The WGU Challenge - Finish in 1 term

techinthewoods

swild wrote: »

All IT exams have to be taken at Prometric or another proctoring center. The liberal arts course exams can be taken at home via webcam proctoring or at Prometric or similar.

I couldn't do the web proctoring because I don't have internet at home. Also, I only had 3 classes that could be done at home.

Wow. I had no idea. I thought it was an entirely online education. Thanks for the info.

erpadmin

swild wrote: »

The HBO special you are referencing is "Gang Wars: Bangin' in Little Rock" which can be seen on YouTube. I actually lived in a house in the background of one of the shots... shots. ha.

OMG, I hope they put the second special on there too. I remember that they revisited those gangs some time later.

Thanks for that, now I have two things I can watch on YouTube....the first being "CSA," the mockumentary about what would have happened if the South would have won the Civil War. That always cracks me up. (Interestingly, it's on Netflix as well, but for some reason, I just prefer to watch it on youtube....lmao.)

No seriously, thank you. And I will light a couple of candles at church whenever I step into one and say a prayer that that part of the country can join the rest of us in getting decent broadband speeds.

swild

techinthewoods wrote: »

Wow. I had no idea. I thought it was an entirely online education. Thanks for the info.

It is as online as they can be and still maintain legitimacy while using industry standard certifications as course finals. It's Microsoft, CompTIA, CIW, and Cisco that makes them take the exams at Certipoint, Prometric, and Vue testing centers.

They could be totally online if they dropped all of their certifications, but that is a big draw for them. ITT Tech uses the same industry certifications as their teaching guides, but doesn't test for the actual certifications, thereby lowering the value of their classes while still charging more.

Non-profit education just makes sense.

swild

erpadmin wrote: »

OMG, I hope they put the second special on there too. I remember that they revisited those gangs some time later.

Thanks for that, now I have two things I can watch on YouTube....the first being "CSA," the mockumentary about what would have happened if the South would have won the Civil War. That always cracks me up. (Interestingly, it's on Netflix as well, but for some reason, I just prefer to watch it on youtube....lmao.)

No seriously, thank you. And I will light a couple of candles at church whenever I step into one and say a prayer that that part of the country can join the rest of us in getting decent broadband speeds.

I can't believe that I haven't seen "CSA." I will be watching it tonight when I get home. Civil War in a nutshell: We had the food, they had the guns. Now the south has more guns per capita than any place in the world. Fool me once...

MAC_Addy

swild wrote: »

Now the south has more guns per capita than any place in the world.

How I love living in the south! One of the first things I did when I moved was buy a gun - it wasn't a good one, but the fact that I could buy one was almost overwhelming. This thread is awesome! Very inspirational for many people. I have an IT degree from England that I got a few years ago - when I interviewed for some places they didn't even recognize it. I've often thought about contacting WGU to see if my credits will even be accepted there! A part of me doesn't even want to waste my time since they might say "Well, it's in another country so you'll have to start all over again".

swild

MAC_Addy wrote: »

How I love living in the south! One of the first things I did when I moved was buy a gun - it wasn't a good one, but the fact that I could buy one was almost overwhelming. This thread is awesome! Very inspirational for many people. I have an IT degree from England that I got a few years ago - when I interviewed for some places they didn't even recognize it. I've often thought about contacting WGU to see if my credits will even be accepted there! A part of me doesn't even want to waste my time since they might say "Well, it's in another country so you'll have to start all over again".

There is a good chance that your liberal arts courses will transfer, but any IT/major courses or certifications over 5 years old will not. I actually haven't heard of anyone trying to transfer in credits from a foreign degree.

I only have one gun in my house for 2 people, but my father-in-law makes up for that with his 27 for just himself.

MAC_Addy

Seems like the norm in AR - I notice you're in Little Rock? Only a couple of hours drive from where I am. My fiancees grandfather has a lot of guns, I don't know how many, all I know it's a lot.

erpadmin

I don't want to derail your thread too much, swild, but I do want to add that I too will one day live in the south... Austin, TX, specifically (though I am open to San Antonio as well...).

All of the benefits of living in the south, and from what I saw, none of the negatives (or at the very least, not a whole lot.) I found Austin to be very cosmopolitan, and coming from the NYC area, that was very impressive to me. Not to mention, (legally) packing heat is definitely a plus. [Compared to the People's Republic of New Jersey.....yet Pennsylvania is a very gun friendly state, for the most part.]

techinthewoods

swild wrote: »

It is as online as they can be and still maintain legitimacy while using industry standard certifications as course finals. It's Microsoft, CompTIA, CIW, and Cisco that makes them take the exams at Certipoint, Prometric, and Vue testing centers.

They could be totally online if they dropped all of their certifications, but that is a big draw for them. ITT Tech uses the same industry certifications as their teaching guides, but doesn't test for the actual certifications, thereby lowering the value of their classes while still charging more.

Non-profit education just makes sense.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining.

LayOffPayOff

Class began on Thursday (3-1-12) so here is my first official update. I took 510-1D0 on Saturday and passed. Its a pretty straightforward exam, not really difficult but it covers a lot of topics. I was pretty clueless on XHTML/XML so I spent extra time going over that. The "textbook" they provided was MORE than adequate. I also watched the certification partners videos, didnt bother with the online expert videos.

My mentor allowed me to reorganize my class plan so next up is Cisco. If everything goes smoothly Im hoping to be ready for the ICND1 exam by next weekend. Fingers crossed!

petedude

LayOffPayOff wrote: »

My mentor allowed me to reorganize my class plan so next up is Cisco. If everything goes smoothly Im hoping to be ready for the ICND1 exam by next weekend. Finger crossed!

Congrats on the progress, and good luck on ICND1!

coffeeluvr

LayOffPayOff wrote: »

Class began on Thursday (3-1-12) so here is my first official update. I took 510-1D0 on Saturday and passed. Its a pretty straightforward exam, not really difficult but it covers a lot of topics. I was pretty clueless on XHTML/XML so I spent extra time going over that. The "textbook" they provided was MORE than adequate. I also watched the certification partners videos, didnt bother with the online expert videos.

My mentor allowed me to reorganize my class plan so next up is Cisco. If everything goes smoothly Im hoping to be ready for the ICND1 exam by next weekend. Fingers crossed!

Congrats on the pass!!

LinuxRacr

Congrats on the pass both to the OP and LayOffPayOff. After I finish up my A+ exams, I plan to tackle the ICND1 before the end of the term.

swild

Glad to see someone else shooting for 1 term as well. Hopefully this thread will pick up a few more.

I just finished both the textbook and the LearnKey videos for DJV1: Software Development Fundamentals.
I am surprised to see that there was not a cumulative review at the end like they had for DFV1.

Today I plan on working through uCertify's questions and maybe working on the practice test if I have time.

I have added CJV1 and CVV1 to my AAV so that I can dive into those right after my DJV1 test.

I never received the book I purchased from eBay for KET1, contacted the seller and they gave a full refund. Looks like it was lost in the mail.
So, I stopped by Barnes and Noble and checked out the Java books to see what would help the most. Out of all of the books there, only 2 stood out. The winner is written by the same author, Deitel, that wrote the thrift store book I have been using. Java For Programmers goes into more detail with Sets and Maps than any other book and has very good code examples. The runner-up book is the Oracle Java Reference book. Lots of info in that book, but not as good code examples. If I was going further with Java, I would want the Oracle book.
I really want to get back into KET1/KFT1 and get them out of the way.

I'm getting closer and closer to ICND1 and I really don't want to wait. Also, I know that WGU won't let me test on the new CCNA: Sec exam, but I am going to push as hard as I can to get them to give me a voucher for that test. I would really rather not study for and take an exam that is at the end of it's life.

coffeeluvr

swild wrote: »

Glad to see someone else shooting for 1 term as well. Hopefully this thread will pick up a few more.

I just finished both the textbook and the LearnKey videos for DJV1: Software Development Fundamentals.
I am surprised to see that there was not a cumulative review at the end like they had for DFV1.

Today I plan on working through uCertify's questions and maybe working on the practice test if I have time.

I have added CJV1 and CVV1 to my AAV so that I can dive into those right after my DJV1 test.

I never received the book I purchased from eBay for KET1, contacted the seller and they gave a full refund. Looks like it was lost in the mail.
So, I stopped by Barnes and Noble and checked out the Java books to see what would help the most. Out of all of the books there, only 2 stood out. The winner is written by the same author, Deitel, that wrote the thrift store book I have been using. Java For Programmers goes into more detail with Sets and Maps than any other book and has very good code examples. The runner-up book is the Oracle Java Reference book. Lots of info in that book, but not as good code examples. If I was going further with Java, I would want the Oracle book.
I really want to get back into KET1/KFT1 and get them out of the way.

I'm getting closer and closer to ICND1 and I really don't want to wait. Also, I know that WGU won't let me test on the new CCNA: Sec exam, but I am going to push as hard as I can to get them to give me a voucher for that test. I would really rather not study for and take an exam that is at the end of it's life.

Do you have your CCNA? I am pretty sure you have to have your CCNA before you can take the CCNA:Security...at least, that is what I have been told.

swild

I will have it in about a month or so. It's part of my WGU studies.

coffeeluvr

swild wrote: »

I will have it in about a month or so. It's part of my WGU studies.

Once you get your CCNA...you should definitely go for the CCNA:Security. My friend got his CCNA and 3 months later got his CCNA:Security. He said it was relatively easy compared to the CCNA. Good Luck!

joshmadakor

coffeeluvr wrote: »

Once you get your CCNA...you should definitely go for the CCNA:Security. My friend got his CCNA and 3 months later got his CCNA:Security. He said it was relatively easy compared to the CCNA. Good Luck!

That seems like a long time, considering 6 months of attendance costs ~$3k

Agent6376

Start: 10-1-2011
End: 3-6-2012

Got my notification of Capstone completion earlier today. I'll be in Salt Lake City for the graduation ceremonies in July.

Success, oh how sweet you are!

On to CCVP!

swild

Agent6376 wrote: »

Start: 10-1-2011
End: 3-6-2012

Got my notification of Capstone completion earlier today. I'll be in Salt Lake City for the graduation ceremonies in July.

Success, oh how sweet you are!

On to CCVP!

Wow, 5 months, congratulations! How many hours did you have to complete?

coffeeluvr

joshmadakor wrote: »

That seems like a long time, considering 6 months of attendance costs ~$3k

He didn't get it through WGU....his employer paid for him to sit for the certs. He got his Master's from North Carolina State Univ.

coffeeluvr

Agent6376 wrote: »

Start: 10-1-2011
End: 3-6-2012

Got my notification of Capstone completion earlier today. I'll be in Salt Lake City for the graduation ceremonies in July.

Success, oh how sweet you are!

On to CCVP!

Congratulations!!!

Agent6376

I had 49 Credit Units that transferred in from my CCNA/MCITP A+/Net+, so I did 75 CUs.

swild

I passed DJV1 last night. The test was much easier than the DFV1 Web Development Fundamentals test. Much more about keyword definition than anything else. There's only 35 questions in 45 mintues. I finished in 15 minutes. After the last MTA exam, I used all the leraning resources before taking this test. I went through the text, watched all the LearnKey videos and then went through all the uCertify practice questions. It doesn't get very deep into any particular area. For example, you only need to know the definition of normalization, not the details about the forms. Everything else is pretty much like that. 24 CUs down

My textbook for KET1 is waiting at the post office for me. Usually my mailman leaves it by my gate, but it was pouring rain yesterday. I will hopefully be able to get KET1 finished up this weekend and maybe KFT1 as well.

After that I have the 2 database classes. My mentor told me that the things that most students have issues with is the forms of nomalization and relational algebra. I have read through the normalization forms and it is just straight memorization of the steps. I love math so I don't see that as an issue. I will be taking the CIW test and then the MTA test in relatively quick sucession. I hope to be done with both of those by the end of March. That should put me at 43 CUs in 3 months, leaving me 3 months to do the 3 Cisco tests and the Capstone.

coffeeluvr

swild wrote: »

I passed DJV1 last night. The test was much easier than the DFV1 Web Development Fundamentals test. Much more about keyword definition than anything else. There's only 35 questions in 45 mintues. I finished in 15 minutes. After the last MTA exam, I used all the leraning resources before taking this test. I went through the text, watched all the LearnKey videos and then went through all the uCertify practice questions. It doesn't get very deep into any particular area. For example, you only need to know the definition of normalization, not the details about the forms. Everything else is pretty much like that. 24 CUs down

My textbook for KET1 is waiting at the post office for me. Usually my mailman leaves it by my gate, but it was pouring rain yesterday. I will hopefully be able to get KET1 finished up this weekend and maybe KFT1 as well.

After that I have the 2 database classes. My mentor told me that the things that most students have issues with is the forms of nomalization and relational algebra. I have read through the normalization forms and it is just straight memorization of the steps. I love math so I don't see that as an issue. I will be taking the CIW test and then the MTA test in relatively quick sucession. I hope to be done with both of those by the end of March. That should put me at 43 CUs in 3 months, leaving me 3 months to do the 3 Cisco tests and the Capstone.

Congrats on the pass!

swild

KET1 Task2 is submitted. It was a little harder than it would have been if I didn't have a 2 week gap in the middle, waiting for my book to arrive. I wound up wasting 8 hours yesterday trying to come up with the first method I used that worked. I went though 4 other ways and couldn't get the output I wanted, then all of a sudden, done. In the rubric, it says to use a buffered FileWriter. Well, I'm not exactly sure what they meant since there are 2 buffered outputs. I tried using BufferedWriter and couldn't get it to output. I wound up using the buffered DataOutputStream and it works exactly like it should. I spent a total of around 15 hours on this task, with 8 or so wasted.

Today I am planning on making as big of a dent in KFT1 as I can. I'm ready to have this programming behind me.

spikel363

swild,
I also started my IT Sec program at WGU on 01/12 with only 43 transfer credits. Glad to see I'm running at a similar pace with you. I slowed down a lot the last few weeks due to a job change and I'm about to move into a new apartment too. Don't underestimate ICND2, I failed my first attempt by a single question. The learning material provided for CQV1 is not enough, make sure you use the Cisco Official Study Guide which is deep and technical. ICND2 and the CCNA exam have changed in recent years, they became incredibly difficult from other I know in the field. I have 48 credits to go including a retake of ICND2 which I'm dreading. Glad I have pushovers leftover like DJV1 and MGC1. Good luck with finishing in 1 term, I'm also gunning for it.
P.S. DFV1 was definitely a **** and I escaped with the skin of my teeth thanks to your earlier blog post.

joshmadakor

This is a bit off topic...but can you start your term at any time at WGU? I can't find a calendar of any kind on their site...

erpadmin

joshmadakor wrote: »

This is a bit off topic...but can you start your term at any time at WGU? I can't find a calendar of any kind on their site...

Terms can start on any calander month. It usually takes a month or two for WGU to evaluate whatever courses, certs, etc. After that, you have the option of starting the next available month OR the month right after. I personally did the latter, cause I had work and personal issues that needed to be done in that July, 2010 and I knew I wouldn't have time for anything WGU-related. But August, 2010 was doable.

joshmadakor

erpadmin wrote: »

Terms can start on any calander month. It usually takes a month or two for WGU to evaluate whatever courses, certs, etc. After that, you have the option of starting the next available month OR the month right after. I personally did the latter, cause I had work and personal issues that needed to be done in that July, 2010 and I knew I wouldn't have time for anything WGU-related. But August, 2010 was doable.

Thanks for the info