The WGU Challenge - Finish in 1 term

I have decided to start a blog of sorts on my journey through WGU. I transferred in 62 credits and have 60 to go. I am pushing myself to be done in 1 term. I have 17 classes. If you do the math, 181 days divided by 17 classes gives me 10 days per class with 11 days of flex time.

Number of exams by Vendor:
CIW - 4
MS - 3
Cisco - 3
Performance - 4
Other - 3

I test pretty easily and don't see and problems with the MS and CIW exams. I am a little nervious about the Cisco exams since I have never taken one and the performance assessments because I have no idea how long it will take to finish them. That is the one thing that makes me not sure about finishing on time.

Week 1: WFV1, IT Fundamentals I, and CLC1, Reasoning and Problem Solving. Passed all practice tests for WFV1 and pre assessments for CLC1. Just waiting on my vouchers so I can schedule the exams. Starting DFV1, Web Development Fundamentals.

I had an iPad until Friday when my boss decided to give it to someone else for a while so I am in the market for a new Android tablet. I am trying to wait until Lenovo's new tablet comes out, but may wind up getting an Asus Transformer Prime.

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Comments

spiderjericho

Congrats, Swild. I knew you could do it. Just one more exam, and it'll be all over.

Good luck on the security exam. I took it back in 2010 I think. I just barely passed it. My problem was I went through the Netacad materials but never bothered doing the labs, which is a must for the zone-based firewall and SDM questions.

Are you going to attend commencement?

swild

No commencement for me. Everyone said how I would regret it if I didn't go to my high school graduation. Well, now I regret not dropping out, getting my GED, and starting college 2 years earlier. I think the next commencement ceremony I attend will be for my PhD(if/when that happens).

LayOffPayOff

DFV1 complete. I dont want to go on a rant so ill just say that this course has been far and away the most frustrating experience so far at WGU. If anyone has questions I can elaborate, but for now Im just glad to have it out of my life.

Can I still complete in 1 term? Theoretically yes, but thanks to DFV1 the margin for error has pretty much vanished.

Also, congrats to swild. The ICND2 exam was a rough one, i clicked my last answer right as the counter hit 0. I thought I blew it but it turned out ok.

swild

Yep DFV1 is pretty bad. congrats on the pass!

Psoasman

Congrats to you both on passing!

a.a.!4life

swild wrote: »

I think the next commencement ceremony I attend will be for my PhD(if/when that happens).

Hey swild, congrats on the pass. I've been reading your thread and it's very inspiring. I too am attempting to challenge myself and finish in 1 term and am set to begin fall this year. Are you planning on getting a Masters and if so will you take it at WGU? I noticed you mentioned thoughts on a phd, if you complete your masters w/wgu do you think phd programs at other colleges might not accept you because of the reputation of wgu or degrees from online schools in general? What schools are you considering for your masters and/or phd? Thanks and congrats again.

swild

I have been considering this for a while now. The only reason that I am not considering WGU for my Masters is that it is not a research degree. I am sure that any PhD program would look down on that fact more that the fact that it is online. The two schools that I am currently considering for a Masters are Georgia Tech and Royal Holloway. Dakota State is on the maybe list.

Also, in the last couple of months WGU has changed. TaskStream is horrible. I couldn't imagine writing a dozen or more papers and waiting on TaskStream to get back to me and say that they couldn't find a major secction just because I didn't label it with their specific labling system. They have improved some of their learning resources. The ICND2 resources are now much better than when I started, but the IINS resources suck. I only had to deal with 2 course mentors. One was completely useless, the other was pretty awesome. II lovved my Fast Start mentor, but really think my student mentor is pretty useless. I think they are now only there as an administrative tool. They fill the requirement of keeping in touch with the student and the check off boxes to let you into courses.

Maybe the forum admins can help me with this: I would like to post my Capstone paper for others to see. I allready have my grade, and TaskStream checks for plagaris, so I am not worried about that. I really just want people to see that you don't have to kill yourself on this requirement.

spiderjericho

I'd like to see it, since it would help me get an idea of how much work I have to put into it. However, maybe it would be better to hit you offline, so we don't get in any trouble with the forum or university.

I already have a scenario. Problem. Solution with an idea of strategy, design, transition, operation and CI.

Swild, I thought about getting my Phd, but I really don't want to spend too much more time in school. I'm in my mid 30s if I finish WGU by November, I'm probably just move into their Security masters program. I'd prefer a more reputable school, but if it's not world famous like Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, MIT or a popular state school, is an employer going to care. I went to UMUC for my first Bachelor's and hated it. The education was quality, but it was a lot of work with long semesters.

usagent27

i too would like to see it

powerfool

Congrats on the pass, swild. Definitely make sure you now your Port Security stuff backwards and forwards, including the commands. Best wishes.

psenior

I would appreciate it if you or any others would elaborate on the DFV1 experience. Another forum member on another thread suggested doing WFV1, BOV1, CUV1 and DFV1. I just finished WFV1 and will probably start BOV1 next week, but several comments on this thread are giving me second thoughts.

LayOffPayOff

My 2 cents... Unless you already have experience with ASP.NET and C#, do DFV1 last. At the moment the course is so new that there is literally only 1 book for it, and its a crap book. Its written by Microsoft, it has errors, and it flat out doesnt cover everything you need to stand a chance with the exam. I say put it off until you do the other classes, and maybe by the time you get to it there will be better/more resources available. Plus what you learn in BOV1 and CUV1 should definitely help with DFV1.

swild

Yeah that is the absolute worst textbook for any course I have taken through WGU and also the worst MS official course book of the 3 or 4 that I had to take. The rest are good enough for their respective class. I would recommend holding off and doing this one last of the programming courses as well. Here is my capstone, unedited from my passing submission. Just to reiterate, this is not the layout or flow that I wanted. This is just the way that my evaluator wanted to see it. As you can see, you only have to meet the requirements of the rubric, not the suggested length. I shouldn't have to mention anything about plagiarism because we are all adults. I have seen a couple of other capstone papers that TE members have emailed me and they have had less than half the number of references so you don't need as many as I have.

Attachment not found.
Attachment not found.

I also have another little tidbit of advice. If in the course of your studies at WGU, you have a problem with a particular certification test and it takes you more than 2 attempts to pass, DON'T SCHEDULE ADDITIONAL ATTEMPTS THROUGH WGU. Not only do they charge you the full retail voucher price, but you only have 4 attempts at any exam. I checked with the course mentor just to be sure, and he said it was ok for me to find discount vouchers and schedule the exam on my own. All they wated to see was a passing grade on the exam. Even though it took me 4 tries, WGU only knows about the first 2 they paid for and the passing attempt. For the same $150 voucher that I was billed, I paid $75 for attempt 3 and $100 for attempt 4. I just emailed the bursar's office (who sent me the bill for the voucher) and requested that the charges be canceled.

Steve_Wild_Capstone_encrypted.pdf

Steve_Wild_Tech_Writing.pdf

Drovor

Grats swild! Also wanted to point out to others that you can view some Capstone projects under the Resources tab in the student portal. I found it recently when getting familiar with the portal layout.

swild

yes there are some in there but not many. There was really only one that I looked at that was well written and about a security topic. Another was just ok, and the rest were not worth reading.

demonfurbie

whats your choice for masters programs ... im looking for one soon

swild

The two schools that I am currently considering for a Masters are Georgia Tech and Royal Holloway. Dakota State is on the maybe list.

techie2012

I think I am going to commit suicide because of KFT1, I finished 3 other classes this term and didn't realize how difficult this one would be. Task 1, 2 and 3 weren't too bad but Task 4..........I only have a week left in the term

. I definitely bit of more than I could chew this time.

swild

It is really not easy. I would say that is the 2nd hardest class that I had to go through, after ICND2. DFV1 would be 3rd not because of difficulty but because of the book being so horrible and the test being harder than any other MTA.

I spent nearly 40 hours on KFT1 spread across 2 weekends.

techie2012

Did you have any previous Java experience? Also, what were your methods of tackling task 4?

swild

The only Java experience I have is KET1 and KFT1. I pretty much started with where I left off on KET1 and used a GUI for the program. I just added everything that was needed, adapting examples from the Java for Programmers book by Deitel. I wound up having a bunch of text boxes, buttons, labels, a couple of combo boxes; using rules to grey out unnecessary boxes depending on selection of Junior, Senior, etc from one of the combo boxes.

I do have previous programming experience, but it was C++ in 2002.

spiderjericho

Thanks for the example, Swild.

Raidersfan81

swild wrote: »

I also have another little tidbit of advice. If in the course of your studies at WGU, you have a problem with a particular certification test and it takes you more than 2 attempts to pass, DON'T SCHEDULE ADDITIONAL ATTEMPTS THROUGH WGU. Not only do they charge you the full retail voucher price, but you only have 4 attempts at any exam.

I checked with the course mentor just to be sure, and he said it was ok for me to find discount vouchers and schedule the exam on my own. All they wated to see was a passing grade on the exam. Even though it took me 4 tries, WGU only knows about the first 2 they paid for and the passing attempt. For the same $150 voucher that I was billed, I paid $75 for attempt 3 and $100 for attempt 4. I just emailed the bursar's office (who sent me the bill for the voucher) and requested that the charges be canceled.

So in essence you could take the exam as many times as it takes to pass without them knowing? So like say you take the first 2 on their dime and schedule through them, then attempts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 can just be done on your own until you pass then submit the pass to them when you finally get it?

swild

@Briandy, yep that's how it was working for me. I didn't actually go over the 4 attempts, but I can see how it could happen.

DONE!

Passed IINS today with an 844. There are many more CLI command questions on this test than on the ICND2. Make sure you know your symmetric vs asymmetric encryption algorithms. Know the zone-based firewall stuff backwards and forwards. Most of all know VPNs.

onesaint

Congrats!

spiderjericho

My man, Swild. Yo, congrats on getting your CCNA Security. And most of all, congratulations on completing WGU in one term. Much luck to you in your future pursuits and hope the new job turns out good.

LinuxRacr

Well done, well done....

Congrats on making this work for you in the best way possible!

kgb

Congrats!!!!

Also, thanks again for making this thread and sharing your experiences.

Psoasman

Congrats! Well done!

Legacy User

Woo!! Good job bro. You made it. Im excited for you. Congrats.