WGU BS:IT/Software (starting Nov. 1st 2013)

ratbuddy

Bored again last night, so more preassessments ended up being done.

Windows OS Fundamentals (DHV1) was really, really basic. It's one of the MTA exams. No study, 80% score with a cut score of 65%. Will schedule this soon.

Introduction to Programming (TXC1), 81% in 95 minutes, cut score 70% with 180 minutes allowed. The only stuff I wasn't sure of were arraylists and file operations, and that's because I haven't reached that part of Head First Java yet. Will read those sections of the book and schedule this one.

Project in Introduction to Programming (TXP1).. Well, I expected a harder assignment for this 2-CU project, but I won't complain too much. This'll be done very soon, and combined with TXC1, should give free credit for Software Development Fundamentals (DJV1), a 4-CU course with MTA 98-361 as the exam.

Aside from that stuff, I've got a new Asus Transformer Book T100, and it's great for studying. The 10.1" screen allows for a textbook on one side of the screen and a course plan on the other, and running full Windows programs means I can use it for preassessments and other stuff that won't work on my Android tablet. Highly recommended.

ratbuddy

Wife is off vacation, so I'm back to school full time.

I did just get back results from TXP1, all 4.0, so that's two more CU down. Going to try to knock out TXC1 and CLC1 this Friday, and the Windows OS Fundamentals MTA as soon as I can find a test center that does MTAs.

NotHackingYou

Nice progress!

ratbuddy

Holy crap, it was dang near impossible to find a test site for the MTA 98-349. Finally got one lined up for 11AM tomorrow, and I hope they can figure out how to give me the test. Certiport really sucks. I had to register for an account on their site, and they actually emailed back my chosen password in plain text. Half the sites on their location finder either don't give their exams, or tell you to call Prometric to schedule. Yeah, sure. Certiport is owned by Pearson, I'm sure Prometric would be super helpful

TXC1 is scheduled for Friday morning at 10, and hopefully CLC1 will be right after that. If everything is a pass, that's 10 CU this week, yay.

I submitted the first assignment for TBP1 (English Composition 1) to TaskStream last night. It took about an hour to write, and I don't expect it to pass, I just want to get a feel for how harsh their graders are.

I'm starting to worry a bit about CUV1, Web Technologies. It's a CIW exam, 1D0-520. The course of study mentions XHTML, and I don't know any. I can find my way around HTML, and have done some work in HTML 5, but nothing in XHTML. My understanding is that XHTML is out of date and noone should be writing new stuff with it. Is that wrong? I wish they would just update to 1D0-620 so the material lined up better to the 1D0-610 stuff.

Then again, maybe I'm overthinking it. I'll have to read the course materials and see. Maybe in mid-December or so.

Next week, Biology, Physics, and Arts/Humanities. I probably won't test until December 2nd. My test site is on a very busy stripmall/big-box-paradise street, and no way am I driving anywhere near there on Black Friday.

Danielm7

ratbuddy wrote: »

Holy crap, it was dang near impossible to find a test site for the MTA 98-349. Finally got one lined up for 11AM tomorrow, and I hope they can figure out how to give me the test. Certiport really sucks.

I had a lot of trouble scheduling exam too. None of the sites did online booking, the one local to me only had 1 employee who knew how to but she was on vacation. I called another that didn't even have voicemail setup, but after I hung up they texted me asking what I wanted and tried to ask me about booking over text message, really sloppy.

ratbuddy

The tablet is awesome for schoolwork. The screen is just about big enough to comfortably have a CoS open on one side and the textbook on the other side. It also scrolls very smoothly through large (>50MB) PDFs and EPUBs. The WGU preassessments work fine, and so far the only thing that doesn't work is the Kryterion website. I think I'd rather just go to a proctored location anyway, so that's no big deal.

Eclipse works great as well. I coded my project for TXP1 on the T100 while watching MST3K on the big screen

I haven't done much gaming on it yet, so I can't really report on that. Plants vs Zombies works great with the touchscreen, and one of these days I'll install Borderlands and pair a Dualshock 3 with the tablet to see how that goes. I'm focused on school now, so gaming stuff can wait.

For $400 including Office and the keyboard dock, I don't think there's any competition in the segment right now. I think there's an 11 inch Dell, but it costs $680 or so if you get the keyboard dock.

Oh, the back of this thing must have been blessed by the god of fingerprints. It collects them like nothing I've ever seen. If that bugs you, be prepared to wipe it down after every use.

edit: Odd, he musta edited out the part asking about the tablet while I was typing this. Oh well.

ratbuddy

Well, 25 minutes to get there, 10 minutes waiting for them to figure out how to start a Certiport test, 25 minutes getting home... And 12 minutes taking the actual test. Got a 93. I can't believe it's (MTA 98-349) worth 3 CU. What a waste of time.

Thankfully, on Friday I'll have some fun/real exams. I can't wait

edit: What the heck? This was unexpected, I had an email waiting from TaskStream. Got perfect 4.0 on task 1 for English Comp 1. Really??

I guess it's going to be easier than I thought. That's a relief, I was worried about the writing assignments. I have never done too well on them. I'll crank out the rest this weekend.

ratbuddy

Just got home from taking TXC1 (Introduction to Programming) and CLC1 (Reasoning and Problem Solving). I thought for sure I had flunked one or both. The exams were much harder than the preassessments. Turns out I got 80% on TXC1 (cut score of 66%) and 73% on CLC1 (cut score of 60%). Yay.

I'll try to finish English Comp 1 this weekend, and continue studying for Biology, Physics, and Humanities. Could I possibly schedule Physics and Humanities exams for Wednesday the 27th? Hmm...

eric281

How many CU is that so far that you have actually finished? How many have you skipped? 3?

edit - just noticed it's my first post and I've been a member since 2007. Figure that out.

ratbuddy

Actually finished 24, transferred in 3, total done 27.

eric281

Does the 24 include a skipped MTA class?

ratbuddy

Nope. 24 tested and passed. Why?

eric281

Just trying to get a feel for how fast you are going, and what's possible. I'm transferring in 60-70 credits, and wondering if I concentrate on this full time instead of working if I can get the remaining 50-60 credits done in 2 months.

I'm interested in what you worked out with your mentor to get them to let you do so much at once and get everything scheduled like that. My girlfriend is a student at WGU, and it seems like her mentor only lets her move at a snail's pace. Only opens up one class at a time, and schedules tests 2 weeks in advance. She couldn't go at your pace if she had the answer keys.

ratbuddy

My mentor has been accommodating as far as letting me add stuff, although he had me finish my initial four classes before adding anything new. The only problem I've had is that he went on vacation for my whole second week, and the last two days of last week. I would have liked to have scheduled physics and humanities for this week, but I don't think I can now. No big deal, but if I was going for a one term finish, I'd want a mentor who was more present. If your girlfriend is being held back by the mentor, she can always request a new one, I think they are fine with that.

WGU should probably figure out a way to identify students who want to accelerate, and pair them with mentors who are OK with that, and who won't be going on vacation during the early part of the first term.

As far as finishing in two months if you do full time, well, I guess it depends what you are going to transfer, and how smart you are. Sure, it's possible, but I dunno if it's possible for you specifically.

eric281

Yeah, I know there's no way of anyone telling me if I can do it specifically, just more looking to figure out if it can be done as far as the timeline and delays that WGU puts in the system. I'm transferring in with some junior college credit, MCSA 2012 and CCDA, so almost all of my IT classes are taken care of and a couple GE classes are done.

ratbuddy

Just got back assignment two for TBP1 (English Comp 1) and it's a pass, mostly 4.0 with a few 3.0. Good enough. Will write assignment three tonight. Scheduling requests for IWC1 (Literature, Arts, and Humanities) and UBC1 (Introduction to Physics) have been submitted, hoping to take both exams next Wednesday.

I spoke to my mentor on Tuesday, and he didn't have much to say. He's staying out of the way and letting me do my thing. My requests have (for the most part) been met quickly, so I can't complain.

I'm putting Introduction to Biology on the back burner until next year, or at least late December. I want to save some general education stuff for later, when I might get bogged down in nothing but IT stuff. Up next will be Security+ and Project+, hopefully both before mid-December. My goal is to have knocked out (through completion, or bypassing) 50 CU by the end of the year.

NicWhite

ratbuddy wrote: »

Just got back assignment two for TBP1 (English Comp 1) and it's a pass, mostly 4.0 with a few 3.0. Good enough. Will write assignment three tonight. Scheduling requests for IWC1 (Literature, Arts, and Humanities) and UBC1 (Introduction to Physics) have been submitted, hoping to take both exams next Wednesday.

I spoke to my mentor on Tuesday, and he didn't have much to say. He's staying out of the way and letting me do my thing. My requests have (for the most part) been met quickly, so I can't complain.

I'm putting Introduction to Biology on the back burner until next year, or at least late December. I want to save some general education stuff for later, when I might get bogged down in nothing but IT stuff. Up next will be Security+ and Project+, hopefully both before mid-December. My goal is to have knocked out (through completion, or bypassing) 50 CU by the end of the year.

Happy Thankgiving @ratbuddy and congratulations with your continued progress. This motivation will get you far in life.

ratbuddy

Hey, happy Thanksgiving to you too, and I hope you're right.

ratbuddy

I just submitted the last assignment for English Comp 1, although the third task hasn't been graded yet. Hopefully both will pass and I can move on to another performance task-based class.

Still no word on scheduling for Physics and Arts/Humanities, I hope I can take them Wednesday. Might be time to call the scheduling department, I guess.

edit: Task 3 passed, just waiting for grading on task 4.

ratbuddy

Just talked to my mentor. I guess the scheduling department hasn't had a chance to get to my requests for physics and arts, but hopefully they will get it done by the end of today. No big deal, an extra day or two of study won't hurt.

I'm thinking of changing degree tracks to security after this term. The plan is to get all the software track-specific stuff done (Oracle Certified Associate Java SE 7, Network+, CIW Perl Specialist, and CIW Web Development Professional) before changing over in late April. That way, I can get the most from my Pell grants by getting the certs from both BS programs. It would add CCENT, CCNA, CCNA Security, and Linux+ to my resume, and, I would imagine, make the MS ISA program more likely to accept me. Dunno if I want to do this. CCNA Security lab kits seem expensive, at least on the certificationkits.com site. They want something like $1200 without the bells and whistles. Before I decide to change tracks, I'll have to do homework and see how cheap a lab I can get away with.

In the meantime, I'm adding GAC1 (Finite Math), CRV1 (Network+), and CTV1 (Security+) to my degree plan today, and I will schedule them as soon as I can, certainly within the next two weeks.

Danielm7

ratbuddy wrote: »

CCNA Security lab kits seem expensive, at least on the certificationkits.com site. They want something like $1200 without the bells and whistles. Before I decide to change tracks, I'll have to do homework and see how cheap a lab I can get away with.

I did the whole thing with the included CBT nuggets videos and I loaded GNS and packet analyzer, oh and I setup CCP with GNS, all free.

eric281

ratbuddy wrote: »

CCNA Security lab kits seem expensive, at least on the certificationkits.com site. They want something like $1200 without the bells and whistles. Before I decide to change tracks, I'll have to do homework and see how cheap a lab I can get away with.

I looked back through the thread, and didn't see any mention of your prior experience. If you have any experience with physical networking hardware, you probably don't need to build a physical lab. GNS3 can build your virtual labs pretty efficiently, especially if you take the time to watch the CBT Nuggets GNS3 video series. It really helped me ramp up the learning curve with GNS3 a lot quicker.

There is also the option of doing a hybrid lab. You could maybe get one router, two L3 switches, and add a nic or two to your PC. That way you can have access to some physical hardware, and then use GNS3 to expand into more complicated network configurations.

The last option would be to not buy a kit. With my girlfriend getting ready for her security classes from WGU, I went on ebay and started watching for deals on hardware to buy for her. I got two 2601xm routers, a 1700 series router, 1 3550 switch and 3 2650 switches for less than $300 by buying them seperately. This should be more than enough hardware for her to get used to everything she needs for CCNA Sec.

ratbuddy

I have no Cisco experience, and no networking experience beyond what I need to know to configure my own home network. I've also used Wireshark and tcpview, maybe a few other tools, when trying to sort out problems or analyze the behavior of a program. I appreciate the input on the kit stuffs, I'll revisit the subject in a few months when I decide whether or not to switch degree tracks

Today was exam day. I took:

IWC1 (Literature, Arts, and the Humanities) passed with an 87%, cut score 55%, used 36/150 minutes. I enjoyed this subject and found it easy. Total study time ~15 hours.

UBC1 (Introduction to Physics) passed with a 71%, cut score 61%, used 76/120 minutes. This was tricky, and I should probably have spent a few more hours memorizing formulas. Using a calculator probably would have helped as well. Oh well, a pass is a pass. Total study time ~20 hours (more like ~5 of real study, I was watching MST3K while I studied for this one).

After finishing those two, I felt like I could do more, so I called the scheduling department to ask if I could schedule GAC1 (Finite Math) for "now," and they said it was fine, so I took that one as well.

GAC1 (Finite Math) passed with a score of 95%, cut score 73%, took 23/90 minutes. Total study time ~1 hour. Learn the truth table operator symbols, how to read a Venn diagram, order of operations, and the names of the number sets (real, imaginary, rational, etc) and you'll pass this.

Degree plan is looking rather empty, only Security+ and Network+ on there, so I emailed my mentor asking to add EUP1 and TYP1, both 2 CU projects in web design and programming respectively. *edit: Oops, EUP1 is only 1 CU, and I will be skipping it anyway. I forgot.

Overall, I've transferred in 3 CU, completed 34 with WGU, and have 87 to go. Loving the experience so far.

ratbuddy

Today I wrote the project for TYP1. It took longer than I expected, about four hours, and I have a firm understanding of ArrayLists, polymorphism (fancy word for a simple idea), and inheritance now.

Once TaskStream accepts it, I'll be down to Network+ and Security+ on my degree plan. Time to add more, I guess. Maybe TYC1? Something else? Hmm.

ratbuddy

Watched season one of Prof. Messer's Network+ today. It was surprisingly interesting. I am leaning more and more towards changing to the security track. Also passed the preassessment for TYC1 (Introduction to Object-Oriented Design and Development) tonight with a 71%, cut score 70%. Another week of study and I'll take both of these exams, then Security+ soon after.

slotzero

This is great progress! Congrats! I start my program next month and I find your updates encouraging and energizing. Not sure I could catch up with you but you've sure inspired me to crank out what I can!

ratbuddy

My stepmom died yesterday. Dunno if I can focus on studying enough to be ready for Network+ and CIW Web Design Specialist which are scheduled for Tuesday.

Crappy year. My dad died in January, our seemingly healthy 10 year old cat dropped dead in September, and now this. Sigh.

slotzero

Sorry to hear this ratbuddy - my condolences to you and your family.

EngRob

Sorry to hear ratbuddy You've made great progress so far so a little throttling back won't hurt.

ratbuddy

Thanks, guys.

I decided to go ahead with the exams on Tuesday, and I also scheduled Security+ for Thursday the 19th, along with TYC1. Screw it, I feel ready, and if I fail, I fail. If I pass, I'll take the rest of the year off. Well, not really. Maybe a couple days.