Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

ITHokie

Based on complaints about micromanaging mentors I've seen here, I paid my tuition early and requested a flexible mentor that could work with me to accomplish my goals. It seems to have worked well. She was a bit hands on at the start of the semester, but once I kicked into high gear, she pretty much just stays out of the way. She is very good about letting me request vouchers and schedule exams when I feel I'm ready.

I started the BS-IT Security program April 1st and have knocked out 15 credits with 3 more coming next week.

Edit: I work full time.

yellowpad

focus and determination will get it done...So far I have read a couple of members here finished their MSISA in 4 months. If they can do that, you can do it too.

TheReceiver wrote: »

How realistic do you guys think it is to get a BS of IT within 5 months with 61 CU transferred?

techfiend

It's not always the student mentor that makes you wait but sometimes the course mentors. I started in Feb and have lost probably 2-3 weeks of time waiting. I take courses one at a time, so if I pass a pre-test on Friday, more than likely I will take the weekend off because I can't schedule the test until Monday at the earliest. I don't know why they don't automatically enable scheduling after you pass the pre-test, would have saved me at least a week if they did.

TheReceiver

That would irritate me the most, I respect others' time so I expect it in return. Especially if Im effectively diving in sprinting.

Though reality can be harsh at times. How hard is it to switch courses to something that is more streamlined and more importantly ready to go?

I guess basically what Im asking is, can it be set up to where the only limiting factor is yourself?

techfiend

You can study the courses whenever you want, you have to be enrolled in the course to take the tests and turn in projects however. If you are willing to work on multiple courses simultaneously you could have it limited only by yourself for the most part. Technical writing and capstone will be at least a week of waiting and there isn't any other courses to take at that time.

TheReceiver

techfiend wrote: »

You can study the courses whenever you want, you have to be enrolled in the course to take the tests and turn in projects however. If you are willing to work on multiple courses simultaneously you could have it limited only by yourself for the most part. Technical writing and capstone will be at least a week of waiting and there isn't any other courses to take at that time.

That may be the best route to go then, 5 months is already going be an extremely hard time frame to meet, I might lose my mind if Im being limited by outside factors

Elegyx

Started the Security track May 1st. Question for you guys in that track. Have you scored well on the pre-assessment and then asked your mentor if you could just go right to the test for the A+ in say like a week or something?

techfiend

If you score >94% on the pre-test you can request approval to take the test. You can do that in a week or earlier if you already know the content. Don't go in without knowing the content and just keep retaking the pre-test though, they'll probably catch that and you are kind of cheating yourself out of an education.

TheReceiver

techfiend wrote: »

If you score >94% on the pre-test you can request approval to take the test. You can do that in a week or earlier if you already know the content. Don't go in without knowing the content and just keep retaking the pre-test though, they'll probably catch that and you are kind of cheating yourself out of an education.

Of course!

I don't mean to devalue the experience at all. Its my policy that I don't disrespect the certifications that I study for, in fact I believe its the only reason I haven't failed one yet. It should be the same for the Bachelors that I plan to obtain. Actually I planned to somehow muscle through it all, will a tablet be a good tool? I plan to be studying even at lunch breaks and have been looking around at some decent tablets for that purpose.

Though the reason for October is according to my coworker (also a student within WGU) that's the next graduation ceremony and the next one is not known yet (according to the recruiter)

techfiend

Labsim uses silverlight so only the surfaces and convertible windows tablets will work with it. Everything else works that I've tried in pocketwgu app on android.

Isn't graduation every 6 months at state campuses? I was told national graduation ceremonies are Feb in Orlando and Aug in Salt Lake City.

cshkuru

Is that >94% on the pre-test a hard and fast rule now? My mentor just let me request the vouchers when i said I was ready and I never took a pre-assessment on any of the WGU exams.

jeromelongj

My mentor usually gives me a voucher if I score above an 80 on the testout problems. I've never heard of the 95% rule.

TheReceiver

techfiend wrote: »

Labsim uses silverlight so only the surfaces and convertible windows tablets will work with it. Everything else works that I've tried in pocketwgu app on android.

Isn't graduation every 6 months at state campuses? I was told national graduation ceremonies are Feb in Orlando and Aug in Salt Lake City.

Thanks for the recommendation on the app. Ill get that downloaded on my phone at the very least, and potentially get a cheap tablet in the mean time for watching lectures in bed (can only sit for so long)

As for graduation, I couldnt tell you. I only know from what my coworkers have mentioned.

Elegyx

techfiend wrote: »

If you score >94% on the pre-test you can request approval to take the test. You can do that in a week or earlier if you already know the content. Don't go in without knowing the content and just keep retaking the pre-test though, they'll probably catch that and you are kind of cheating yourself out of an education.

Isn't the entire point of the "pre-assessment" that you take it as many times until you feel you're ready to pass the real test?

techfiend

I had to get 95%+ on all my comptia tests to enable the request voucher button. Others have talked about it here so I thought it was a set in stone rule. The other non-cert courses have different cut scores. For example C173 has a cut score of 66% and it's tough for a beginning programming course. Others I've seen are 80-90%.

Sure, pre-test after you know the material. What I meant is you don't want to go into a course then keep pre-testing until you memorize it without studying the material. On some of the courses they have a limit on pre-tests and you have to be approved to take the second and thereafter pre-tests.

cshkuru

That might be part of it too - I don't think I ever used the request voucher button. I just told my mentor I was ready and she would push it thru.

zidian

My mentor was the same. He essentially let me take my exams when I told him I was ready. He often gave me vouchers even before I took the preassessment. The first few exams weren't like that, I had to build some trust, but by my 8th or so class, he basically gave me free reign.

zidian

Elegyx wrote: »

Isn't the entire point of the "pre-assessment" that you take it as many times until you feel you're ready to pass the real test?

Not exactly. The pre-assessment is there to determine if you are ready for the actual exam. It does this by testing you on a wide range of topics from the course of study. However, this may not match up to the same or similar questions that are on the actual exam. This happens because the pre-assessment is often written by a different vendor than the exam vendor. So the questions may be worded in a different way or not weighted the same as the actual exam.

If you have studied very well and can pass the pre-assessment, it is likely the knowledge you have gained will be applicable to the real exam, even if they are quite different. If you only took the pre-assessment over and over until you could pass it, then the only knowledge you have gained is about the pre-assessment, not the overall topic of study.

Phileeeeeeep651

Snowballs chance in hell here that someone sees this but is my.wgu.edu down for anyone else?

techfiend

It's been working better than usual since the wild game finished. Needed to drown my sorrow by cramming and finally passing c173. I'm in the cities on comcast.

Phileeeeeeep651

Yeah, not a great game! Hmm, I guess it's just my network at work. Oh well, luckily the internet is full of time wasting material!

Nemowolf

Ive noticed that since the weekend I have issues accessing the site. I strictly use Chrome and sometimes trying it in IE would get it to work and sometimes it would just need 30 minutes of me not hammering the login page to get it to come back up.

Im working on BOV1/C298 JavaScript. Im going through the labs and im curious how ya'll picked up the syntax and language just doing their provided material (labs, optionals, and the book). Also, did they add the Lynda.com videos in the last year? I dont recall this from when i first looked at the material last year.

Danielm7

Phileeeeeeep651 wrote: »

Snowballs chance in hell here that someone sees this but is my.wgu.edu down for anyone else?

Down For Everyone Or Just Me -> Check if your website is down or up?

swattz101

techfiend wrote: »

Labsim uses silverlight so only the surfaces and convertible windows tablets will work with it. Everything else works that I've tried in pocketwgu app on android.

TheReceiver wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendation on the app. Ill get that downloaded on my phone at the very least, and potentially get a cheap tablet in the mean time for watching lectures in bed (can only sit for so long)

If you can figure out the login part, labsim does have an HTML5 version that works OK on tablets.
I used it to on my Kindle. The labs still require SilverLight, but you can watch the videos and read the documentation.
LabSim5

To get your account information, log into LabSim through WGU, Click on Account Home and Account Information.

Curchel

techfiend wrote: »

If you score >94% on the pre-test you can request approval to take the test. You can do that in a week or earlier if you already know the content. Don't go in without knowing the content and just keep retaking the pre-test though, they'll probably catch that and you are kind of cheating yourself out of an education.

They say that but it has been my experience that if you hit the button to request the assessment no one actually checks labsim to see if you did what you supposed to have done. I finished c394 without taking any of the labsim practice tests or domain exams. I don't think anyone noticed.

markulous

Curchel wrote: »

They say that but it has been my experience that if you hit the button to request the assessment no one actually checks labsim to see if you did what you supposed to have done. I finished c394 without taking any of the labsim practice tests or domain exams. I don't think anyone noticed.

So what I do is I get 90% or whatever it is on the practice exam. Request approval on the website. Then I send a screenshot of my results to my mentor. That has always worked for me and I've gotten him to approve it that day every time.

Elegyx

markulous wrote: »

So what I do is I get 90% or whatever it is on the practice exam. Request approval on the website. Then I send a screenshot of my results to my mentor. That has always worked for me and I've gotten him to approve it that day every time.

You get a 90% on the pre-assessment test or you take all of the domain tests and get a 90% on each one?

markulous

Elegyx wrote: »

You get a 90% on the pre-assessment test or you take all of the domain tests and get a 90% on each one?

Just the pre-assessment. He never cares about the domain tests.

Elegyx

markulous wrote: »

Just the pre-assessment. He never cares about the domain tests.

Interesting. I think I'll go through all of the domain tests in 801 and 802 just for the heck of it.

cshkuru

Its up for me but been slow as hell for the past couple days - like i start loading it go cook dinner and come back and it finally loads slow.