Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

Hypntick

Lemonade727 wrote: »

Received my official email today stating EWB2 is complete. Just need to wait for my mentor to call me tomorrow morning to go through AAV and get started on these courses!

Already ahead of you. Gonna do the pre-asses for CLC1 tonight and see where I stand. Not that it matters to you since you transferred that one in. Even though it's not a race, it's nice to know someone who is going through this too. Keeps a little bit of healty competition going.

Lemonade727

Hypntick wrote: »

Already ahead of you. Gonna do the pre-asses for CLC1 tonight and see where I stand. Not that it matters to you since you transferred that one in. Even though it's not a race, it's nice to know someone who is going through this too. Keeps a little bit of healty competition going.

demonfurbie

erpadmin wrote: »

"General consensus" seems to be Network Administration or Security. However, since you're already pursuing the EA, I believe you've already made up your mind.

If my following anecdote helps you out some, there were two things I wanted in my career that I was, for lack of better phrase, too lazy to achieve: a Bachelors and an MCSE. The MCITP:EA is the MCSE replacement and through my WGU studies, I'm getting both. I already have my attack lined up for the EA when I'm done with the one class I have to knock out (the Science class I'm currently working on...the INT1). Hope to get my SA as well and then the DBA:2008 cert before I touch my Masters.

im about to start int1

Thxlbx

Hypntick wrote: »

Already ahead of you. Gonna do the pre-asses for CLC1 tonight and see where I stand. Not that it matters to you since you transferred that one in. Even though it's not a race, it's nice to know someone who is going through this too. Keeps a little bit of healty competition going.

I just completed CLC1. The pre-assessment and the test will fairly similiar, although the final test was slightly harder for me. I scored an 86 on the pre-test, and my mentor encouraged me to go ahead and take the final right away since a 70 is the cut score. I scored a 79 on the final, so even though it was a little harder, it was well within the margin of error.

So, if you score high on the pre-assessment, definitely suggest to your mentor that you can take the final right away (if your mentor does not suggest it first) if you are comfortable with it.

erpadmin

Well, looks like I'll be putting my book on ebay after all....lmao....got this e-mail from one of the mentors....

All Students,
If you are going to be doing the LET1 or ORC1 courses soon, or are starting them, if you want to wait until March 17th, the Etext will be available free on Mar 17th J Announcements coming!

nhpr

erpadmin wrote: »

Well, looks like I'll be putting my book on ebay after all....lmao....got this e-mail from one of the mentors....

Not TWO DAYS after I ordered the book, which is already in transit. There goes $28 down the drain.

JoshD779

Thxlbx wrote: »

I just completed CLC1. The pre-assessment and the test will fairly similiar, although the final test was slightly harder for me. I scored an 86 on the pre-test, and my mentor encouraged me to go ahead and take the final right away since a 70 is the cut score. I scored a 79 on the final, so even though it was a little harder, it was well within the margin of error.

So, if you score high on the pre-assessment, definitely suggest to your mentor that you can take the final right away (if your mentor does not suggest it first) if you are comfortable with it.

I just took CLC1 last week, myself. I scored an 83 on the pre-assessment and with only an hour spent going through Mindedge, I passed the final with an 87. I agree that the exam was similar yet a bit more difficult than the pre-assessment. If you pass the pre by a comfortable margin, You should be fine for the final.

As I took the test, I did start to worry that this could be the first assessment I fail. Fortunately I was wrong that day. Looks like the 70-680 exam maintains it's front-runner status for that lil' honor.

erpadmin

nhpr wrote: »

Not TWO DAYS after I ordered the book, which is already in transit. There goes $28 down the drain.

Listen, I only spent about $8 less than you did, plus I'm sure I lost what I would have gotten at cost from a TEer. LOL....

The book nonetheless is a great resource for this class and you save a great amount of time that you otherwise aren't spending googling or whatever; everything you need to pass the course is right there.


[It's just that now it's @&*@&ing free........... lmao]

sheckler

It's nice having the hard copy in front of you though while writing the papers.

LET1 sure is a pain, I'm really struggling to write these things.

veritas_libertas

Well I'm completely warn out. I asked for a three month term break and now it's time to get some sleep

earweed

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Well I'm completely warn out. I asked for a three month term break and now it's time to get some sleep

Baby keeping you up?
I should have taken a break prior to last term and my SAP suffered for it. Do what's necessary for yourself and the family and get back in the game when you're ready.

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Well I'm completely warn out. I asked for a three month term break and now it's time to get some sleep

New baby and you as a new parent to boot....sounds like you need it.

Concentrate on being a dad...family is always more important. You'll be ready to get back in the game soon enough.

jmasterj206

For those of you struggling through the 70-680 material like me I found Professor Messer's free videos a pretty good aid to watch when I have some free time.

Pishof

Just got my code tonight and started took labsim security + practice exam after studying Darril's book for about the last week or so.

Did anyone else notice how different the content being tested is? Much of the labsim stuff never is mentioned in Darril's book and I didn't some of the questions content.

Is this just extra stuff being added by labsim that's not really focused on in the exam?

Jack2

erpadmin wrote: »

Well, looks like I'll be putting my book on ebay after all....lmao....got this e-mail from one of the mentors....

Man... I already have the books...Thats ok.. I will load the ebooks on the NOOK when they are available.

Hypntick

So going through the BBC1 material right now, finished up the reading portion fairly easily. I tend to read for enjoyment so I figured no problems there. It's shocking how little grammar I remember however. I passed maybe half of the pre-tests for it, with shockingly bad scores in some areas. Hopefully I can get back into that groove, I used to actually know this stuff once upon a time.

erpadmin

Pishof wrote: »

Just got my code tonight and started took labsim security + practice exam after studying Darril's book for about the last week or so.

Did anyone else notice how different the content being tested is? Much of the labsim stuff never is mentioned in Darril's book and I didn't some of the questions content.

Is this just extra stuff being added by labsim that's not really focused on in the exam?

The Labsim IS good...it's just way too much information, I felt. Darril's book was very straightforward with what I needed to focus on.

What you want to use the Labsims for, though, is Cryptography. Between that and Darril's chapter, you'll be more than good to go. Otherwise, Darril's book IS enough to pass this exam. It wasn't until after I sat for this exam that I believed that to be true.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

So going through the BBC1 material right now, finished up the reading portion fairly easily. I tend to read for enjoyment so I figured no problems there. It's shocking how little grammar I remember however. I passed maybe half of the pre-tests for it, with shockingly bad scores in some areas. Hopefully I can get back into that groove, I used to actually know this stuff once upon a time.

LAE1 was enough to actually help me with BBC1. I took preassessments for most of the exams, but QLC1 was the only one I utilized ALL three attempts. LAE1 was the class I took after EWB and I actually went through mindedge, like EWB....it wasn't until I got toward the end that I realized that only the essay was going to count....but as I said earlier, I was glad I did it because it did prep me well for BBC1.

Lemonade727

Got my essay done for LAE1 and just awaiting my taskstream account to be created to turn it in. I think I did fairly good for getting back into the writing game, but we'll see what the graders think

Also passed the pre-assessment for the WFV1 with an 87% so I selected to schedule the assessment. I know it can take a few days before receiving the vouchers, but during the waiting period would it always say "Pending Mentor Approval", or am I going to need to speak to my mentor as she may be holding off on approving the final assessment? We have our weekly call scheduled for Thursday morning, so I suppose if I don't see a change by then I'll definitely bring it up.

Hypntick

erpadmin wrote: »

The Labsim IS good...it's just way too much information, I felt. Darril's book was very straightforward with what I needed to focus on.

What you want to use the Labsims for, though, is Cryptography. Between that and Darril's chapter, you'll be more than good to go. Otherwise, Darril's book IS enough to pass this exam. It wasn't until after I sat for this exam that I believed that to be true.

I'll second this. I used Labsim for Network+, while I did learn a ton of stuff that was never covered on the test I don't feel my time was wasted. I'm after more than just the piece of paper, i'm after the knowledge as well. If you do well on Labsim chances are you're more than prepared for your test.

themagicone

Who has just finished the JavaScript class? I'm am curious on how hard the final test was. I've read through the book a few times, practiced some coding, and read a bunch of other stuff. But, the practice test on vcampus is killing me. Give me 10-15 lines of code and the answer was there was an extra (s) on a var. Shouldn't be that dang hard...

sheckler

There's nothing like that on the actual test. Everyone says the practice tests are way harder than they should be.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

I'll second this. I used Labsim for Network+, while I did learn a ton of stuff that was never covered on the test I don't feel my time was wasted. I'm after more than just the piece of paper, i'm after the knowledge as well. If you do well on Labsim chances are you're more than prepared for your test.

Darril's book also helps when one has prior knowledge...

We use QualysGuard for vulnerability testing. (Qualys also bought out http://www.ssllabs.com [I use them sometimes when I want to see how a particular vendor's SSL is configured.])

I use Java's keytool to generate certs (certificates) and create keystores for my Weblogic server certs. The certs I generate are 2048-bit because we use "Extended Validation" and it uses the RSA algorithm with SHA1 hash.

This is just an inkling of what I do in my day job that touches my Security+ knowledge. Prior to doing "TSV1", I was doing Security+ work, but didn't know the "academics" of what I was doing. My boss is an adjunct for one of the cybersecurity classes, and his textbook teaches the CIA triad. I told him this was covered in Security+ and was impressed with the cert (a lot more than I was.....lol).

Hypntick

Lemonade727 wrote: »

Got my essay done for LAE1 and just awaiting my taskstream account to be created to turn it in. I think I did fairly good for getting back into the writing game, but we'll see what the graders think

Also passed the pre-assessment for the WFV1 with an 87% so I selected to schedule the assessment. I know it can take a few days before receiving the vouchers, but during the waiting period would it always say "Pending Mentor Approval", or am I going to need to speak to my mentor as she may be holding off on approving the final assessment? We have our weekly call scheduled for Thursday morning, so I suppose if I don't see a change by then I'll definitely bring it up.

By the time you get in to work today you should have access. I just got mine an hour ago or so. I just want my webcam to get here already.

Lemonade727

Hypntick wrote: »

By the time you get in to work today you should have access. I just got mine an hour ago or so. I just want my webcam to get here already.

Yep, logged into TaskStream and got my LAE1 paper uploaded. Also got my login information for the MyLabsPlus so I'm going through the unit tests for the BAC1 material now while I await the voucher for WFV1. Things are finally kicking into gear now and moving along pretty smoothly.

drew726

erpadmin wrote: »

The Labsim IS good...it's just way too much information, I felt. Darril's book was very straightforward with what I needed to focus on.

What you want to use the Labsims for, though, is Cryptography. Between that and Darril's chapter, you'll be more than good to go. Otherwise, Darril's book IS enough to pass this exam. It wasn't until after I sat for this exam that I believed that to be true.

It's true. There was a simulation on how to installing a Radius Server and I knew that wouldn't be on the exam, but the simulations are pretty cool though.

Lemonade727

I figured TaskStream would have taken a bit longer grading my assessment, but received word back a couple of hours ago saying I passed LAE1. Got started on BAC1 earlier today as well and just need the webcam to arrive and I will schedule the assessment for that immediately, so will probably start looking over the COS for BBC1 tomorrow.

Hypntick

Lemonade727 wrote: »

I figured TaskStream would have taken a bit longer grading my assessment, but received word back a couple of hours ago saying I passed LAE1. Got started on BAC1 earlier today as well and just need the webcam to arrive and I will schedule the assessment for that immediately, so will probably start looking over the COS for BBC1 tomorrow.

Still no webcam on my end either. I did find out that i've done more of BBC1 than they ask you to. Turns out there is a lot of extra stuff in there you actually don't need to pass the assessment. Oh well, I could use the extra practice.

simtech

I hoping to pass TPV 1 before end of the month. My term will end the end of April. With the extra one month, which one do you think I should take first among: ABV1 (70-680), AHV1 (70-640), AIV1(70-642), BHV1(70-643), and BIV1 (70-647)? I'm thinking 70-680, but want to hear you guys opinions.
and In what order should I take these classes? Btw, I'll be taking these classes in the next term. I'm going use the extra one month for preparation, building lab, etc.

Hypntick

simtech wrote: »

I hoping to pass TPV 1 before end of the month. My term will end the end of April. With the extra one month, which one do you think I should take first among: ABV1 (70-680), AHV1 (70-640), AIV1(70-642), BHV1(70-643), and BIV1 (70-647)? I'm thinking 70-680, but want to hear you guys opinions.
and In what order should I take these classes? Btw, I'll be taking these classes in the next term. I'm going use the extra one month for preparation, building lab, etc.

Well 70-680 seems the more obvious choice. However it all depends on what you want to do really. I would think 70-640 would be where I would go. Then again you have to look at what will help you right now in terms of real world. Thus why i'm taking CCENT in my first 12 CU as it will help me right now more than anything else.