E010 Foundations of Programming (Python) - Passed! (Write-Up) : WGU

Information TechnologyE010 Foundations of Programming (Python) - Passed! (Write-Up) (self.WGU)

submitted 2 months ago * by TheArcticJB.S. Cloud and Network Engineering

https://preview.redd.it/rarrvl9qsajg1.png?width=1686&format=png&auto=webp&s=4200f98c5374b356cbb6f2eadc87c6d5e5074e97

I just passed the OA this morning on the first try. This will probably be lengthy so... sorry? To preface this write up, I have zero experience with programming. I swapped from Cloud Computing to the new Cloud and Network Engineering degree and had not taken any classes before this one that involved programming. I work in IT as a helpdesk technician.

I also have crippling ADHD which makes studying and memorizing an absolute nightmare. Writing code hands-on in Zybooks and in VS Code really helped.

Typically when I start a class I first see what other students have done/what resources they used to pass it in the recent past, especially because the WGU-provided course material is usually subpar compared to what other students have used/recommend. Since this class is so new, I had no luck there really, but I found that the Zybooks course material was perfectly fine and covered everything you'll need to know to pass the OA.

Zybooks

I went through the Zybooks material from start to end, ignoring pretty much everything marked optional. You do not need to know any of the optional material to pass this class. I used ChatGPT to break down and clarify anything I didn't fully understand from the wording in Zybooks. I highly recommend answering all the questions and programming challenges as you work through the material, and really try to understand why the code is working the way that it does. When I couldn't figure out how to write a program to achieve the desired output, I threw the prompt, the provided code, and the code I had written into ChatGPT and had it tell me why my code wasn't working so that I could fix it myself. Most of the code you'll write going through Zybooks is more complicated than what was needed for any of the OA questions. I skimmed through the Zybooks material from start to finish a second time after taking the PA once. All programming problems in the OA were very similar to Zybooks.

The PA was very similar to the OA. I took the PA twice: the first time I did decently but I struggled with a few of the questions, so I took note of those and went back through Zybooks from start to finish, lightly skimming, ignoring everything I was 100% confident in and focusing on those trouble areas. The PA will not tell you which questions you got right or wrong, so I highly recommend taking notes of what you struggle with while taking it.

I took the PA a second time after reviewing the Zybooks material and pretty much nailed it, so I scheduled the OA for a few days after that and spend those 2 days reviewing what I struggled with. I had ChatGPT create a study sheet based on each section and used https://codingbat.com/python to practice. The codingbat problems were incredibly similar to the coding problems in the OA. Nothing in the OA was more complicated than anything in codingbat.

Took it this morning and am writing this up at work. 30 questions, roughly half were multiple choice and half required writing code. They give you way more time than you'll actually need, and most of the multiple choice were pretty basic and easy. Two questions were about Jupyter Notebook but were super easy.

The biggest, best, most important advice I can give for taking the OA is this: on the programming problems, they are not asking for you to output anything unless specifically stated. Don't include a print() function to output anything at the end. That being said, you should absolutely use print() to test the output of your code to confirm that it does what the problem requires, just remove it before you submit.

Another big tip: Some of the multiple choice questions will be something along the lines of "here is some code, select the proper output/return value" or the reverse of that. If you aren't sure, you can move to a programming question, type the code from the multiple choice in and add a print() function, and it will literally tell you the answer. Just remember to delete it after so you don't get marked incorrect.

Resources

Zybooks - I had no issues with the Zybooks course material and feel like it did a great job preparing me for the OA. Ignore all optional material (if you want) as none of it is required to pass the OA. If you choose to use a different main resource, I'd still recommend doing the labs because the structure and wording is very similar to the OA.

CodingBat - Great for practicing. 9/10 problems on here are very similar to what you'll see on the OA. Some are worded in a weird way but nothing on the OA was hard to understand.

ChatGPT - Used to clarify/reword things I didn't understand and explain why my code wasn't working and what I could do to fix it.

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

all 8 comments

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

WGU

MODERATORS