WGU BS:IT/Software - starting 1/1/2014

slotzero

Figured I'd start my thread since I found the threads of others in WGU so helpful.

My background - I've worked in IT since 1990. I started pretty young, most of my career I've spent as a developer. I started programming in 1982 with Applesoft BASIC, then when PCs became more mainstream I switched to GW-BASIC, QuickBASIC, Visual Basic, then .NET. In there I did quite a bit with FoxPro, C, Pascal, and others. I spent a lot of time with Unix and Linux as well, so that helped with getting me exposure to *nix tools, shell scripting, PHP, MySQL, Apache, and the like.

Fast-forward to when I applied to WGU - I already held several certifications, but my MCSE proved to be the most useful as far as transfer credits. I was able to transfer in 28 CUs, which includes Network and Security classes, Windows classes, and IT Fundamentals II and III. Everyone has to take IT Fundamentals I, no big deal. My MCSD was one year too old to transfer in, and I was a little disappointed I didn't get transfer credit for the exams I had passed to update my MCSD. Even though my update wasn't complete I felt I should have gotten credit for those exams but it wasn't a deal breaker.

I first started with WGU in September 2012 in the BSIT program. We had a medical problem in our household right on my first day of WGU, and three weeks into September I realized this was going to be a long-term thing and decided to withdraw from WGU. It was a hard decision but the right one. The folks at WGU were very understanding and helpful, and gave me plenty of options. In our case though, withdrawl was the best option.

Now things are stable and I've restarted with WGU. Fortunately all the classes I transferred in with my certifications were preserved. I switched over to the Software track which added a few CUs.

I plan to skip a few classes by using the advice ratbuddy gave in his post, that should save me at least 10 CUs by being able to skip EUP1, EUC1, DJV1, and CVV1. Thanks ratbuddy!

I talk with my new mentor tomorrow. Hopefully I can blast through a few things this month yet and set an aggressive pace. I'd love to finish in under 3 terms but we'll see how it goes with work, kid schedules, etc.

Here's how it stands today:

Transferred in (28 CUs): CRV1,CTV1,DHV1,DIV1,CWV1,DEV1,EAV1,EBV1
Completed: NADA
Remaining: (96 CUs): WFV1,AGC1,CLC1,TBP1,GAC1,TCP1,EUP1,EUC1,CUV1,CDC1,CDP1,
CIC1,CJC1,IWC1,IWT1,TJC1,TJP1,BVC1,DJV1,BOV1,UBC1,UBT1,BNC1,CVV1,TXP1,TXC1,
CJV1,TYP1,TYC1,TPV1,EDV1,WPV1,SBT1,RHT1

Should be a fun journey!

slotzero

My first term has started out with:

WFV1 IT Fundamentals I
AGC1 Foundations of College Mathematics
CLC1 Reasoning and Problem Solving
TBP1 English Composition I

I'm through all the material for WFV1 and am hopefully taking the exam this week (still waiting for voucher). I was hoping to knock it out in less than a week, looks like I should be close to that goal. I'm glad I didn't just skip through the info, it's a lot of information but it's not difficult. Mostly common sense, some areas you just have to figure out what THEY think is the best answer.

Going to try and crank through AGC1 next week.

CoolAsAFan

Sounds like your off to a good start! If you find yourself waiting for vouchers often, you can always request them when your halfway through the material (or earlier). That way when your done with the material and feel confident to test, you can schedule the exam without waiting for the voucher. Good luck!

ratbuddy

Hey bud, you got this.

If I may presume to offer advice..

I'd suggest that based on your clarity of posting, you're ready to start submitting papers for English. Definitely go ahead and request approval so you can send stuff to TaskStream once you finish it. You'll find the papers pretty much write themselves once you get started.

If you haven't yet, take your preassessments for AGC1 and CLC1. You might pass them by a good margin, and then you needn't study at all. Only one way to find out, get those pretests done.

Have you thought about what classes you are going to tackle once you've finished the current batch?

slotzero

CoolAsAFan wrote: »

Sounds like your off to a good start! If you find yourself waiting for vouchers often, you can always request them when your halfway through the material (or earlier). That way when your done with the material and feel confident to test, you can schedule the exam without waiting for the voucher. Good luck!

Thanks for that advice, I will definitely do that next time. I did get my voucher so I'm good to go for tomorrow. w00t!

ratbuddy wrote: »

Hey bud, you got this.

If I may presume to offer advice..

I'd suggest that based on your clarity of posting, you're ready to start submitting papers for English. Definitely go ahead and request approval so you can send stuff to TaskStream once you finish it. You'll find the papers pretty much write themselves once you get started.

If you haven't yet, take your preassessments for AGC1 and CLC1. You might pass them by a good margin, and then you needn't study at all. Only one way to find out, get those pretests done.

Have you thought about what classes you are going to tackle once you've finished the current batch?

Thanks! I will definitely do that with English. I talk to my mentor tomorrow, so I can make sure he can get me what I need while we're on the phone. I have done nothing with TaskStream yet so it will be good to break the ice there. Same with the pretests, I'll knock those out tomorrow and see how they go.

I've looked through the rest of the classes, and the default order of the next few looks OK. However I will probably do CUV1 first and request EUP1/EUC1 to be met by the requirements of CUV1:

GAC1 Finite Mathematics
TCP1 English Composition II
EUP1 Project in Web Development Fundamentals
EUC1 Web Development Fundamentals
CUV1 Web Technologies

slotzero

Passed the WFV1 exam with no trouble. Hit my first goal of having my first class done in a week - w00t!

ratbuddy

Hey, congrats. Get on them preassessments

slotzero

Thanks! 75% on CLC1 Reasoning and Problem Solving (cut score 60), and 83% on AGC1 Foundations of College Mathematics (cut score 64), so I think knocking these out will be fairly easy with some material review.

I started through some of the Taskstream stuff just to get familiar, and the English I assignments don't look too terrible. I can really see knocking out the rest of these classes this month. That was my stretch goal and now it's feeling totally within reach.

ratbuddy

My friend, you either have very little time, or you are selling yourself short. Schedule those exams now, you are ready. Anything over 10 points above the cut score is a sure pass, unless you have some kind of nervous meltdown. If you have one specific section that scored much lower than the others, sure, study that part for a day or two, but your scores were so high, it shouldn't be necessary.

If they haven't sent your camera yet, you can take the test at many local colleges or Sylvan type places. Plug Dayton (or whatever) in Western Governors University - Proctor Yellow Pages and stuff should pop up.

slotzero

I did have one specific section on each that I need to cover, but I don't think it will take long. My mentor has unlocked AGC1 so I can schedule that one anytime, he hasn't unlocked CLC1 yet, but I let him know I intend to take that later next week.

So I'm thinking now I can knock out both tests next week and get cranking on those papers for English Comp!

Thanks for your advice!

ratbuddy

Sure thing.

For the English papers, you can go to 'preparing your final paper' under the the English Composition I dropdown menu on the left side of the course page, and the link there will take you to the MindEdge module. From there, go down to Appendix C, sample papers. It was very helpful in figuring out just what they were looking for.

slotzero

Ah that's tremendously helpful thanks! Taking AGC1 this evening, and CLC1 is scheduled for Saturday. It will be nice to have those out of the way.

After I knock out English I, it'll be quite awesome to add my next class this month yet!

bub9001

The only advice I have for WGU, is get it done quick. I did my B.S. in three terms. I wish I would have been able to squeeze it into two. But I had to do all the Web certs that was time consuming since I don't do any web design at my current job. It has been very helpful to have gone through the Java and web classes.

slotzero

Thanks bub9001, I'm on that path if I can keep up the pace.

Passed AGC1 tonight so that's in the books. CLC1 is Saturday!

ratbuddy

Congrats, keep it up.

Roflawful

I am in the same program. I am just now completing my first term, in which I've finished 57 credits. This is while simultaneously working full time, family, and doing side projects.

The best advice I can give is: Group together courses with common material and take them all together.

Intro to Programming, Intro to Object Oriented Programming, and Programming I are all Java classes with overlapping material. If you take them all in order, all of the information will be fresh and you can use that momentum to speed up your progression. Networking, Security, Web Development, etc. all have similar groups of classes.

The second best advice I can give has already been mentioned in this thread.

IMMEDIATELY take the pre assessments for your classes. Especially the gen ed. So many of the gen ed classes have very basic or intuitive material, so you should be able to jump right to the exam and pass confidently.

Once you've burned through a few classes without failing, your mentor should pretty much give you the OK to receive vouchers and take exams as you request them. My mentor has been awesome in this regard, so if you have one that is slowing you down, request another.

Best of luck to you!

slotzero

Great advice Roflawful.

Passed CLC1 Reasoning and Problem Solving fairly easily this morning. I just used the MindEdge material for that one. The textbook is OK, but it's a bit redundant and takes a long time to get through fairly simple concepts.

Also took a couple more preassessments, 81% on Geography so that should be an easy win. My score in Finite Math was a little too close to the cut score, so that will need a bit more study time. I'll take the advice and group my remaining math classes together to maximize my study.

After English I, I'm thinking English II, Geography, Lit/Humanities, Org Behavior and Leadership, and Effective Communication, then group my math classes together after those. I feel that order should provide some quick wins and help keep the momentum going.

So right now, 3 weeks in, here's how things stand:

Transferred in (28 CUs): CRV1,CTV1,DHV1,DIV1,CWV1,DEV1,EAV1,EBV1
Completed (9 CUs): WFV1,AGC1,CLC1
Bypassing (10 CUs): EUP1,EUC1,DJV1,CVV1 (assuming they approve the requests when the time comes)
Remaining (77 CUs): TBP1,GAC1,TCP1,CUV1,CDC1,CDP1,CIC1,CJC1,IWC1,IWT1,TJC1,TJP1,
BVC1,BOV1,UBC1,UBT1,BNC1,TXP1,TXC1,CJV1,TYP1,TYC1,TPV1,EDV1,WPV1,SBT1,RHT1

ratbuddy

Congrats on CLC1.

Finite math is really, really easy. The exam is only 20 questions. If you know the number sets (real, rational, integer, all that stuff) and logical symbols - up/down/left/right arrows etc. you should pass. These links are probably all you need to know on that front:
List of logic symbols - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logical connective - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Truth function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Truth table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seems like a lot, but it's really only an hour or two worth.

slotzero

That's awesome. I've gone through a couple of the articles and it's making good sense. Mostly unfamiliar terms.

Submitted my first English paper to Taskstream today, I'll knock out the remaining three this week, and take a few more preassessments. The last three papers actually seem easier to me. I was able to get the structure down for the second and third fairly quickly. First one was good practice going through the rubric though.

slotzero

Finally back in the swing. "Lost" almost a week due to being on-call and there being lots of issues that soaked up most of my free time this week. I did manage to get my first paper evaluated in Taskstream for Comp 1 and my second paper submitted. Knocking out papers 3 and 4 this week, and hopefully getting my next class moving end of this week or early next. I'm going to knock out Geography next for an easy win after feeling stuck this past week.

Side note - the course mentors for English have been great to work with.

Another side note - really liking this format for school. I can see where it's not for everyone, but for typical IT types it's the way to go.

PSouz7

how do you go about bypassing credits?
I am transferring in 35 CUs to the NA degree, hoping to finish in 3 terms, I start march first

any bypassing of classes would obviously be awesome!

slotzero

Talk to your mentor when you get assigned one in March. He/She will let you know what classes are eligible, and will apply for the Requirement Satisfied for the classes once you pass the upper-level class. Good luck!

PSouz7

thanks will do, just got the final word, I am transferring in 34 CUs total. 88 to go, once I start

slotzero

Passed BVC1 (Geography) today with an 84%, and waiting for my last paper to be evaluated for TBP1, English Comp I. It should be fine since I scored perfect on the other three papers


Geography was not difficult. The study materials are terrible. The pre-assessment is not bad, and many of the questions were very similar to the actual test. When you open up the course of study, fast forward to the summary (not in the textbook, but the actual WGU site). It lists the highlights of what you need to know. You will have an easier time with Google nailing down the information with the exception of one term, mentioned in the summary. If you don't know where countries are, brush up on them.


How things stand today:


Transferred in (28 CUs): CRV1,CTV1,DHV1,DIV1,CWV1,DEV1,EAV1,EBV1
Completed (15 CUs): WFV1,AGC1,CLC1,TBP1,BVC1
Bypassing (10 CUs): EUP1,EUC1,DJV1,CVV1 (assuming they approve the requests when the time comes)
Remaining (71 CUs): GAC1,TCP1,CUV1,CDC1,CDP1,CIC1,CJC1,IWC1,IWT1,
TJC1,TJP1,BOV1,UBC1,UBT1,BNC1,TXP1,TXC1,CJV1,TYP1,TYC1,TPV1,EDV1,WPV1,SBT1,RHT1


So now it's on to CJV1 Database I for a change of pace, while I tinker around with the tasks for English Comp II. As soon as I pass CJV1 I'll apply for Requirements Satisfied on CVV1 Database Fundamentals, then pick up Intro to Programming and it's project (TXC1 and TXP1), apply for Requirements Satisfied on DJV1 Software Development Fundamentals when those are complete. RS on DJV1 and CVV1 will bring an additional 7 CU's, so all that will knock out 18 CU's total, planning on being done by first week of March.


So the plan is to keep up this pace, and I will finish in two terms. It's awesome to have good confidence that my degree requirements will be done by December.

zidian

slotzero wrote: »

So now it's on to CJV1 Database I

A word of advice on CJV1 if you are interested. I'm nearly done with my degree with WGU and, so far, that is the only exam I've failed (by 1 question). Pay very close attention to crow's feet notation for ERD diagramming and when to call something an Entity versus a Relationship (context matters). The second time I took the test I got a 97. I studied too much of the wrong information the first time through and overlooking those two things caused me to fail.

slotzero

Excellent advice, thank you.

slotzero

Thanks for the advice zidian. I've been going through all the material this week and it's, uh, interesting. Some of the concepts are unnecessarily complicated by outdated verbiage or poor examples. I feel bad for those who have little to no database experience trying to get through this material.

Finally got my last evaluation back and passed TBP1 today. Perfect scores on all four papers. My advice on this one - don't do the preassessment, don't go through the material, just write the papers. I found the course mentors to be great in this class, and bounced a couple ideas off them. Look at the rubric FIRST before each paper, Google for references, use Purdue OWL for APA references and citing, and bang out those papers.

Hopefully will get my voucher in time to test for CJV1 this week.

Shiv6

I too have recently started at WGU. When it comes to outside vendor assessments I have worked it out with my mentor, and all I do is request the voucher as soon as I am ready to start the class. This allows me to schedule as soon as I am ready. Most times I pick a date I want to be done and schedule the test for that time. Helps keep me on my toes.

I will say it has been a pleasure reading through this forum because from time to time I hit road blocks or have questions. There is some really good feedback on this forum. Some of which has motivated me once again to push through and finish fast.


I think ratbuddy said it best. Most of the stuff is easier than we think and the preassessments prove that once we take them. I'm definitely going to start taking preassessments right away.

slotzero

Passed CJV1 Database I today fairly easily. The exam isn't bad, just watch your wording and parenthesis in WHERE clauses. Gotta know relational algebra and normalization well so make sure to focus in those areas. Most of the rest is cake. Slowed down a bit so I could watch some Olympic action, and Walking Dead is back on so that cramps Sunday evenings a little more LOL. Applying for RS on Intro to Database so that should make for a total of 7 CUs with one exam. Sweet.

Next is CUV1, then I'll apply for RS on EUP1 and EUC1 for a total of 8 CUs with one exam. Should have English Comp II wrapped up in March sometime, I've just been dinking around with it in between other classes.

Onward and upward.

ratbuddy

Nice work. I've been slogging through the Java cert stuff so long, you just might catch up