Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

Lemonade727

Just got back from my 1D0-520 exam...blew it out of the water! Ended up with a 95% and found the question pool pretty easy going off of what I've learned so far. Now time to start looking over those few subjects for GAC1 and start the HHT1 tasks while I wait for my GAC1 assessment.

Edit: Another question relating to the HHT1 assessment though. In the task instructions it says "Title and organize your paper in outline form in three parts", but I'm not 100% sure if it means to submit 3 individual .pdf files for each main topic in the task, or just formulate it into one paper. It's confusing since the instructions are typed out indicating a singular paper, but they emphasize three parts even though there's only 3 main topics anyways. I'm probably just over thinking this but just wanted to know how others have submitted this one.

Hypntick

Lemonade727 wrote: »

Just got back from my 1D0-520 exam...blew it out of the water! Ended up with a 95% and found the question pool pretty easy going off of what I've learned so far. Now time to start looking over those few subjects for GAC1 and start the HHT1 tasks while I wait for my GAC1 assessment.

You're killin me here man! Congrats on that pass, I had a feeling you'd do good. Now i'm stuck playing catch-up lol. When I do decide to do the non-cert stuff i'll pick up speed, but I don't think i'm gonna catch you anytime soon. Good job and a helluva nice score!

j_griffith

Hey all, I am planning to start my MS IA in September, when my wife(teacher) and kids return to school.

I was reviewing the program available from this link.

http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/prog_guide/MS_ISA.pdf

First, What resources are furnished with tuition, and which will I need to purchase. The enrollment counselor hasn't provided a detailed answer yet.

Second, What additional resources were provided and what were required to be purchased separately for CEH (Ethical Hacking FNV2)? I am currently preparing to test in Jun to transfer it in.

R,

J.

Excellent1

Well, I just submitted my last gen ed Taskstream assignment. Glad to have them out of the way. Few more certs, then tech writing/capstone. I'm finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, let's hope it's not a train.

Lot of new faces on the board lately, best of luck to all of you in your studies. I try not to come here very often, or I'll put off whatever assignment / studying I should be doing and spend an hour reading various threads.

themagicone

Excellent1 wrote: »

Well, I just submitted my last gen ed Taskstream assignment. Glad to have them out of the way. Few more certs, then tech writing/capstone. I'm finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, let's hope it's not a train.

Lot of new faces on the board lately, best of luck to all of you in your studies. I try not to come here very often, or I'll put off whatever assignment / studying I should be doing and spend an hour reading various threads.

Same here... 5 classes left (CCNA/CCNA Security/GUT1 and the 2 finals). So close yet so far away!

myedjo24

Starting to read through AKV1 (Javascript Speciliast Cert ID0-635) today, and it looks like this one is going to be horrid for me. I really wish that this cert wasn't on every single BS-IT program, because I really have no use or will to want to know this. I will never be in put in a position where I'll have to create a website and use javascript with the website. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet. Pretty much it'll just be cramming for the exam, and then forget everything a week later. For the security program, I wish they'd replace this exam with the database exam, but oh well.

Excellent1

themagicone wrote: »

Same here... 5 classes left (CCNA/CCNA Security/GUT1 and the 2 finals). So close yet so far away!

Nice, you've made a lot of good progress lately. Keep up the good work!

Graders are working overtime, just received the email that IWT1 Task 2 is complete. Gen eds are officially done. Good times.

Pishof

myedjo24 wrote: »

Starting to read through AKV1 (Javascript Speciliast Cert ID0-635) today, and it looks like this one is going to be horrid for me. I really wish that this cert wasn't on every single BS-IT program, because I really have no use or will to want to know this. I will never be in put in a position where I'll have to create a website and use javascript with the website. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet. Pretty much it'll just be cramming for the exam, and then forget everything a week later. For the security program, I wish they'd replace this exam with the database exam, but oh well.

I just took the new ID0-635 last month and it wasn't that bad. The key thing that will help you is the online practice tests provided by WGU. They essentially are the exam.

I mean, they are so close they may as well have the same question bank. Most of the real exam questions are rewording from the practice assessment. Read the provided ebook and then cram every provided practice assessment/reviews for each chapter and domain.

You should ready for the final test once you know why each answer is correct for the practice assessments.

id Ronin

apr911 wrote: »

Hey man,

Would love to pick your brain about the GUT1 final program. Im really frustrated with it.

I knocked out GTT1 in 2-3 days and Ive been at work on GUT1 for the last week. Three times already Ive gotten 3000 lines deep into my code before scrapping it because the program doesnt implement things in the way they want.

I come from a fairly decent programming background many of the things they want me to do in the program are things that have been ingrained in me as programming no-nos or so inefficient that I would never in a million years actually do...

My biggest contention at the moment is the overloaded constructors and the polymorphic implementation of the seemingly unused method calculateTuition.

I cant grasp where calculateTuition is used or how I can implement polymorphism for Resident/Non-Resident.

And I cant for the life of me understand why I would use overloaded constructors to accept input when I could just validate my inputs on the form and pass the values directly to the method...

I tried emailing Cindy about it twice now and despite explaining my frustrations and asking for guidance/clarification, all she managed to do was frustrate me more and piss me off as she basically responded back with a vague, follow-the-directions response. Not very helpful, especially when its the directions that I am asking questions/clarification about.

Unfortunately, it is what I have come to expect from her after dealings with GTT1 questions in which she never actually answered my question just read back to me the instructions I was asking the question about so I know from past experience that no matter how many times I talk to her, she isnt going to tell me what I want/need to know to do the project and frankly Im fed up with dealing with her.

I also had a less then productive experience with Cindy. Same results as you got. Generic email responses that didn't even address my question and then, when you do get to talk to her, she just tells you to go through the course of study. I finished 55 credit units in 60 days and was going to finish my degree in only 8 mos, UNTIL I got to her two classes. Spent 6 mos on these two classes and 2 mos alone on the final task of gut1. I have redone thousands of lines of code, because for the life of me, I also cant understand why she wants the code the way she wants it. It just seems like such poor programming. Any input on what you find would be amazing.

j_griffith

Are there any MS IA students here on TE.net?

jmasterj206

Well my hatred of Taskstream continues. I am trying to get QLT1 done and I have two tasks that are on thier seventh day without grading. My mentor and course mentor are on it. I will really be happy if I have to do revisions.

Shecky

For LET1 task 2, it mentions to justify your identification of the leaders leadership style using "specific examples." Can we use the examples given to us in the scenario compared to the definition of the three leadership styles? Or do we use our own examples?

sheckler

You justify your identification by using examples from the scenario.

Shecky

sheckler wrote: »

You justify your identification by using examples from the scenario.

Haha okay. I was a little thrown off there. I started working on the "examples" from the scenario, then my mind warped and I thought they wanted me to find a real-world example or something lol. Thanks sheckler!

sheckler

Yeah the tasks are pretty straightforward, they don't expect all that much.

hiddenknight821

Is it just me or the KFT1 course is the new GUT1? I can't find it anywhere.

ThePrimetimer

BOV1 DONE!!!!!

I just took the new 635 and it's exactly as Pishof said above. Missed 9 questions, but ended up with a 46/55, but as everybody on TE says, "A pass is a pass!".

Now it's time to take the weekend off to relax a little with family and start hard and heavy with TSV1 on Monday!!!

Cheers!!

sheckler

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Is it just me or the KFT1 course is the new GUT1? I can't find it anywhere.

Yea it changed

Lemonade727

Had my mentor enroll me in QLT1 this morning since I have my task submitted for HHT1 and taking the GAC1 assessment on Saturday. I certainly hope it doesn't take TaskStream as long to grade my QLT1 tasks as it is my HHT1 task. I have 3 of the tasks completed so far, just need it to pop up under TaskStream for me to submit the work, I imagine that will be tomorrow.

erpadmin

Well, taking 70-640 (AHV1) tomorrow morning. Assuming all goes well, I will probably take 70-642 AIV1 in the next couple of weeks. Then will shoot for the 70-646 at the end of June with the free Dreamspark voucher so I can at least get the SA cert. Seems a bit aggressive but I think I can do it. Between work and MS cert/labbing, it's been pretty busy for me. I'll let you guys know how it is either way...

Pishof

erpadmin wrote: »

Well, taking 70-640 (AHV1) tomorrow morning. Assuming all goes well, I will probably take 70-642 AIV1 in the next couple of weeks. Then will shoot for the 70-646 at the end of June with the free Dreamspark voucher so I can at least get the SA cert. Seems a bit aggressive but I think I can do it. Between work and MS cert/labbing, it's been pretty busy for me. I'll let you guys know how it is either way...

Wow, you do certainly have an aggressive plan for MCITP:SA. Good luck on the 70-640.

I just finished MGC1 (very business common-sense orientated) without doing anything but just taking the preassessment and then scheduling the exam. That gets me 25 CU in a little over two months even taking a couple weeks off as a break. Almost finished with the general easy stuff.

Finally got my TPV1 book in them mail after very long wait but with moving next week I won't be able to study as much as I'd like.

themagicone

WGU just sent me a nice email. I guess I'm getting a $2,000 SMART grant. My PELL grant already covered my tuition so I'm getting a $2,000 check that I don't have to pay back. WOO!

drew726

themagicone wrote: »

WGU just sent me a nice email. I guess I'm getting a $2,000 SMART grant. My PELL grant already covered my tuition so I'm getting a $2,000 check that I don't have to pay back. WOO!

Is it possible for me to get the SMART grant too? I've passed all 10 assessments I've taken this term and transfered in as a junior.

jmasterj206

Lemonade727 wrote: »

Had my mentor enroll me in QLT1 this morning since I have my task submitted for HHT1 and taking the GAC1 assessment on Saturday. I certainly hope it doesn't take TaskStream as long to grade my QLT1 tasks as it is my HHT1 task. I have 3 of the tasks completed so far, just need it to pop up under TaskStream for me to submit the work, I imagine that will be tomorrow.

It may take them a while Lemonade. Seems to be mine are averaging 4 days. I had one that took the whole 7 days, but I also did get one returned in a day.

erpadmin

No more batting .1000 for me.

Got to the testing center, sat for the 70-640, was feeling pretty good and confident. About an hour or so later ended the exam and got a fail. Was pretty strong on DNS and Creating and Maintaining Active Directroy Objects, not so good on configuring and maintaining the Active Directory Environment. Certificate services seems to need some improvement as well.

In truth, I don't feel I was ready to sit for this exam. I wasn't living in this exam like I was for the others I took. The exam seemed pretty easy and I was actually surprised that I failed at first. However, I probably got tripped up on a few things. Alot of my studying was rushed anyway.

So now I'm gonna have to do for this exam like I did for Security+. Take a lot of notes, get real good at command lines for the various tools, and sit for this again in the next couple of weeks. (I would like a rematch next week, but I'm going live with our upgrade and it's not gonna be possible). I'm also gonna have to modify my sleep so I can get some morning study time for this and the other MS exams. My choices at this point is to pass the 70-640 and pull the punk move of switching to the IT: Business major (which would help with my MBA ambitions) OR finish out the NDM emphasis (which is what I plan to do). I can't rush these exams like I thought I could with the others...that much I know now.

I also plan on paying out of pocket (at academic pricing, of course) for the next go around so I don't have to report the fail to WGU.

Well, time to hit the studying.

never2late

id Ronin wrote: »

I also had a less then productive experience with Cindy. Same results as you got. Generic email responses that didn't even address my question and then, when you do get to talk to her, she just tells you to go through the course of study. I finished 55 credit units in 60 days and was going to finish my degree in only 8 mos, UNTIL I got to her two classes. Spent 6 mos on these two classes and 2 mos alone on the final task of gut1. I have redone thousands of lines of code, because for the life of me, I also cant understand why she wants the code the way she wants it. It just seems like such poor programming. Any input on what you find would be amazing.

My experience with Cindy wasn't as negative, more neutral. The class material is confusing at best. I was never sure what they were looking for as far as the programming went, especially the GUT1 class. I tried to explain this to her and the response was always "read the resources and do all the practice programs".

The structure they wanted was nonsensical, meaning that it was never clearly explained why you would code this particular way. I struggled through it and passed, but this class convinced me that programming is not my cup of tea. When I uploaded my code I fully expected it returned with errors but it passed on the first try.

Good luck.

Pishof

erpadmin wrote: »

No more batting .1000 for me.

Got to the testing center, sat for the 70-640, was feeling pretty good and confident. About an hour or so later ended the exam and got a fail. Was pretty strong on DNS and Creating and Maintaining Active Directroy Objects, not so good on configuring and maintaining the Active Directory Environment. Certificate services seems to need some improvement as well.

In truth, I don't feel I was ready to sit for this exam. I wasn't living in this exam like I was for the others I took. The exam seemed pretty easy and I was actually surprised that I failed at first. However, I probably got tripped up on a few things. Alot of my studying was rushed anyway.

So now I'm gonna have to do for this exam like I did for Security+. Take a lot of notes, get real good at command lines for the various tools, and sit for this again in the next couple of weeks. (I would like a rematch next week, but I'm going live with our upgrade and it's not gonna be possible). I'm also gonna have to modify my sleep so I can get some morning study time for this and the other MS exams. My choices at this point is to pass the 70-640 and pull the punk move of switching to the IT: Business major (which would help with my MBA ambitions) OR finish out the NDM emphasis (which is what I plan to do). I can't rush these exams like I thought I could with the others...that much I know now.

I also plan on paying out of pocket (at academic pricing, of course) for the next go around so I don't have to report the fail to WGU.

Well, time to hit the studying.

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing your experience, it may help others (myself included) to not underestimate the exam in the future.

Can you use a free dreamspark exam voucher to take it again instead of paying?

erpadmin

Pishof wrote: »

Can you use a free dreamspark exam voucher to take it again instead of paying?

You know something, I should be able to. I didn't think to do that in all honesty. I suppose I could call Prometric and cancel the voucher and put it toward the 640.

The only thing I was aware of was that I didn't have to notify WGU about the fail so that I didn't have the fail reflect on my transcript. Maybe I'll do that later, but I don't want to do that so early on my MS adventure.

themagicone

If you fail it doesn't report on your transcript. The only way it does if you finish the term with the fail. I failed 70-680 3 times and no where on my transcript does it say that.

Excellent1

erpadmin wrote: »

The only thing I was aware of was that I didn't have to notify WGU about the fail so that I didn't have the fail reflect on my transcript. Maybe I'll do that later, but I don't want to do that so early on my MS adventure.

I'm sure you'll nail it next time. That said, as to your comment about your transcript, I'm not sure that a failed exam reflects on your transcript. Quoting from the handbook:

Transcripts include four possible marks:

• Pass: Certifies successful completion of a course of study. The student has demonstrated the required competencies by passing the final assessment with a grade equivalent of B or better or 3.00 grade points on a 4.00 scale.
• Not Passed: Indicates that a student failed to complete a course of study in the time allotted. To meet program requirements, the student generally re-enrolls for the course of study in a subsequent term.
• Transfer: Signifies that the student has completed equivalent work at another regionally or nationally accredited institution.
• Withdrawn: Represents that the student was withdrawn from the university or course before term completion.

In any case, good luck on the re-take and don't shell out any money you don't need to.