LinuxRacr's Quest for WGU Success...

I'm starting this thread to catalog my journey with WGU. Any relevant questions, comments, advice is welcome here.

I have been enrolled, and am set to start the B.S. IT Security program January, 2012, and have just seen my degree plan for the first time yesterday. Eight classes are counted as transfers.... It has me mapped out over nine terms. I'm trying to finish in no more than three to four terms. If I were to do it in nine terms, you can do the math on the cost at around $3k per 6-month term.

As of today, no mentor has been assigned.

I am planning on studying for my A+ exam hard over the next couple of weeks, and asking for an exam voucher when I start in January. Which class requirement(s) does the A+ exam cover?

UPDATE 12/22/2011: The rest of this first post is now irrelevant, as the issue was fixed, and the courses have changed.

My four terms line up like so below. Any advice on what would be most efficient?:

Term 1:

WFV1 IT Fundamentals I
AGG1 Foundations of College Mathematics
CLC1 Reasoning and Problem Solving
LUT1 Language and Communication: Presentation
QBT1 Language and Communication: Research

Term2:

AXV1 IT Fundamentals II
CPV1 IT Fundamentals III
INT1 Integrated Natural Science Applications

Term 3:

DFV1 Web Development Fundamentals
CUV1 Web Technologies
BOV1 Web Programing
GAC1 Finite Mathematics

Term 4:

HHT1 Finite Mathematics Applications
DHV1 Windows OS Fundamentals
CSV1 Operating Systems
COV1 Fundamentals of Interconnecting Network Devices

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

SMALL SETBACK:

Here are this morning's baseline PRACTICE test results for the 220-702. I shall be ready by the end of the week.

220-702_Practice_Fail.jpg

After doing some studying, I'm seeing most of the same stuff I saw when I studied for the 220-701 exam. I think this has to do with the format of the Mike Meyers book. He goes through each topic while covering the parts that will be on the Essentials and the part that will be on the Practical exam. 220-702 scheduled for Friday morning. I'm going to win this!

I passed the 220-702..but didn't crush it like hoped. This was my own fault. I am glad that I waited a week and did the extra studying that I did get to do, because the test seemed to ask quite a few questions that I didn't cover in my studies. A pass is a pass (and I am A+ certified!), but lesson learned! Re-doubling my efforts for future assessments...

LinuxRacr wrote: »

I passed the 220-702..but didn't crush it like hoped. This was my own fault. I am glad that I waited a week and did the extra studying that I did get to do, because the test seemed to ask quite a few questions that I didn't cover in my studies. A pass is a pass (and I am A+ certified!), but lesson learned! Re-doubling my efforts for future assessments...

No one cares what score you got...only that you passed.

With that, CONGRATULATIONS!

Congrats on the pass!

Thanks everyone. I'm diving into the CCENT studies now. Time to get after it!

Congrats on your pass, good luck with the CCENT!

CCENT is fun! Get the Boson Ex-Sim Max. I am testing on Friday and just started using the test questions yesterday. It is an awesome simulator. I installed it on my computer last week and, before starting yesterday, I checked to see if there were any updates for the software and there was a 1.1MB download. Either I just happened to come in right when they updated or else they stay on top of it all the time, which is noce to see. This is the most I have ever paid for a practice test, but far worth it. Besides that, I have been using the Lammle book and the free INE videos. I have Odom's books as well, but they are so dry.

I told my mentor that I was taking both exams on the same day and she wasn't thrilled. I told her that there isn't any reason to spread them out since the study materials provided by WGU are for the combined exam so I am studying for both tests anyway. She was hesitant but aggreed. I think they have changed that since we enrolled in January. You may ask to see if you can get the new study materials. I remember reading somewhere that the materials have changed, but it may have only been for the IINS exam.

Man Boson has been around for a long time. I initially had started studying for the CCNA certification way back in 2002 to try to get a network ops position in my company, and the Boson router sim was one of the best. So were the Troy Tech guides. When I went for the interview, I tried to troubleshoot some questions when I had no experience. Big mistake...lol. I should have just been honest.

Anyway...

What did you think of the learning tools provided by WGU, such as the LearnKey videos or the Pearson simulator? I just started watching the LearnKey videos last night. The funny thing is that my friend let me borrow his course material from Global Knowledge a couple of months ago, and the slides in those videos mirror the slides in the Global Knowledge course material...

Is the Todd Lammle book I keep hearing about really prepare me any better? If so, I'll head down to Barnes and Noble at lunch to scoop it up.

swild wrote: »

I told my mentor that I was taking both exams on the same day and she wasn't thrilled. I told her that there isn't any reason to spread them out since the study materials provided by WGU are for the combined exam so I am studying for both tests anyway. She was hesitant but aggreed. I think they have changed that since we enrolled in January. You may ask to see if you can get the new study materials. I remember reading somewhere that the materials have changed, but it may have only been for the IINS exam.

My mentor mentioned that they are switching from LabSim to another product in May for the CCENT / CCNA courses. I am curious as to what they are moving to.

A network engineer at my company that I've been friends with for over a decade sent me information to get access to the INE videos. I shall enjoy this.

To supplement my studies, I picked up the Todd Lammle CCNA Study Guide (7th ed.) last night. Those who have used it, how does it stack up to other study materials?

For the 7th edition here is the break down of how the chapters correspond to the tests:

ICND1 chapters:
1 - Internetworking
2 - Review of Ethernet Networking and Data Encapsulation
3 - Intro to TCP/IP
4 - Easy Subnetting
6 - Cisco's IOS
7 - Managing a Cisco Internetwork
8 - IP Routing
10 - Layer 2 Switching and Spanning Tree Protocol
12 - Security
14 - Cisco's Wireless Technology
16 - Wide Area Networks

ICND2 chapters:
5 - VLSMs, Summarization, and Troubleshooting TCP/IP
6 - Cisco's IOS
7 - Managing a Cisco Internetwork
9 - EIGRP and OSPF
11 - Virtual Lans
12 - Security
13 - Network Address Translation
14 - Cisco's Wireless Technologies
15 - IPV6
16 - Wide Area Networks

CCNA composite, obviously all chapters.

Ok, I need some sleep. I know all I ever want to know about RIP routing, thanks to the INE promotional streaming videos... Next up, EIGRP and OSPF.

Yeah, they really drill in the RIP in those videos. The other two seem much more simple to me.

I just wanted to post that I started the WGU IT Security program March 1st of this year and am on my 3rd course (LET1 - Leadership Concepts and Applications) and these posts have been very encouraging. I've been on this site for awhile but this is my first post.

On a side note, can someone please tell me how add my transferred, required, in progress, and completed WGU CU's info to my posts' signature? Been wondering how everyone else is adding that part, and I would be grateful for the tip! Thanks!

Hello, and welcome to the site! I'm glad that information you have found here has been helpful. That's what this community is here for.

If you want to create a signature, go you your User Control Panel by scrolling to the top of the page, and clicking on the gear/cog/sprocket icon in the upper right, next to your user name. After you are in your user CP, scroll down, and on the right of the page is an option for "Edit Signature" under "My Settings".

Hope this helps.

LinuxRacr wrote: »

Hello, and welcome to the site! I'm glad that information you have found here has been helpful. That's what this community is here for.

If you want to create a signature, go you your User Control Panel by scrolling to the top of the page, and clicking on the gear/cog/sprocket icon in the upper right, next to your user name. After you are in your user CP, scroll down, and on the right of the page is an option for "Edit Signature" under "My Settings".

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the welcome and quick reply! The community here is what kept me coming back to read thread after thread. There was a thread about the WGU entrance assessment exam that really came in handy when I was prepping, and now that I'm in the IT Security program I hope to learn as much as I can from everyone's experiences here and share my own.

Concerning the signature question, for some reason I don't see this option listed on my cp. In fact this is what I see:

Do I have to have a certain number of posts or reputation points before the option to edit my signature becomes available to me? This was my first thought when I couldn't find the option on my own.

I believe so. I can't remember exactly what that number is.

ICND1 exam is scheduled for May 31st, 2012... I have a long weekend to finish studying up...

Do you feel overly prepared for the test? What areas are you going over?

Update: I pushed back the ICND1 exam to June 8th.

The ICND1 has been passed! Now I just need to hit the books to sure up for the ICND2 early next month. I think I have earned a well-deserved weekend break from studies!

hiddenknight821

Congrats on the pass!

Thanks! This was definitely the hardest cert exam I've taken thus far... I had 50 questions, and I arrived at question 50 with under two minutes left of the 90. They sure do design the tests to make you spend a lot of time thinking, and eating away your time.
One question pissed me off for sure though. I was like, "WTF is this???!!" I'm hoping that was a ungraded question thrown in for future use...

hiddenknight821

Hm... Can't recall the question you might be talking about, but wait until you take the ICND2. It's a beast! It took me three tries to pass it.

yea if you think the icdn1 was tough the icnd2 will really make you wear your thinking cap and be mindful of the clock. I didnt pay attention to time left and ran out first time i took it had about 5 or more questions left unanswered failed with a 758

Lame.

If you were pressed for time on ICND1, you'll definitely want to make sure you know your stuff before you hit ICND2. I had about 20-25 minutes left when I finished ICND1, but ICND2 took me down to the five minute mark.

Edit: Congrats on the pass!

Congrats on your ICND 1 pass!

Thanks everyone. It looks like the key to the ICND2 exam is a good understanding of everything through experience (labbing). Time to get busier after a short break!

It's rare to say a website changed my life, but this is exactly what Techexams did for me. When I first found TE, I was unemployed with no certs and not much experience. Now I have a job, certs, and a degree. I hope you much success LinuxRacr. Keep up the good work.

WGU is awesome

Quick Links