C172 Network and Security Foundations - Passed!

I started studying for C172 in mid January after completing C168.  Network and Security Foundations takes all the basic knowledge from Intro to IT and A+, focuses on the network, infrastructure/cabling, and security components but dives deeper.

I began with the pre-assessment built into the course material and scored an abysmal 50% on the nose.  One of the great things about the WGU courses is that the pre-assessment tells you exactly where you went wrong, so you can focus your studying efforts and save time.  I admit, I was discouraged, and didn't look at the course for about 5 weeks (I did get some English Comp papers done though).  Then I resigned myself to getting this class done.  After spending almost 2 weeks reading through my weaker chapters (I'm looking at YOU cable specifications and subnetting), I took another crack at the pre-assessment and had improved to only 72%.  This was not good news.

I had a feeling that maybe some of my answers weren't completely wrong, but either that the text wanted a specific answer (when other answers are satisfactory), or I was really overthinking things.  I adopted the strategy of learning from test questions.  For the next 24 hours I drilled through test questions, reviewing each one, even if I got them correct, to solidify them in my brain.  The next day I took the post-assessment, which is the test that should be used as a gauge for final exam readiness, and I got a 99%.  Just to be on the safe side, I went back and reviewed all of the chapter quizzes for my weaker topics.

The next day, I took the OA and passed!  Based on how the practice test was graded, I probably missed 1 in networking concepts, and 2-4 in the other 2 categories.  Not bad!  It is helpful to know where my weak areas still lie, since my next course is C480 Network+ certification.