this was the crown jewel of resources for me. My course mentor recommended me this book after I failed the second time and it has been my savior. You can find it in the WGU e-library. I went through this book from page 1 to about 200 and re-learned every concept like I was seeing it for the first time. The author does a fantastic job of relating Java to something that anyone can understand. Its like it finally just clicked for me after 2 months of being stuck on this class. I finally understood how inheritance, polymorphism, overloading, and other OO concepts work that I just couldnt grasp any other way. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with the overall concepts.

Lastly, having a thorough understanding of objects, methods, and classes is crucial. Be able to identify different part of code like a constructor, accessor, mutator, local variable, instance variable, parameter variable, etc. Know your order of operations and REALLY know your operators ( ||, ==, ++,--, &&). Make sure you know how looping constructs work and decisions. The opening Intro to Java section of the rubric is weighted heavy on the exam. Make sure you know what the JVM, JDK, and JRE are and the differences between the them. Know some basic history of Java and why it was designed and its purpose. Open your coaching report and FOCUS hard on the sections you did poorly on. My second exam I did poorly on Objects and Classes. I studied HARD on that topic, ensuring I had a strong grasp of Advanced Object Oriented concepts and everything object, class, and method related. Know what null means and also what "" means. Another important concept to grasp is booleans.

If you focus on these concepts and dive into another book I believe you will be successful next time. I failed the first two times with a 65 (need 67 to pass) and I passed the third attempt with a 78 (I will take it!). Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

^^^^^ This post really helped me. I would add that you also need to understand the number handling with the int and double types. Write a few very small test programs to see their output. As stated above know your loops, true/false statements, order of operation(math), and operators(||, ==, ++,--, &&). I cannot overstate this.

eta: use your white board to write things out. Especially the loops and math problems. I felt the assessment was harder than the pre-assessment. Pay attention to what they are actually asking you. I read the question BEFORE I started looking through the sample program. That process helped me to stay focused on what I needed to do to answer the question. Hope that helps.

Gamesta400

Make sure you know:

Loops, multiplying ints and doubles, Generic classes in array list. Make sure you know inheritance really good. What .translate does, what variable type the "this" keyword implies. Everything about the scanner class. Difference between passing references vs passing values. Write down on the whiteboard any terms you don't know to look up after the test.

yellowpad

Thanks guys..been super bz. living, eating, breathing java now. going for 3rd try but will need to sit down w/ the mentor first. i am hating this...i can't fail the 3rd time...I just can't. I don't want to get boot from WGU as I only have 4 more classes left to include the capstone.

bpenn

Hey Yellowpad, if it makes you feel any better, you can fail 3 times and still remain in the program. Its the 4th fail that dequalifies you. How close was your score to the cut score? Work on the coaching report on all the sections you got below a 70 in. That helped me fix my weakest area (objects and classes/advanced object oriented programming).

SteveLord

Note that you pay a $60 fee for the 4th retake.

yellowpad

Low 50's reading, watching....and reciting stuffs now.

bpenn wrote: »

Hey Yellowpad, if it makes you feel any better, you can fail 3 times and still remain in the program. Its the 4th fail that dequalifies you. How close was your score to the cut score? Work on the coaching report on all the sections you got below a 70 in. That helped me fix my weakest area (objects and classes/advanced object oriented programming).

yellowpad

Thought I will never pass this class................tonight, I AM DONE!!!!

iBrokeIT

yellowpad wrote: »

Thought I will never pass this class................tonight, I AM DONE!!!!

Congrats!

bpenn

That is great to hear! Fantastic job and I know, first hand, the relief you feel!

NicWhite

Congrats!!!

yellowpad

Thanks guys...been reading and watching like crazy. Now ....on with C170. It should be easier

bpenn

yellowpad wrote: »

Thanks guys...been reading and watching like crazy. Now ....on with C170. It should be easier

Is that the SQL? Let me know if you need any help. For the project, WATCH THE COHORTS! Makes it so much easier.

fjhesq

@yellowpad, I'm taking this class next and I'm totally dreading it. What were your lessons learned? I hate that it came down to the wire for you but a PASS is a PASS. I have no programming experience so I'll be drinking from the hose.