TYP1, Technical writing and Capstone passed!
It certainly has been a while since my last post. My
new term started December 1st and I scheduled my first Java
objective exam. It consisted of 70 questions, mind numbing code snippets and 2 hours
to finish it. I’m not ashamed to say
that I failed it miserably. Once seated and taking the test, I am not allowed
to pause it or get up from my desk. My work pager, cell was going off like
crazy, and my dogs decided this would be a good time to come paw me for a
petting. I had to ignore them which they did not like, so they decided to head
butt my elbows for attention. I was surprised that the proctor did stop the
test because of my wild elbow movements and three big dogs circling my test
area.
I thought I might have a chance and get lucky
passing this test. It is no joke! You essentially play a compiler and look
through code to find the missing syntax or wrong code. Some of the multiple answers
were not too bad, but most of it was on code snippets. It took me 1:55 minutes
to finish it and I was totally dejected when I saw my score. For the rest of
December I just occasionally read some Java material and dabbled with code. I
focused more on Christmas and family.
January was the month I was going to hit the Java
books hard and knock out these last courses. How hard could it be? I only had 2
Java tests, a Java programming project, technical writing and my capstone.
Middle of February and I was not making any headway. I just could not get my
brain wrapped around programming. I had the desire, but somehow lacked the
ability!
Speaking with my mentor, she suggested a wonderful
idea. Put Java on hold and work on your technical writing and capstone. This will
knock out 7 credits and create some positive momentum. She was right. Three
weeks later I had knocked those two courses out and was feeling pretty good. I
decided to tackle the programming project and save the last two objective Java
tests for last. For some reason I can Frankenstein code together to get it to
work, but don’t really understand how it all works together. Took me about 3
weeks to finish that project, and surprisingly passed with positive comments
from the graders.
So, now I am staring at two Java tests, one I had
already failed previously. Only two
courses standing between me and my degree. It appears that I am not the only
one struggling with the programming courses. Due to me being in the general
Information technology track, Java is not really my focus. Fortunately WGU is
letting us swap part of the Java courses for the Linux exams. I jumped at this
opportunity as it will let me study something that is more closely aligned with
my work and job duties. It is also something that I have wanted to play around with
anyways. This change probably wont’ take effect until after May, but I will be
studying and getting ready to take the two exams. I can’t wait to add Linux+ to
my resume!
All the best to everyone reading this.
