This semester was strange: I passed two classes right away, relocated to Singapore for 3 months and passed one course while I was gone and spent a lot of time not finishing my fourth. I returned back to the US, finally passed that fourth class, then in the last month of my semester, finished another two classes. If I had to make a guess, I'd say I only spent 4 of the 6 months actually active/studying.
Network and Security - Foundations – C172
I took the pre-assessment for this course and scored 15% higher than the cut score, so I scheduled the exam the following day and passed the exam with a score 1% higher than my pre-assessment. 10 years of information security and 20+ years of being a full-blown computer nerd helped with the knowledge required here.
Operating Systems I – C697
I started studying for this course before my semester even started, as I wanted to pass it quickly. However, this class was much, much more difficult than I expected it would be. The OS I and II courses are designed to have you pass the CompTia Linux+ certification exams (there are two), and assumed that having casually used linux for the last 10ish years would have given me a significant advantage here (mostly personal server stuff, nothing professionally). I was wrong.
First, there's a lot of Fedora-based questions, which I had to learn entirely as I've generally experimented with Debian-derived linux flavors. Second, the study/testing third-party materials provided by default from WGU was through uCertify -- which was 100% reading, flashcards, and quizzes. This isn't itself a problem (though I did have some issues, explained below), but after I felt extremely confident with the material through uCertify, having completed all the coursework, I wrote the exam at a local testing center... and failed. Barely, but still failed.
I felt like there was a LOT on the exam that wasn't covered by uCertify at all. Because they don't let you take failed exam questions home (standard practice for most certification exams, so you cannot build a key of questions/answers), I can't verify this completely. This was an especially problematic failure for me, as I was going out of the country for three months a week later. I received an email from one of the course mentors with a link to the LabSim material for the Linux+ exam -- this was the same content engine used for the A+ certification. Not only did LabSim provide audio/video material, it also covered topics that seemed missing from the uCertify material.
Not wanting to figure out the logistics involved with trying to take this exam out of country (if it was even possible), I spent the next week cramming the LabSim material when I should have been doing pre-three-month-trip things. Thankfully, my partner (who was coming with me) was able to achieve a lot of these tasks, so I'm super thankful she was willing to help. My second attempt was eight days later, which I passed, and flew to Singapore the following day.
Scripting and Programming - Foundations – C173
I was conflicted with this class: part of me wanted to develop my Python skills beyond what I've already got, but part of me wanted to finish the course as soon as possible to move on. Even with a fairly low cut score, I was able to score 18% higher on the pre-assessment. I spent maybe three hours on course material before I said "screw it," and schedule the exam. Passed with a score 1% lower than what I scored on the pre-assessment. While my knowledge of python syntax comes and goes, the fundamentals of programming are still embedded within, I suppose.
Critical Thinking and Logic – C168
I passed the pre-assessment on this course with the minimum score required to take the exam (that is, 10% above the cut score), but I chose to take the course instead of immediately scheduling the exam. This was due to a combination of desire to learn more within this course, and not feeling terribly confident while taking the pre-assessment.
Unfortunately, I hit a barrier in this class in that the content of the chapters of the reading didn't manage to hook me at all. I ended up reading through part of the section through Systematic Problem solving, where various personal and work trips put a squeeze on the amount of time I had to study. Factor in my apathy for the course, and I ended up essentially with no progress on this course through the entire month of May.
After returning to the states, I read through the section on Assumptions, Biases, and Fallacies and couldn't really force myself to continue past that, so I went ahead and took a second pre-assessment: 7% higher than my previous score, which was good enough for me! I wrote the exam and ended up with a score 11% higher than my first pre-assessment score (and 21% higher than the cut score), so I was happy with that.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership – C484 & Principles of Management – C483
Having been employed at a large corporation for the last 10 years, I scored sufficiently high enough on the pre-assessments to take and pass both exams. While I did well in C483, I was just able to squeak by in C484 with its very low cut score. This is good, because I feel if I had to study this particular class, I'd end up falling into the same "demotivational" spiral as I had with C168.
Up for next semester: OS II (to actually acquire the Linux+ cert), Networks (for the Network+ cert), and Integrated Natural Science. I was told by my student mentor that the former is easier than the OS I course, and the latter isn't terribly complicated and I believe mentioned it was almost like a high-school level understanding of natural sciences. I really hope this is true, because if I'm able to complete an additional seven credits at this point, I can bump my graduation up a whole semester (assuming the minimum 12-14 credits per term), ending two years from the end of this month. Hooray!
Network and Security - Foundations – C172
I took the pre-assessment for this course and scored 15% higher than the cut score, so I scheduled the exam the following day and passed the exam with a score 1% higher than my pre-assessment. 10 years of information security and 20+ years of being a full-blown computer nerd helped with the knowledge required here.
Operating Systems I – C697
I started studying for this course before my semester even started, as I wanted to pass it quickly. However, this class was much, much more difficult than I expected it would be. The OS I and II courses are designed to have you pass the CompTia Linux+ certification exams (there are two), and assumed that having casually used linux for the last 10ish years would have given me a significant advantage here (mostly personal server stuff, nothing professionally). I was wrong.
First, there's a lot of Fedora-based questions, which I had to learn entirely as I've generally experimented with Debian-derived linux flavors. Second, the study/testing third-party materials provided by default from WGU was through uCertify -- which was 100% reading, flashcards, and quizzes. This isn't itself a problem (though I did have some issues, explained below), but after I felt extremely confident with the material through uCertify, having completed all the coursework, I wrote the exam at a local testing center... and failed. Barely, but still failed.
I felt like there was a LOT on the exam that wasn't covered by uCertify at all. Because they don't let you take failed exam questions home (standard practice for most certification exams, so you cannot build a key of questions/answers), I can't verify this completely. This was an especially problematic failure for me, as I was going out of the country for three months a week later. I received an email from one of the course mentors with a link to the LabSim material for the Linux+ exam -- this was the same content engine used for the A+ certification. Not only did LabSim provide audio/video material, it also covered topics that seemed missing from the uCertify material.
Not wanting to figure out the logistics involved with trying to take this exam out of country (if it was even possible), I spent the next week cramming the LabSim material when I should have been doing pre-three-month-trip things. Thankfully, my partner (who was coming with me) was able to achieve a lot of these tasks, so I'm super thankful she was willing to help. My second attempt was eight days later, which I passed, and flew to Singapore the following day.
Scripting and Programming - Foundations – C173
I was conflicted with this class: part of me wanted to develop my Python skills beyond what I've already got, but part of me wanted to finish the course as soon as possible to move on. Even with a fairly low cut score, I was able to score 18% higher on the pre-assessment. I spent maybe three hours on course material before I said "screw it," and schedule the exam. Passed with a score 1% lower than what I scored on the pre-assessment. While my knowledge of python syntax comes and goes, the fundamentals of programming are still embedded within, I suppose.
Critical Thinking and Logic – C168
I passed the pre-assessment on this course with the minimum score required to take the exam (that is, 10% above the cut score), but I chose to take the course instead of immediately scheduling the exam. This was due to a combination of desire to learn more within this course, and not feeling terribly confident while taking the pre-assessment.
Unfortunately, I hit a barrier in this class in that the content of the chapters of the reading didn't manage to hook me at all. I ended up reading through part of the section through Systematic Problem solving, where various personal and work trips put a squeeze on the amount of time I had to study. Factor in my apathy for the course, and I ended up essentially with no progress on this course through the entire month of May.
After returning to the states, I read through the section on Assumptions, Biases, and Fallacies and couldn't really force myself to continue past that, so I went ahead and took a second pre-assessment: 7% higher than my previous score, which was good enough for me! I wrote the exam and ended up with a score 11% higher than my first pre-assessment score (and 21% higher than the cut score), so I was happy with that.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership – C484 & Principles of Management – C483
Having been employed at a large corporation for the last 10 years, I scored sufficiently high enough on the pre-assessments to take and pass both exams. While I did well in C483, I was just able to squeak by in C484 with its very low cut score. This is good, because I feel if I had to study this particular class, I'd end up falling into the same "demotivational" spiral as I had with C168.
Up for next semester: OS II (to actually acquire the Linux+ cert), Networks (for the Network+ cert), and Integrated Natural Science. I was told by my student mentor that the former is easier than the OS I course, and the latter isn't terribly complicated and I believe mentioned it was almost like a high-school level understanding of natural sciences. I really hope this is true, because if I'm able to complete an additional seven credits at this point, I can bump my graduation up a whole semester (assuming the minimum 12-14 credits per term), ending two years from the end of this month. Hooray!
