Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

Hypntick · June 2012

After the 15th...might take a bit to get it back. Hopefully it's fairly quick for you. Less than 2 weeks for my 70-680, feeling pretty good about it. I know I need some more work due to regular life issues popping up, but 2 weeks can be an eternity if you use it correctly.

cpierce · June 2012

IWC1- Literature, Arts and the Humanities
IWT1- Literature, Arts and the Humanities: Analysis and Interperatation
BNC1- Organizational Behavior and Leadership
BOV1- Web Programming
TPV1- Project Management
CSV1- Operating Systems
CTV1- Security
CUV1- Web Technologies
COV1- Fundamentals of Interconnecting Network Devices
CQV1- Interconnecting Network Devices
AHV1- Directory Services
AIV1- Network Design and Management
AJV1- Server Administration

Does anyone have a suggested plan of attack for my lineup?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

ichigo36647 · June 2012

Hey everyone, I am starting at WGU on July 1 and I am pretty excited. I have had a few hiccups in the enrollment process but it appears the storm is over. Just waiting on my call so I can start on EWB. I have been here a couple of months now, and I have looked around the forums and I have found alot of valuable info. I will be working towards my BS:IT Network Admin. I'm glad to be here and hope to get to know some of you.

Psoasman · June 2012

Got notice of completion for RIT1 task 3 today and just submitted task 4. Task stream has been pretty fast. I've gotten all 3 graded with 14-15 hours of submission.

NOLAJ · June 2012

spiderjericho wrote: »

So, my initial 15 days have been pretty slow and not very productive.

My laptop and desktop's motherboard are currently RMA'd. I'm also waiting for the blasted WGU webcam. All I have at the moment is a iPad and phone.

I've been attending ITIL OSA class and will be testing tomorrow.

And the bigger dark cloud hanging over my head has been my daughter's medical issues. She has congenital heart disease and has been in the hospital for three weeks due to heart failure. The doctors are recommending heart transplant and were awaiting final evaluation/consideration to make sure she's a good candidate.

I was going to postpone my term, but it just seems like her heart condition is going to be persistent and something she will deal with all of her life. I'm hoping I can somehow balance work, fatherhood and school. Luckily, I only need seven classes to graduate, but things are pretty overwhelming.

Wow, that has to be tough to deal with!! Not sure how I would deal with it if that were one of my children!! Stay strong!!

Psoasman · June 2012

cpierce wrote: »

Does anyone have a suggested plan of attack for my lineup?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

IWC1, IWT1, BNC1 can be done in about 3 weeks. Depending your experience and if you are using Financial Aid, you may want to save some of the "easier" courses for later terms, in order to maintain SAP. I just finished TPV1 and CUV1. They can probably be done in about a 4-6 weeks, again depending on experience.

swild · June 2012

Psoasman wrote: »

Got notice of completion for RIT1 task 3 today and just submitted task 4. Task stream has been pretty fast. I've gotten all 3 graded with 14-15 hours of submission.

TaskStream must have evaluators working 24/7 because I have got notices at near midnight on sat and sun nights. Anything submitted on weekends seems to be graded faster, but between the 15th and 25th it slows down to a crawl due to everyone submitting stuff before the end of their terms.

Nobylspoon · June 2012

Anyone else get the new WileyPlus course material for MCITP:EA? This has to be the most frustrating LR I have used. It is riddled with errors and terrible fill in the blank questions that often have the word already being used in the sentence.

Examples:

The NAT protocol translates internal, private IP addresses to external, public IP addresses and vice versa (I answered "Network Address Translation" which was wrong)

What protocol enables private networks to connect to the Internet? Network Address Translation (I answered "NAT" which was wrong)

As a final step in configuring the Network Policy Server to provide authentication, authorization, and accounting for your remote access clients, you will also need to configure
accounting.

broadcast addresses include specific subnet broadcast addresses, such as 192.168.0.255.

IPv6 uses 128 bits, or 16 bytes, for addressing, thus providing 2128 (about 340 billion) unique addresses. (That number is waaaaaay off)

NOLAJ · June 2012

ichigo36647 wrote: »

Hey everyone, I am starting at WGU on July 1 and I am pretty excited. I have had a few hiccups in the enrollment process but it appears the storm is over. Just waiting on my call so I can start on EWB. I have been here a couple of months now, and I have looked around the forums and I have found alot of valuable info. I will be working towards my BS:IT Network Admin. I'm glad to be here and hope to get to know some of you.

Welcome to TE & WGU!! As you already know there is a wealth of knowledge here. Best of luck to you!!

NOLAJ · June 2012

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Anyone else get the new WileyPlus course material for MCITP:EA? This has to be the most frustrating LR I have used. It is riddled with errors and terrible fill in the blank questions that often have the word already being used in the sentence.

Examples:

The NAT protocol translates internal, private IP addresses to external, public IP addresses and vice versa (I answered "Network Address Translation" which was wrong)

What protocol enables private networks to connect to the Internet? Network Address Translation (I answered "NAT" which was wrong)

As a final step in configuring the Network Policy Server to provide authentication, authorization, and accounting for your remote access clients, you will also need to configure
accounting.

broadcast addresses include specific subnet broadcast addresses, such as 192.168.0.255.

IPv6 uses 128 bits, or 16 bytes, for addressing, thus providing 2128 (about 340 billion) unique addresses. (That number is waaaaaay off)

No, and based on your description, thank God!! The answers you put above are right. Best of luck with that!

NOLAJ · June 2012

Psoasman wrote: »

I wrote up the first 2 papers for RIT1 and taskstream had them graded in less than 12 hours, on a Sunday no less. Nice, I was expecting to wait a week to hear back.

That's awesome! My task 4 of LET1 revision was graded and returned in less than 3 hours. It's definitely hit and miss with Taskstream.

KeithC · June 2012

I am/was in between the LR switch for the MCITP exams. After talking with the course mentor I studied for the 70-640 using the WileyPlus. I don't like how the LR is not updated for R2, the "extra" information I think is lacking for R2 content. I agree the practice questions inside the WileyPlus is horrible and I told the course mentor that it wasn't worth my time. I found two errors in the lab section also.

Is the Labsim better then the WileyPlus (MOAC book) - I may have to find out. . .

I think it might be easier to just copy the skills measured and use that to study from.

Nobylspoon · June 2012

Although it's a dry read, the MSPress book is available on Books24x7. I actually bought the hardcopy set just to have. If you use it, make sure you use 2nd edition (R2 changes).

I'm going back to MSPress for my current exam and not wasting anymore time with the WileyPlus material.

Hypntick · June 2012

Nobylspoon has the right idea. The MSPress books are a snooze, but they give you a good overview of the material. Do not stop there however, check on the MS website for the test itself and look at the domains covered. Go to technet and search for those domains and read all you can on there. Once you've done a good bit of that, start setting up lab scenarios for yourself, you can't lab everything, but you'll be able to get hands on with a good portion of the material.

Pishof · June 2012

Technical Writing(TWA1) evaluated and passed! Only the Capstone left and I'll finally be finished.

Nobylspoon · June 2012

Pishof wrote: »

Technical Writing(TWA1) evaluated and passed! Only the Capstone left and I'll finally be finished.

I know everyone will be different but how long did this take you to complete?

Pishof · June 2012

Nobylspoon wrote: »

I know everyone will be different but how long did this take you to complete?

Started it on a Monday and submitted on Thursday - Evaluation received this morning.

Really only about three days of writing so around 12-15 hours spent total and I'm not a very quick writer either. I skipped all the submitting proposal to course mentor stuff and just turned it in myself. Once you have a project in mind it goes very quick.

Nobylspoon · June 2012

Pishof wrote: »

Started it on a Monday and submitted on Thursday - Evaluation received this morning.

Really only about three days of writing so around 12-15 hours spent total and I'm not a very quick writer either. I skipped all the submitting proposal to course mentor stuff and just turned it in myself. Once you have a project in mind it goes very quick.

Awesome. I hope I am able to cruise through it that quick as well. I have a couple more courses to knock out first but I might be able to squeeze that one in this term (just started Term 3 this month)

Best of luck on your capstone!

swild · June 2012

I only spent about 8 to 10 hours or so over a weekend. Then I had 3 resubmissions due to taskstream only grading part of it at a time. They would get to one section that was lacking and then stop. I have my capstone posted on my thread if you want an example.

spoonsslick · June 2012

WGU sounds good so far. will hope to be attending soon!

demonfurbie · June 2012

is any one else pissed off at the new second attempt policy?

i mean 2 full weeks before i can even request a voucher then a week (if im lucky) to sit the test

swild · June 2012

with ya to the max.

demonfurbie · June 2012

i think im just gonna pay for it out of pocket and be done with it

natv · June 2012

You mean the voucher? Will WGU recognize if it you pass but went on your own without a voucher from them?

demonfurbie · June 2012

my mentor said they would, its just annoying having to wait 3 weeks (if you lucky) to retest

i only missed by a few questions its not like a failed with a crap score

Psoasman · June 2012

Passed RIT1 a couple of days ago, 3 days from start to finish due to task stream grading everything within 24 hours. Time for some JavaScript!

spiderjericho · June 2012

Things have been a bit hectic with my daughter's medical issues, but I've been trying to get the semester off the ground.

I now have a computer to do work on. I built a mid-tower with an Ivy Bridge Processor, 32GB of RAM, a SSD and a Nvidia 670.

About the same time, I got my welcome aboard package from WGU. I came with the web camera, a WGU binder, a planner, a stress ball, WGU Pen, mug, etc. They even throw in a free t-shirt, which I'll gladly take advantage of.

Anyways, I just took the MGC1 test. I passed with a 78 score. I was a little disappointed, as the only preparation I did (as I waited in limbo for the camera to come) was read about managing change, conflicts and reading a few links that were recommended on the communities.

So, the next course is CUV1. I plan on going HAM!!

Mike-Mike · June 2012

Been awhile since I checked in on this thread....

I passed Project+ last month getting TPV1 out of the way, and I took a test on the webcam today to complete ORC1. I took the practice test for MGC1 and passed, so I have requested for my mentor to schedule it.

So right now I'm in the middle of Term 3, ending on October 1st. I orginally started in the Net Admin emphasis but switched to IT Security to get the CCNA.

So as it stands I have 10 classes to go to be done, but I have turned in 2 out of 4 papers for LET1, and I passed the pre-assessment for MGC1 without studying so I doubt that test will be a problem.

That puts me at hopefully being done with 2 more classes (LET1 & MGC1) by next weekend, leaving me with 8 classes to go:

IWT1 (humanities)
KET1 & KFT1 (2 java classes)
CIW Database
Windows 7
CCNA Security
Technical Writing
Capstone

i REALLY don't want to pay for another term and I am ready to finally be a college graduate at 32... but I turn 33 in July and obviously I won't be able to do all that in 30 days...

so 33 year old college graduate for sure... but I only have about 3 months to get that done in this term...

spiderjericho · June 2012

I was 34 when I got my first Bachelor's. Don't stress over it. Just do your best. The important thing is you've gone back to school to better yourself.

With 30 days left, I wish you the best in knocking out as many classes as you can, but CCNA, Win7 and possibly the JAVA and Database courses might be difficult in 30 days. Have to set realistic expectations. At the very least, you can ring in the new year with a college degree. Pop bottles, shoot pistols and throw your cap in the air on Dec. 31st.

Mike-Mike · June 2012

I have 3 months until the term ends, just 30 days until I turn 33. I don't remotely to expect to be done by my birthday, but I do expect to be done by October 1st.

I have my CCNA, I just need my CCNA Security now, so I don't think that will be as difficult as the actual CCNA was.

Just turned in task 3 of LET1. only 1 more task to go on that one

Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

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