Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

This thread is intended for students to write about their experiences at Western Governors University.

Please keep it civil, and do not spend your time bashing the school, and its policies. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you have a problem you need to take it up with your professor or mentor. Please no Flaming on this thread.

You can ask for help with a referral (used to avoid paying the application fee) on the following thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/55634-wgu-refer-friend-thread-those-seeking-referral.html

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Comments

petedude

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Usually they don't. They want the 2 classes to be your last. I had to do some sweet talking to have it that way. I talked them into letting me do it the way my term fell and how most of the R2 books are not out yet.

I would think you could actually do Technical Writing very early, if you have significant IT background and a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. You'd just have to sell your mentor and the probably the course mentor as well.

Capstone. . . I hear of many folks leaving one or two tough courses toward the end (e.g. Java), and finishing the capstone ahead of that. But that's as early as I've heard of anyone being allowed to tackle it-- with reason, as the actual capstone completion is supposed to be reflective of your educational experience with WGU as well as your personal subject matter competency.

veritas_libertas

Argh! I changed from the old version of the NTWK DESGN and Management to the new one. Don't do this unless you think it's going to be in your favor because it can become a hassle.

My goals for this semester:

AIV1, HHT1, LET1, and ORC1

This should keep me plenty busy for this semester.

drew726

I have till August 29th to finish CCENT and that'll put me at 46 CU's this term leaving me 70-642, 70-646, tech writing, and capstone for the next term. I just stare at my AAP every night and I can finally see the finish line...sooo close. 2 1/2 years in community college, 2 years in state college and dropping out...I can't believe I'm almost done. Turning 28 next month, 10 years to get to this point. Jesus time flies.

On a side note, my boss and our senior network engineer is giving me more assignments now. My CTO is teaching me how to do DNS'ing addressing just to lessen the workload one of our engineers and my senior network engineer is finally letting me touch the switches etc and doing the patch management on the servers. Finally...I was getting bored of making tickets and creating users and mailboxes in AD all day.

jmasterj206

petedude wrote: »

I would think you could actually do Technical Writing very early, if you have significant IT background and a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. You'd just have to sell your mentor and the probably the course mentor as well.

Capstone. . . I hear of many folks leaving one or two tough courses toward the end (e.g. Java), and finishing the capstone ahead of that. But that's as early as I've heard of anyone being allowed to tackle it-- with reason, as the actual capstone completion is supposed to be reflective of your educational experience with WGU as well as your personal subject matter competency.

Since I just finished them I would strongly suggest doing them back to back. You have to use a lot of information from your Tech Writing paper in your Capstone. A good portion of the Capstone is part of your Tech Writing paper. If it is fresh in your head it will go much smoother. Also, in grading Tech Writing they give you good pointers on what to make sure you include in the Capstone project.

JoshD779

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Argh! I changed from the old version of the NTWK DESGN and Management to the new one. Don't do this unless you think it's going to be in your favor because it can become a hassle.

My goals for this semester:

AIV1, HHT1, LET1, and ORC1

This should keep me plenty busy for this semester.

I toyed with the idea of switching to the new program but in the end I decided not to make any unnecessary changes. I'm glad I stuck with the original plan.

You should be able to complete LET1 very quickly. It was one on the easiest writing-bases courses I've done so far. I completed it in two weeks, with a little bit of slacking thrown in there.

carajean

So far my experience has been less than great. For some reason my application fee isnt getting waived even though I used the refer a friend. Talked to Dfields about it and he assured me he would take care of it the next day hasnt yet. I also went to take the ready assessment test and cant even log in. I just wanna get this done and over with arg. Im not gonna be a happy camper if I cant start july 1st.

jmasterj206

carajean wrote: »

So far my experience has been less than great. For some reason my application fee isnt getting waived even though I used the refer a friend. Talked to Dfields about it and he assured me he would take care of it the next day hasnt yet. I also went to take the ready assessment test and cant even log in. I just wanna get this done and over with arg. Im not gonna be a happy camper if I cant start july 1st.

I would call the enrollment department ASAP.

drew726

Bought my Todd Lammle CCENT book and gonna use that with the Labsim resources. I'm ready for war.

Hypntick

drew726 wrote: »

Bought my Todd Lammle CCENT book and gonna use that with the Labsim resources. I'm ready for war.

I would also suggest the Cisco Press book. The lammle book is alright, I couldn't really force myself through it. Jumps around quite a bit. The Odom book may be dry but it goes into everything you need. Ask the CCENT course mentor Jason for the CCNA simulator, you don't get it automatically. It's an outstanding resource. As for the Labsim, finding what parts pertain to ICND1 and what parts pertain to ICND2 is a little difficult. Good luck on the studies!

never2late

s0j0urn wrote: »

It would be a life saver to see the code, currently I've been working through Big Java and not only is it dry, it covers so much extraneous data and does not seem to be helping at all. I'm on Chapter 4 and still don't even really know where to start. I'm generally pretty self-taught and seeing the code would probably pull the pieces in together for me. Please let me know if you still have this and I can give you my email addy. Thanks.

s0j0urn,
Drop me a note and I'll forward those programming solutions I received from Cheryl. All I received was ch 5 thru ch 10 but it helped me understand the basics.

Still neck deep in the 70-680 material. Plan to take the test in 10 days or so, already have my voucher and my testing center is pretty flexible with times and dates.

petedude

never2late wrote: »

s0j0urn,
Drop me a note and I'll forward those programming solutions I received from Cheryl. All I received was ch 5 thru ch 10 but it helped me understand the basics.

For anyone starting the basic Java course, I'd strongly recommend reading Java Demystified before picking up Big Java. Helped me a lot.

s0j0urn

lol, I don't actually know how to send you a note. I'm new to the forums.
Good luck on the 70-680, i haven't taken anything for Windows 7 yet.

never2late

s0j0urn wrote: »

lol, I don't actually know how to send you a note. I'm new to the forums.
Good luck on the 70-680, i haven't taken anything for Windows 7 yet.

Sent you an email

demonfurbie

any one here taken QMC1 recently ... anything i should know before i delve right in to it

Shecky

Concerning LET1 Task 4:

Compare the relative value of common sets of evaluation criteria.

Which is more valuable (1-2-3)?

Individual Task Outcomes
Behavior
Traits

I swear, Section B has left me completely stumped.

nhpr

Shecky wrote: »

Concerning LET1 Task 4:

Compare the relative value of common sets of evaluation criteria.

Which is more valuable (1-2-3)?

Individual Task Outcomes
Behavior
Traits

I swear, Section B has left me completely stumped.

That's right in the book, my good man! Chapter 15 under section "Performance Evaluation," subsection "What Do We Evaluate." It's pages 619-620, if the ebook uses the same numbering scheme as the physical book.

themagicone

What they are asking is for you to compare the traits and which one you think is most important. Pretty easy.

Shecky

nhpr wrote: »

That's right in the book, my good man! Chapter 15 under section "Performance Evaluation," subsection "What Do We Evaluate." It's pages 619-620, if the ebook uses the same numbering scheme as the physical book.

Haha. I see that. But what I don't understand is comparing the relative value of the sets of criteria. Compare them to what?

themagicone wrote: »

What they are asking is for you to compare the traits and which one you think is most important. Pretty easy.

Just the traits? What about individual task outcomes and behavior?

nhpr

Shecky wrote: »

Haha. I see that. But what I don't understand is comparing the relative value of the sets of criteria. Compare them to what?

Compare them to each other. Just say what the relative strengths and weaknesses of them are.

"Giving a poor performance evaluation based on the fact that the employee is introverted or fat or French is good/bad because..."
"Writing a performance evaluation based on how well an employee performed on a specific project is good/bad because..."

tonym249

Guys,

Anyone pass this exam yet? And if, so what practice tests did you use , and is the test similar to 435? Stuggling with BOV1.

Thanks.

drew726

tonym249 wrote: »

Guys,

Anyone pass this exam yet? And if, so what practice tests did you use , and is the test similar to 435? Stuggling with BOV1.

Thanks.

Yeah passed it recently. I don't know what 435 was like so I can't really answer that question. All I gotta say is do the practice exams they give you and memorize all the methods, event handlers, etc.

Nobylspoon

I just finished all the WFV1 course tests and course reviews. I passed all 6 on the first try. I only had to read the study guide for HTML because it's something I haven't used in a while. Unfortunately, the only opening at my local testing center for the next 5 weeks is this Saturday. I requested my voucher but I don't know if I will get it on time. I may have to commute somewhere out of town

Jourdsh

Passed Security+ yesterday, and because of a snafu of getting a voucher for Networks+ at the wrong testing center, I have to wait until next week to take that test.

Talked to my mentor, but he is unable to get me any new classes until I pass Networks+. Is it common to not be able to take more than one class at a time even when you are only in the first month of the term?

I know I can go faster than they are letting me.

Nobylspoon

Jourdsh wrote: »

Passed Security+ yesterday, and because of a snafu of getting a voucher for Networks+ at the wrong testing center, I have to wait until next week to take that test.

Talked to my mentor, but he is unable to get me any new classes until I pass Networks+. Is it common to not be able to take more than one class at a time even when you are only in the first month of the term?

I know I can go faster than they are letting me.

Is the class already on your AAV or are you trying to add a new class to it? My mentor unlocked the resources for all of the classes on my AAV without even asking.

Jourdsh

I could only add 12 cu to my aav, I was hoping that it was at least a rolling 12 cu, so I could add to as I completed them.

It appears I have to finish everything on my AAV before I can add 1 class, I did at least with some prodding get access to the learning resources for my next planned class.

Lemonade727

Jourdsh wrote: »

I could only add 12 cu to my aav, I was hoping that it was at least a rolling 12 cu, so I could add to as I completed them.

It appears I have to finish everything on my AAV before I can add 1 class, I did at least with some prodding get access to the learning resources for my next planned class.

I had to complete my original 12 CU's before my mentor would let me add anything else in, but since then I've been able to add multiple courses in at a time. It's probably just going to be a "getting used to" period between you and your mentor where he/she realizes what you're capable of and are comfortable doing. But ever since I finished my first 12 CU's I've always been enrolled in multiple classes as I know I have sufficient time to complete them before my term ends, and with the rate I've been going through them my mentor agrees with me.

themagicone

All I have to say is GUT1 Task 4 is the most screwed up thing ever. There is no clarification on what they want, the mentor just tells you to read the outline, etc. Ugg can't wait till I'm done with it. I got my program written but I have not idea if it will pass as the outline doesn't agree with its self a lot.

veritas_libertas

Ugh, LET1 is driving me mad. I swear some of the chapters don't match the assignments. It's that or it's because it's so boring I'm missing the obvious

Lemonade727

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Ugh, LET1 is driving me mad. I swear some of the chapters don't match the assignments. It's that or it's because it's so boring I'm missing the obvious

Probably the latter

I just got task 4 back graded earlier today with a pass so that was the end of LET1 for me. The tasks are straight from the book in the chapter that the COS mentions for that specific task, and the items listed in the task are in the same order as it appears under that section of the book as well. You may just be overlooking it all, but trust me it's all right there.

drew726

yea some of the GE classes are a PITA