An Unexpected Boost

I have been preparing to take my second shot at the Security+ exam and like all Wednesdays I was awaiting a call from my WGU mentor, but today a different voice was on the other end of the line; my "course" mentor. This is an actual instructor for this particular course and was calling to offer any assistance she might have. Today she answered some specific questions I had about the content I was reviewing and even created a new study plan for me which I am rather excited about.

The best part about this is I didn't even have to contact her which I am certainly able to do through the student portal. You can instant message or e-mail the course mentors at any time to set up a phone call or otherwise get the help you need.

I am very pleased to know that at WGU the faculty will make every effort to make sure you are succeeding. Not only was my course mentor helpful and knowledgeable, but she was very friendly and patient. I didn't encounter this with teachers at the community college.

Failed Exam

I sat for my Security+ exam today and wasn't surprised when I saw the "you did not pass the Security+ 2008 exam"... It was a tough test and I was simply in too much of a hurry to get it out of the way.

The most accurate learning resources I have used for preparing for CompTIA exams are the practice exam software that has questions worded in the same manner as the actual exam. Coincidentally, I only used this software in my last couple days before my exam and scored around 75%. As a result I failed.

One thing I found that I didn't pay too much attention to before was the exam resource has pdf's containg its own chapters on the subject matter and it is helping tremendously. Currently I would read the primary text based resource, kick back with the Learnkey videos, spend a couple days on the exams and test. Now I will pay much more attention to the exam software and its subsequent chapters.

I don't think my failure was related to a lack of knowlege as much as insufficient practice with the wording of exam questions. So I am going to tweak the learning resources and try again. My advice to WGU students is to make use of the community and learn what is working for others; they'll state the learning resources they used and which ones they felt were the most beneficial. If multiple students who passed all used one particular resource, you can be confident it will help you.

I'll be glad to get Security+ out of the way.