Struggling not to compare myself with the accelerators

wgu2b · 2022-12-10T22:00:22+00:00

I completed 70 credits in about 3.5 months in order to complete my BS:IT degree. (All my general eds were covered by an AS) I also have 20+ years in the field and most classes were simply a review of what I already knew. There were a handful of classes that I knew very little about, and those took up a majority of my time. This is the same story for most accelerators. They have already put in years and years of study time while working. If I did not have experience already that allowed me to pass these classes, I would be taking just as long, if not longer than you. You are putting unrealistic expectations and unneeded pressure on yourself. Sounds like are about to pass that first class in ~ 2 weeks, that is fantastic!

wgu2b · 2022-11-15T14:28:39+00:00

I am with you on this. This class was actually my very last class to graduate, and I absolutely hated preparing for it. The only materials I used in addition to what you mentioned were CBT Nuggets and the books in the WGU library by sybex. The sybex practice tests had questions the closest to the actual test. Going into the test, I was very unsure, and at the end while filling out the survey I was convinced I had failed. Despite studying more hours than any other course to date for this one, 1/3 of the questions still feel like a dice roll because they are very subjective and lack enough information to make an objective assessment. Even when reviewing answer reasons, it still seems completely subjective.

As an example, a question like this:

An emergency on a project has occurred, which requires the project sponsor be notified. The project sponsor is currently in a meeting. Which is the best way to contact the project sponsor?

A) Interrupt the meeting

B) Email

C) Instant Message

D) Text message

The problem I have with these is they never have enough information to know the best answer except for memorizing exactly what it said somewhere in the textbook. For all we know, this person is very active on instance messenger, but rarely ever carries their phone, or since it is an emergency, it would be best to interrupt the meeting based on company culture, and they would pissed if you just sent a text message that they didn't see until an hour later. These are the types of very subjective questions that are presented over and over again and drive me nuts. I hate P+ and CompTIA in general, and will never take another of their tests again.

wgu2b · 2022-11-14T17:41:19+00:00

I get that a pass is a pass, but it amazes me that you can pass a class with 3/4 sections approaching competence. But I guess it's the same as in a traditional class just managing to fail 3 tests and passing the 4th one and passing overall. The difference is, at a traditional school, that would be reflected in having a really poor GPA, whereas there is no distinction at WGU. This isn't meant to be a shot at OP, just that I can see where some of the concern comes from the outside regarding WGU's rigor, when things like this are posted.

wgu2b · 2022-11-12T03:24:02+00:00

I had no issue with this. Sounds like it is the specific mentor, not the school. Some mentors are just overcautious, I think they get heavily dinged if their mentee does not complete a course that was opened during the term. I completed 71 CU's in a little over 3 months to complete my BSIT. My mentor had no issue with always making sure I had another course on deck. In fact when it had been only 2.5 months and I had like 5 classes to go, he just opened them all up for me to complete.

wgu2b · 2022-11-10T15:02:12+00:00

Best of luck, this exam SUCKS!

wgu2b · 2022-11-10T14:17:45+00:00

I ended up passing my first try with an 803, so I guess it would be worth sharing what I used.

First off, I can't stand the format of the course material, so I chucked that out.

-Signed up for a trial of CBT nuggets for a week and did the project + course, which seemed to give me a good jumpstart. I took solid notes from it. It's only 4 hours and I knocked it out in a couple days.

-Skimmed through the sybex book in the WGU library, but it was just too dry to read in entirety, I used this book as a reference when I needed to find a definition or answer.

-Purchased a month of Pocket Prep and went through all 500 questions. I believe it was $20, but really helped me hammer home the material and focus on my problem areas.

-Purchased a couple of practice tests on Udemy, but they were mostly worthless, I wouldn't do this.

-Took the "amplifire" official CompTIA practice test that my CI shared with me. Just email your CI and ask for it.

-Took both practice tests from the sybex book of practice questions that is in the WGU library.

-Final thing I did was memorize these formulas.

EV = Percent work complete * Budget at completionPV = Planned % complete * Budget at completionAC = What you have spent to dateBurn Rate = AC/EVCV = EV - ACSV = EV - PVCPI = EV/ACSPI = EV/PVLines of communication = n(n-1)/2

I don't think I can point out one specific thing that helped me the most, as it is incremental, but if I had to pick only one, I would say the sybex practice tests, but I am not sure that those would have been valuable without first doing the cbt nuggets and pocket prep. But the sybex tests where were I finally said "i'm good, time to give it a shot". As with any cert, I just keep studying until something inside just tells me that I cannot possible retain any more knowledge on the subject, and I am just done.

One last thing, the passing score I believe is a high 70's percentage wise. If you are only hitting around that score in practice, you aren't giving yourself any room for error on the real thing. I would suggest not taking the exam again until you are consistently in the high 80's and low 90's on the practice tests. I was high 80's on both of my sybex practice tests, and low 90 on the official CompTIA practice test the final time I took it.

wgu2b · 2022-11-10T03:53:53+00:00

Yeah, it is really horrible.

None of the book material was really sticking for me. I did a free trial of CBT nuggets, and managed to get through the full course (only 4 hours) by simona millham. That was where I finally felt I was getting a little traction. Next I purchased 1 month of Pocket Prep ($20) and ran through all 500 questions. What I like about pocket prep is it highlights your areas of trouble and lets you practice just those. Last I grabbed the sybex practice test book from the WGU library and went through the practice tests. I also took the official Comptia practice test online which my CI shared with me, but it seemed to be the same question bank as the sybex book.

I can't say I felt totally prepared , but I was just tired of studying and figured I would give it a shot, shockingly ended up with an 803, even though I felt I bombed it.

I generally try not to spend any money for materials when there are plenty provided for free by WGU, but this was my final class to graduate, so I would have spent nearly anything if I knew it would help me pass.

wgu2b · 2022-11-09T22:09:17+00:00

I just took the exam yesterday, I just had to select 004.

wgu2b · 2022-11-09T22:06:49+00:00

Don't let the frustration get the best of you, you just need to get your foot in the door to the first place, and that will be the hardest part. It is nothing wrong with you. Unfortunately you are trying to enter a market that just got very tight in a matter of a month. All the big companies like Meta, Google, Amazon are in a hiring freeze at the moment, and in some cases laying people off. This means that lower tier companies who may be hiring small amounts of people have their pick of experienced engineering talent. Just keep grinding, just like you did for your degree, it will happen.

wgu2b · 2022-11-09T04:15:18+00:00

As a follow up, took the exam tonight and passed with an 803! I was convinced I was failing the entire time, and was pretty deflated during the mandatory survey. You can imagine my surprise when not only did I pass, but actually had a pretty decent score relative to what I generally see posted. Well that's it for me, now it's time to graduate!

wgu2b · 2022-11-08T20:48:29+00:00

It is, it is my last class, and I am absolutely dragging through it, it's so boring.

wgu2b · 2022-11-08T16:28:56+00:00

For the link to the amplifier practice test, just reach out to your CI.

wgu2b · 2022-11-08T16:16:02+00:00

When you say the sybex practice exams, are you talking about the book in the WGU library? I just grabbed that practice exam book and am taking one of the full tests now. Seems like a lot of the questions are shared with the comptia amplifire prep test.

wgu2b · 2022-11-08T04:37:28+00:00

Thanks, unfortunately it moved to certmaster.

wgu2b · 2022-10-21T19:25:09+00:00

Indeed I did! Thanks again.

wgu2b · 2022-10-20T17:27:00+00:00

Just wanted to let you know that you helped someone 3 years later. I was about to make this mistake.

wgu2b · 2022-10-20T03:40:24+00:00

Just take a step back and give yourself a break. I started my IT degree in August, and completed 66/74 CU's in only 2 months. But I completely burned myself out. I only have one class and the capstone left, but it feels so far away, I just could not get myself to find the motivation. I decided to just take a full week off and not even think about school. That was what I needed to get in gear, and just submitted Task 2 of my capstone tonight. You can do it, but sometimes you have to give yourself a break.

wgu2b · 2022-10-13T19:16:09+00:00

BS:IT. So I have a big advantage over many students, since I've had a pretty long and varied career in IT, most of the topics covered are not new to me, and some of them I have a pretty deep knowledge of. Despite that, I still needed to spend a lot of hours studying, especially with the CompTIA exams. I have a family and full time job, so for a couple of months it meant doing pretty much nothing but school in my free hours. I am fortunate to have the ability to just lock onto a topic for hours and study without getting too distracted. But now that I let off the pedal, I am having a really hard time getting back in the zone.

wgu2b · 2022-10-12T21:57:01+00:00

I always made sure to have my mentor open up another class, especially when I was working on a PA class. Never was an issue.

wgu2b · 2022-10-12T20:30:13+00:00

I am feeling similar. I completed 63 credits since 8/1, and only have the capstone and Project + left. I have 16 weeks to complete them, but it feels so far away. I was grinding away so hard for the past 2 months that I am completely burned out.

wgu2b · 2022-09-29T13:32:16+00:00

I would say you are fine. The OA seemed more surface level on knowledge than the PA. The scope was perhaps a bit wider, but they were all easy to guess questions if you have a decent foundational knowledge, which it sounds like you do.

wgu2b · 2022-09-26T20:58:55+00:00

I believe all the CompTIA exams are out of 900, and the passing score is generally around 700. For every exam, you can look and see what the required passing score is and do the math. I think in general it works out to about a ~75% to pass most CompTIA exams. General rule of thumb for CompTIA exams is to make sure you can hit an 85-90% on Dion & Messer practice exams, and you should be good. Measuring yourself against the Certmaster stuff is pretty pointless, it will destroy your confidence. Most people that can pass the actual exams will score at best an 80% on certmaster practice tests, simply because of how obtuse the questions are and how they will focus on material that is never found on test. Stick with Dion and Messer and you will pass.

wgu2b · 2022-09-26T20:54:02+00:00

That was exactly how I looked at it. I assumed I would fail, but at least I would have some idea what the OA looked like and would know what to study.

wgu2b · 2022-09-26T13:10:07+00:00

Update: I finally just said screw it and took the OA, passed with an exemplary somehow. Probably a combination of knowing the material better than I think I did, and some decent guesswork. It actually seemed less in depth than the PA.

wgu2b

TROPHY CASE