Finally Passed D335 Intro to Python (WGU Academy)
Semi long post alert!
TLDR: Passed on 3rd attempt which is a mix of original & inverse. 1st attempt is exactly like Zybooks Ch 34. 2nd attempt is an inverse of the original Ch 34. Practice coding Ch.34 daily. If needed practice Ch. 33 as it has some elements where inverse is taken from (i.e. calculating the area of a triangle). Watch Angele Yu to Day 10. Check your whitespace, spelling, and capitalization when in the exam. Always run your code in the exam & ensure it matches the provide examples that each question gives in the exam.
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So I'm not new to WGU as I graduated a couple of years ago with a Master's Degree in Management & Leadership, as they didn't have any tech ones that I really wanted (Software Engineering/Software Development). Lo and behold, they finally came out with the program at some point after I graduated (Late 2023). Because I didn't have tech job, I didn't meet the initial requirements, so I had to complete the prereq for WGU Academy - Intro to Python D335
I'm normally a very good test-taker at WGU (degree) and externally with other certifications under my belt (always passing on the first try), including my PMP, CSM, CSPO, and ISTQB CTFL. In my past careers, I obtained a Real Estate License & Insurance Adjuster Licenses, including the dreaded NY Adjuster exam, known as the hardest of them all. So I was confident in myself. Also, this wasn't my 1st time with Python (I completed a certified Python DevOps bootcamp at a well-known bootcamp school).
OMG!!! The exam was an absolute dread. I failed twice before finally passing on my 3rd attempt yesterday (5/14). WGU Academy is slightly different than WGU (degree side) since on the academy side you have to wait for your detailed results by asking the teacher for them., but you immediately get the screen result saying if you failed/passed. On WGU (degree side) you get the results report immediately with if you passed/fail from what I remember. So don't expect those fancy exemplary/competent/not competent report on your screen via WGU Academy.
The 15-question exam is broken into competency:
- C1 Basic Scripts is 53% of the exam, which is 8 questions
- C2 Control Flow is 20% of the exam, which is 3 questions
- C3 Packages, Modules & Libraries is 27% of the exam, which is 4 questions
Exam attempts #1 and #2 took me 2 hours to complete out of the allotted 4 hours. Attempt #3 took me 2.5 hours due to the exam run code editor, which was having issues running my code (see recommended below)
1st Attempt Summary (FAILED): Exactly like the Zybooks Ch 34 Practice Final Exam. I call this the original version as the OA is identical down to the exact order of the questions appear. Now of course they change some of the data details but the concept for completing for solution is the same. I failed due to tmy mind went blank. I felt confident in like 10 of the questions since I produced the solution (run code button) successfully. The manipulate text and csv questions i completely skipped as I couldn't remember anything for them. My initial results came out as C1 (approaching competent), C2 (Not competent) and C3 (approaching competent. At this time I had only skimmed Angela Yu's videos up to day 5 and completed Ch 34 Practice Final Exam and did some of the zybooks like up to Chapter 3 as I wasn't finding it as helpful. I also had been using Claude to practice coding.
2nd Attempt Summary (FAILED): same format, except it seems to be mainly, if not all, inverse of the original exam. Inverse, like if the original asked for an index integer input, on the inverse, it would ask for a name value instead, producing an output of an integer. There is a post on Reddit where another user explains this better and details the exam a bit more, which was very accurate to what I saw on the 2nd attempt. I got stuck again on the same question areas even though this time I attempted them; other questions I got fuzzy on since it was inversed. I did try to practicing inverse with Claude (very helpful) but between mind blanks and having to pee. Trust I went to bathroom before the exam like I normally do but coffee kept me in antsy mode. I know I only had 1 question that was going to make or break my pass as I knew I had at least 11 correct. You need at least 12 correct to pass (80%). Leading up to this attempt I went back and watched Angela Yu's up to Day 10 as I saw it recommended in another D335 post. I continued practicing with Claude. My results were C1 (competent), C2 (competent) and C3 (needs improvement). I knew C3 would come back that way because Q14 math module threw me when it asked about perfect square. Which after I had submitted and chatted with Claude about what I could recall, I realized I was close to solving it had I changed one of my symbols dealing with == vs !=.
I tried looking at other YouTube videos that were mentioned from other D335 reddit, I personally didn't find them helpful. I'm the type that after I see it done once visually, I just need to get hands-on with it.
3rd Attempt Summary (PASSED): same format but it was a mix of original and inverse which I expected. Like the math import mentioned ceil() and floor(). If you know how to use factorial or any math module you will do it exactly the same way. Also, when I did my prior attempts I went in order 1, 2, 3 etc for the questions. But based on studying with Claude it recommended this time I start with my trouble spot (csv and manipulate text) questions first. I did exactly that. I nailed my csv as I finally got the solve (run code) to display the matching sample. I couldn't figure out the manipulation as it presented something new involving write/writerow, which I hadn't practiced much of. So I knew I would have 1 wrong. All the rest went pretty smooth. By the time I was ready to submit I knew I had 14 of 15 solved. Typically if you can solve it and it works for all scenarios, it means correct. I don't think there is partial credit given but I could be wrong so it never hurts to attempt a question even if you can get it to work. I don't know my report results for each competency area but I dont care because I FINALLY PASSED!!! YAY!
Recommended Study Tips:
- I only reviewed/watched Angela Yu's videos up until day 10. I stopped doing her practice code around day 5 as I felt it was slowing me down since it's better to just practice from the Zybooks Ch 33 and Ch 34
- PRACTICE WITH CLAUDE or if you prefer ChatGPT/other AI, it helps. Ask for it to teach back to you the problem w/solution. Ask clarifying questions. I took the entire Ch. 34 questions and put them into Claude to help with this teach back. Claude even would retest me with its own version and inverse version.
- Use a Python Editor for your practice daily (I used Visual Studio Code VSC) and turned off the automatic filling-in feature within settings so that it wouldn't complete my code whenever I was starting to type it out. I practiced Ch. 34 original and inverse until I could finally do it without looking at my notes for reference. You can take each question from Zybooks and recreat it in VSC for easier resetting than Zybooks. . I created my own folder and made each question a file within the folder; An original folder and a inverse folder. Then duplicate each time you practice or retest yourself.
Recommended Exam Tips:
- Start with your hardest questions (troublespot areas), once you get over the hurdle of solving that, the rest will be easy peasy.
- ALWAYS RUN YOUR CODE Multiple times!! It should always produce the matching result of the sample it provides. If it provides more than one sample, it will need to match all scenarios.
- Check your whitespace, spelling, and capitalization as this can impact your code results.
- As a habit, I always ensured I had one blank line at the end of my code. So if my code ended on line 17, i would press return/enter so that I had that blank line 18
- Troubleshooting Run Code Errors - I knew my code I wrote was correct but noticed when I would re-run the second time it was produce an error that didn't produce the first time i ran my code unchanged. So if my line 1 of code was num_in = int(input()) it would work like normal the first time I ran it but on the rerun it would say line 1 not valid with error details. To fix it I would just clicked next question and then circle back when I did Review before submission and reran all code and confirmed all worked perfectly fine
- Check use of brackets [ ], curly braces { } and parentheses ( ) and quotes - as something as minor as using the wrong type or missing the other can impact the code, producing an error, when you may have written everything else correct.
Overall, I'm happy to be done with this because let me tell you had I failed again. I was going to be DONE and not pursue the MSSWE. Excited that I'll be joining the 7/1 MSSWE Start Date. Ultimate, the only reason I'm going for this degree is I realized I love tech more than having to deal directly with people (Project Managers, etc have to deal a lot with people) which was already stressful to me as an introverted neuro type. I've always been into tech but wasn't sure years ago if I wanted to pursue it until I got my feet wet with the bootcamp.
Although tech industry is constantly up & down, its no different than the career worlds I came from where everything has a cycle of hiring & firing. Hope this post helps. Again sorry for it being so long.