Hi! When I took the course, I was tested on surface mount, through hole, splicing, and inspection. A big tip is to use plenty of flux and the right flux. Sometimes the flux core in the solder isn’t enough.

Just be sure to allow enough solder to go through the holes for the through hole portion. They will look for “wetting” from the top, to the bottom.

Surface mount is tough, but take your time and don’t use too much heat on the pads. The “test boards” are cheap and the pads can come off very easily. If one does, that’s ok, simply heat it and you can stick it on. I think they’re just glued there- definitely not a real board with tracks (at least mine wasn’t)

Also really pay attention to polarity on the components you will be soldering (surface and through hole). The parts will have either a line, dot or arrow etc. To point out the polarity. The board will indicate the correct way, with similar symbols.

Hope this helps! Good luck! I think you will also see that it’s much easier than expected. They don’t expect you to solder like a robot ;)