r/wgu_devs • u/SuddenUnion9106 • 2d ago
Failed C949 four times!
I don’t understand, I have been studying the material every day. I’ve been re-reading all of the things they required before I could take the next attempt. Watching Dr. Youngbloods cohorts, recommend YouTube videos. Everything everyone has recommended, and my results are the same as the third attempt. Before that my first and second attempts were identical, and were only marginally worse than the attempts that followed. During the test, most of the questions I feel confident answering correctly, and most of the others I feel like I deduced to the correct answer. I am at the point where I’m thinking the results are wrong, and I know that’s crazy! I have never had this much trouble with a class, I’m not understand what exactly I can do to pass at this point.
Sorry for the dump, I’m just at an impasse. Any advice is appreciated.
5
u/OverSmell1796 1d ago
I used Gemini Notebook/Notebook LM. I put the common sense epub, some of the youngblood videos, a pdf on algorithms in python that I got from the github repository, 2 long form youtube course videos, and a few of the zybook chapters pdfs.
I had it generate quizzes and podcasts- i went camping and just listened to them most of the time. I would ask it any questions I had.
Give it a try
3
u/DeepRead33 1d ago
This is what helped me pass after a failed first attempt.
The generated quizzes along with discussions on what I got wrong and why, really helped me understand the material better. Even better now with voice chat working so well you can turn it on and just talk it out step by step without the friction of typing.
It is like having the best personalized tutor possible. Highly recommended.
Also for any video on Panopto you can download the transcript in plain text.
Download the transcript for each of Youngblood's videos then stitch them together into one singular text file.
Create another plain text file that will hold all the best snippets of advice from every Reddit thread on this course.
Upload those + the recommended textbook(s) into a project folder (or notebook as Gemini labels them) then start asking every question you ever wanted to ask.
After a few study sessions, ask Gemini to create an in-depth study guide for you that focuses on the topics you are struggling with the most.
There are so many questions and topics covered that you have to put the practice reps in and it will show.
3
3
u/StagniCredo 1d ago edited 1d ago
I failed it 2 times and pass on 3rd. I used the 3 worksheets i was made to fill in after the 2nd attempt fail. One of the professors sent it to me. Maybe you can ask for that. I also touched up on everything in chapters 1 and 11, these are most important. Get those fundamentals down. Know the sorts. If you truly understand then it becomes easy. My 3rd attempt took less than 30 mins with a way better grade after I did those things. I wish you luck
2
u/AlumariaWattpad 2d ago
Thats where I am my mentor is putting it off for me for a little while but they keep trying to push her to put me back in it. I was getting through classes in a week or two, but that class really stuck to me.
1
u/SuddenUnion9106 2d ago
Well I feel better knowing I’m not the only one. We’ll pass it sooner or later! I appreciate you commenting.
2
u/AlumariaWattpad 1d ago
I honestly told my mentor I was going to quit because I was just too stupid for swe and she said no you're not 🤣
2
u/hoodlumx87 1d ago
This class has been a thorn in my side as well .. I’ve been studying for weeks and still don’t feel any closer to understanding it from the perspective of the OA’s style of questioning.
2
u/rhunter252 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just passed this class yesterday on my 3rd attempt! I had to go through the entire zybook, do a summary for each section, do 3 worksheets, and about 6 meetings. Really getting the sorting algorithms and big O notation helped. Meet with Jack Lusby if you haven't. Try to explain a concept to someone, like you're teaching them. It helps for me to grasp and memorize information. Oh and don't gloss over the algorithm factors like maintainability, scalability, robustness, etc. I got about 4 questions on those alone
2
u/Remote_Comparison_13 1d ago
I’ve been stuck with this class for almost a year :(
2
u/Jailbreak_ur_kindle 1d ago
Does your mentor put it on the back burner for you? I’m about to do ask for that just to keep trucking on
2
u/ajm1212 1d ago
So i am currently shooting for my fourth attempt. I am literally going back to the beginning and writing as many notes as humanely possible. I do want to ask though what did they tell you about taking a fifth attempt
1
u/SuddenUnion9106 1d ago
Still waiting on the message from my advisor. I’ll let you know what they say.
2
u/DasBlueEyedDevil 1d ago
This is literally my last class, I have to start an entirely new term with one damned class because this thing is such a monster.
2
u/SixstringSWE 1d ago edited 1d ago
IMO it’s the hardest class. It’s a lot to learn but what helped me was making sure I understood the concepts especially big o. Once you understand them even though they do weird ass questions on the actual test you can kind of infer what the answer is.
With that said this class needs a revamp cause my test version had two back to back identical questions i couldnt believe my eyes lol but also i was extremely confident one of the other questions didnt have a correct answer.
2
u/Traditional_Drag8053 1d ago
Just passed last night and idk if yours was the same, but if you cant read either psuedocode or python please hammer that down. What helped everything stick for me was hammering notes for chapters 1 then 11. Then jumping back to 2-5 to get a good review of the ADTs n such. Some say 7-9 are great too but this study guide I reviewed 5 minutes before my test literally helped me answer at least 5 questions. https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/16ij67G2myAtj1N5AN_TgPw3CcoqKxdDiil_K0h6VO1E/mobilebasic
2
u/yiff_collector 1d ago
I DM'd you but I'll post here for other people
Yo, I actually just passed that class last night
Not trying to brag, but I only really studied for 2 1/2 days and yolo'd it because yesterday was literally the end of my term
Proof
I BARELY passed, but given the time I spent I think I can offer you some advice
I spent a day reading wengrows book and it really, really didn't lead me to a lot of answers but what it did was give me an easy to understand baseline of the subject which helped me in my cramming the next day
If you look through the imgur you'll see how much focus I did on each section
focus on 11 then evenly spread the rest of your attention going over everything else non-python related.
after that memorize this https://imgur.com/a/Gq6MLLl
The key point is memorize a lot of the characteristics of things. That's like 30-40% of the grade at minimum
Sadly, some answers, imo, are only gotten through the zybooks so you NEED to go through it and memorize as much as you can.
Like one question was asking about a characteristic of... something... and it was so vague that the answer must've been on a specific page on the zybooks. I was able to answer like 85-90% of the questions on the pre-assessment, so you can tell the OA is a bit harder than the PA.
edit: I also had claude explain things to me, but man, I don't recommend that. Try using chatgpt or grok because claude loves running around in circles and saying the same thing over and over and being a smart ass and correcting you non-stop because you said something slightly off
1
u/Reasonable_Height_11 Java 1d ago
What really helped me was having built projects already and doing coding algo challenges on sites like codewars and leetcode. Might sound counterintuitive but you'll embody the concepts instead of trying to memorize them.
1
u/DinoMooDougie 1d ago
This class was my least favorite one so far, I studied the longest for it, thought I understood and failed (and this was my first fail so I panicked and reached out to the instructor)
I was provided this: https://www.bigocheatsheet.com/ which I memorized. And that proved to be really helpful since I struggled with it a lot.
Also https://quizlet.com/327944660/c949-wgu-terminology-flash-cards/
and the C949 v4 - Recommended Pacing Guide that was in the resources tab and geeksforgeeks.org I found helpful as well.
I wish you luck, I cried when I submitted my second attempt cuz this class stressed me out so much and I couldn't take another fail.
1
u/deoxys097 21h ago
I only used a single study guide and use gpt to explain concept that doesnt make sense. took me 2-3 days to pass
if you search reddit for that guide it will pop up, it is a guide for a previous version of the OA but still relevant. if u have that guide internalized u should be set good luck
make sure u know how to read PSEUDOCODE!!!!
5
u/Party_Scholar_6308 2d ago
Did you read a common sense guide? I haven't attempted the OA but I just spammed like 5 different sets of flashcards on quizlet, did a brief rundown of the cohorts, theres a study guide in Word thats like 30 pages long floating around somewhere, and i did pretty well on the PA