One semester down, 6 (or less) to go!
That said, this is what happened for C182 for me: I scored an 83% on the pre-assessment (enough to schedule the exam), used the pre-assessment coaching report to quickly brush up on areas that I was weak (n-tier architectures, different styles of software development, etc), and passed the exam.
It was not. Thankfully, I still had a strong grasp on a lot of what was covered, but there were plenty of things that, thanks to computers and BIOSs being the extremely simple plug'n'play things they've been for the past decade have eroded a lot of the knowledge I had about things like IDE master/slave configurations, SCSI terminations, etc. Thankfully for me, the exams were a bit behind the technology curve, so there wasn't anything beyond Windows 7 on the exam, as I still haven't touched 8/8.1 or 10.
As this is a "cert" class (versus just a WGU core class), the pre-assessment/exam setup is a little different. Instead of using the WGU pre-assessment or learning materials, you use a third-party certification education company for all but the exam, which of course is delivered by the certification body and examination performed within a testing center.
For these two classes, TestOut/LabSim is the vendor used for the education portion of this class. The way I approached the classes was to take the end-of-section quiz, and if I scored at least an 85-90%, I'd consider that I've already got a decent enough grasp on the literature and moved onto the next section. The bar for requesting a certification voucher is higher with classes that result in a certification, so there was a minimum amount of coursework that needed to be completed with a sufficient score before the voucher was granted (in this case, the 4 "domain exams" and post-assessment exam for each course).
The one thing I can say about these two classes is that you should definitely take them back-to-back, as the material from C393 compliments that from C394, and vice versa.
Update 27-Jun-16: added class #'s as tags to make finding notes about specific classes easier for readers of the blog.
Introduction to IT - C182
The first class I took and "tested out of." Many schools will do a series of entry tests that allow you to place into higher levels of classes, but WGU doesn't. Fear not, WGU's system is a little different, you enroll in a class and take the pre-assessment. If you score high enough, the instructor will approve you to go ahead and take the exam. If you pass, you're done with the class. Credit earned. It's a pretty sweet setup, because this applies to nearly every class at WGU.That said, this is what happened for C182 for me: I scored an 83% on the pre-assessment (enough to schedule the exam), used the pre-assessment coaching report to quickly brush up on areas that I was weak (n-tier architectures, different styles of software development, etc), and passed the exam.
Education Without Boundaries Orientation - ORA1
What I assume to be a standard orientation class, with a focus on preparing the student for doing distance learning. Sample exercises included writing down a weekly schedule to include a certain number of hours worth of classwork, to ensure students are prepared for the amount of classwor that's actually involved. My very first semester out of High School many years ago, I took something like 18 credits worth of classes and was immediately overwhelmed, so my assumption is this is to try and help students avoid a pitfall that's easy to make when there's no set classroom schedule.IT Foundations - C393 + IT Applications - C394
I lumped these together because they're both essentially prep classes for the A+ exam. Yeah, I laughed too, thinking "I've been using computers, in a very technical way, for over 20 years now, this should be a breeze!"It was not. Thankfully, I still had a strong grasp on a lot of what was covered, but there were plenty of things that, thanks to computers and BIOSs being the extremely simple plug'n'play things they've been for the past decade have eroded a lot of the knowledge I had about things like IDE master/slave configurations, SCSI terminations, etc. Thankfully for me, the exams were a bit behind the technology curve, so there wasn't anything beyond Windows 7 on the exam, as I still haven't touched 8/8.1 or 10.
As this is a "cert" class (versus just a WGU core class), the pre-assessment/exam setup is a little different. Instead of using the WGU pre-assessment or learning materials, you use a third-party certification education company for all but the exam, which of course is delivered by the certification body and examination performed within a testing center.
For these two classes, TestOut/LabSim is the vendor used for the education portion of this class. The way I approached the classes was to take the end-of-section quiz, and if I scored at least an 85-90%, I'd consider that I've already got a decent enough grasp on the literature and moved onto the next section. The bar for requesting a certification voucher is higher with classes that result in a certification, so there was a minimum amount of coursework that needed to be completed with a sufficient score before the voucher was granted (in this case, the 4 "domain exams" and post-assessment exam for each course).
The one thing I can say about these two classes is that you should definitely take them back-to-back, as the material from C393 compliments that from C394, and vice versa.
Additional notes:
While I managed to finish these four classes with plenty of time still left in the semester (which are 6 months long), previous work and personal travel obligations rendered me unable to take additional courses. I did, however, start studying the material for C697 - Operating Systems I, which I passed within the first week of starting my second semster, and have completed another two courses within the first three weeks of my second semester.. but that's for another post!Update 27-Jun-16: added class #'s as tags to make finding notes about specific classes easier for readers of the blog.
