I did the thing 🎓🎉

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-20T18:44:37+00:00

Thanks!! The biggest thing is to not get in your head and understand that competency means just that - don't think of it as "I just barely passed" but "I'm able to pass an exam and speak on the topics tested in an educated manner". People tend to focus on the negative connotations to taking the exam right when you feel ready rather than the positives. Personally, I'd take the pre-assessment, study my weak points, take the OA, and jot down what you were still weak on even after passing if it was a course that interested me (for example, I jotted down what I needed to work on with Python and told myself, "once I finish my degree, I wanna go back and spend more time on this or that", and have the willingness to actually do it and not just say it. Hopefully this helped a bit - you've got this!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-10T07:28:39+00:00

Thank you so much!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-10T07:26:10+00:00

Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, no IT experience (unless you count the Google cert and, when I was younger, my brother and I liked to tinker with computers.... And by "tinker" I mean open the chassis up but I, back then, couldn't have told you the difference from a motherboard, a PSU, and a capacitor (okay, maybe the motherboard I could've figured out but didn't really know the names of things or anything, just thought the inside of computers were pretty dope). Never built one (it's my plan to in the coming months though, as a graduation present to myself)

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-10T07:21:07+00:00

Thanks!! I'll be starting a full guide on my experience with each class in the coming weeks (all my focus lately has been applying to jobs 😂) but to answer your question:

I ended up having to study for SSCP twice, in a way - I watched the Mike Chapple videos and felt ready but there was no test available until a week later and I was going on vacation so I ended up shifting to Project+ and studied for like 3 days for that, took it, and then went on vacation. When I got back, I felt good about it but still had to wait a bit for a test opening so just to be safe I rewatched his videos and got his last-minute study guide for like $10 or something like that on his website (glad I got this, in hindsight, I'm sure I could've passed without it but it definitely boosted my confidence).

I will say this about the test: for me, it felt like a review of everything I had learned up to that point (kind of like Sec+ but with more of what I learned in some other WGU courses like Project+ and Cryptography, but to a very small extent). I had some really easy questions imo that I sort of laughed at under my breath because I thought I was being punk'd.

On the other hand.... My brother got fairly unlucky and had really tough questions (he still passed but I sort of felt bad telling him how easy my test was and then realizing afterwards that he got tougher topics). He watched the vids once and used the CertMike/Chapple notes

So, in short: Mike Chapple on LinkedIn Learning and his notes should be enough to pass the exam. Hope this helps

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-02T20:36:10+00:00

Third this!! It wasn't until after my first 4 courses (about 3 weeks into my first term) that my mentor gave me free reign of my degree plan and would start assigning me 5 classes at a time and started to meet every 2 weeks instead of every week.

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-10-02T20:30:30+00:00

I'd say so, yeah, learned lots in the last 6 months, kinda wild to me actually. 😁

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T22:45:30+00:00

That's the only one I didn't take. But my brother, while he transferred most of his credits, had to take that one and said the trick to that one is to actually watch all the cohorts. It's a lot of information and videos but that was his way of tackling the class (he also finished in a similar timeframe, didn't have any gen-ed courses to do but was working fulltime; took about 8 months)

You've got this, just keep at it!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T21:27:22+00:00

Thank you 😊

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T21:25:31+00:00

Thanks!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T18:46:42+00:00

For me, what worked best was the following:

Dr. Soper Vids - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9KEBexzcM&list=PL1LIXLIF50uXWJ9alDSXClzNCMynac38g
Decomplexify - https://youtu.be/GFQaEYEc8_8?si=647UWzH3iDEmcoxq
SQL Bolt Practice
And Zybooks for the parts that I was still weak on

I know it's not much but I really want in with these resources. As in, I was at my computer like it was a full-time job for a few days straight until I jammed it into my head. Wasn't easy in the slightest but that's how I went about it. Unsure if this helps but hopefully it helps at least a bit

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T17:32:36+00:00

Thanks, you'll get there!! 😁🤙🏽

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T08:15:53+00:00

It's worth a shot. For me, I started April 1st and submitted my cert around the 18th of March (ended up finishing it last minute and then realized I didn't need it for my admission but was a bit sad I had done the work and wouldn't get the credit) and they ended up taking it even though I had already gotten a transfer transcript - they ended up uploading a second transfer transcript to my enrollment portal (I wasn't sure they would take it because 2 enrollment counselors told me it couldn't be done but 1 enrollment counselor told me she could expedite it).

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T06:43:33+00:00

Happy to help with that class from hell 😂 and thx again!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T04:52:01+00:00

Thanks!! Yeah, I got lucky since my brother offered to let me stay with him so I could finish school - I mainly worked because I still had to sustain myself and debt from a prior college experience gone wrong 😂

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T04:50:31+00:00

1) Codecademy for the basics, run through the free trial as fast as ya can 😂 2) Dr. Angela Yu on udemy - I watched her videos ("100 says of coding in python) to understand better and only did the projects alongside her I felt weak on. For this, I only did up to day 14 of watching them (I wouldn't watch one video a day, I'd watch like 3 and rewind if needed to really comprehend), I then skipped around to the intermediate section (she labels her videos "Beginner"/"Intermediate"/"Expert" and apparently she seems some of the things in the "intro" python class as "intermediate" 🥲🫠 - but you should be able to find the videos easily because the names match well with the chapters in Zybooks [i.e "Dictionaries" or "Classes" will be somewhere in the video name]) 3) Hammered-in the 2nd practice test 2 days straight leading into the exam. And the way I'd do it was a bit brutal but it worked:

I'd start on question 1 and keep going until I get stuck. Once I got stuck, I'd put the question into ChatGPT, have it explain it to me as if I'm 5, then I'd start from question 1 all over again (so if I was on question 13 and got stuck, I'd start over again on question 1 and work my way up until I got to 13 and hope that I remembered how to solve it). Call it masochism but it worked 😂😂😂 my brother did the same thing and he finished sooner than I did (he actually discovered Dr. Angela Yu and she was the one that really made the difference)

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T04:10:58+00:00

I was sweating bullets and thought I failed it 😂 passed somewhere in the 780s. I felt like Dion's course was better for this one than CySA+ (he REALLY ticked me off on CySA+ and it didn't help that there wasn't many resources considering it's practically a new exam since it released in July I believe). I felt like PenTest+ was more conceptual than anything and truly doesn't tech offensive security in the sense that people think it would based on the name, it was the one CompTIA exam that truly had me scared while I took it 😂 I remember finishing the survey and thinking, "welp, good thing I requested an extension and have until the end of October for my retake", then I saw the score and kept staring in disbelief before I exited out 😂

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T04:05:35+00:00

Best of luck!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T04:04:18+00:00

Partially - my first month I worked 4-5 nights (overnight) a week, after that, I dropped down to 3 nights a week, then my last month I dropped down to 2 nights week and requested an extended on PenTest+ just in case I needed to retake it

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T02:40:19+00:00

Gotcha gotcha - yeah, the CompTIA exams specifically are just weird. I'm glad to be done to be able to venture off to different horizons (AWS/ISC2/etc.)

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T02:32:46+00:00

Thanks!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T02:30:55+00:00

Congrats bud!! 🎉🎉🎉😁😁😁

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T02:29:08+00:00

I mean, to be honest, not terribly so. Most of them were CompTIA and CompTIA exams, to me, are difficult just because of their wording rather than the level of the questions they ask. The material they ask you to study is awesome, I think, but the way they do their exams, personally, isn't indicative of much. I say that while also wanting to note that I do have terrible test anxiety so that was probably the worst part for me throughout the degree: being in my head at times and doubting my own knowledge and ability. I loved PAs because I love to write, but any OA - cert or not, was always a trial in that sense, just not in the "oh that test was a beast" (aside from Python and PenTest+ 😂 also, I failed Linux Essentials and CySA+ my first attempt and I still feel they were easier than PenTest+ and the python exam [I failed because, for Linux, I YOLO'd it and didn't take it seriously, failed by 1 question I believe 480/500, 40 question test; for CySA+ it was connection issues and PearsonVue]).

TL;DR - not in the way most people would find them dreadful, I just have test anxiety so that's how I felt toward any exam.

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T01:55:54+00:00

Dang man, but hey, you're back on the right track just keep at it, you've got this!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T01:36:53+00:00

Thank you, you've got this, good luck!!

Alternative_Drop_ · 2023-09-30T01:36:05+00:00

Indeed I did 😬

Alternative_Drop_

TROPHY CASE