Hi all: I have a degree from University of Bombay, India. B.Sc in Computer Science. Its is three years bachelors degree. I got it evaluated here in USA and found out that I have completed 93 credits with 3.96 GPA. (1) Is there any university / College (RA) that can accept students like me unto their Gradudate program ? I am willing to do some kind of bridge program for that. Golden Gate University does something similar to that. But its way out of my budget :-(. I am looking for some kind of computer related masters. (2) Meanwhile I have enrolled in Excelsior's BS (CIS) program. (having assumed that I have to complete a US bach degree before my masters). I am trying to finish this degree using exams. The first exam that I am looking at is "236A Microprocessor and Computer Basics " from OHIO university. Has anyone taken this before ? How tough is this and Can some Ex- BS CIS students from Excelsior offer me some kind of advice as to how to prepare for this exam ? (3) Is it better to take exams rather than distance courses ? I am looking at few ICCP tests, excelsior test in English / ETHICS also ? Any tips ? Thanks very much
Ohio Uni ETCH 236A I took the exam for Ohio ETCH 236A last month. I didn't think it was difficult but I had to study the required material carefully as I do not have a background in assembly language programming. The required textbook was The 8088 and 8086 Microprocessors: Programming, Interfacing, Software, Hardware, and Applications by Walter A. Triebel and Avatar Singh ISBN 0-13-367897-0. I was able to purchase a used of this text for quite a bit less than the price asked at the bookstore associated with Ohio Uni. I was required to study chapters 1-6 and other Excelsior students recommended reading chapter 9. If you work out all the examples and odd-numbers questions, for which the answers appear in back of the book, the exam should be straightforward. There is a student discussion area at the Excelsior College web site which I've found to be a good place to gather information on exams from other students. I've taken a couple if the ICCP exams and don't care for them as they appear to me to be out of date. Also, they were designed as certification exams so don't appear to map well to traditional CS courses. I have 6 more exams to take to complete the requirements for a BS-CIS but strongly suspect that I will have to take a couple of additional CS and possibly math courses to get into the MS program that I want.
Ohio 236A is quite easy actually. It only covers the simplest assembly commands. You get no sample questions so it can be nerve-wracking having no idea what is on the test. Buy the recommended book, read chapters 1-6 and 9 and do the odd exercises at the end of each chapter (these have answers in the book). Do this, and it's an easy test.
Oh, I forgot about the ICCP exams. Yes, the information is somewhat dated. The overall focus of the ICCP exams is systems development on large projects. Think waterfall development lifecycle, mainframe computers, etc. That doesn't mean you have to know much about this, just understand the general concepts of how most IT development is done outside of the PC world. If you are an IT generalist (understand networking concepts, software engineering concepts, operating systems, data structures, databases, etc, you should do ok on these. If you are a programmer only (without much hardware background), some of these might be difficult. I found the BIRD Publications practice tests to be of some value. They aren't great, but they do give you an idea of the content of the test. I would estimate that these practice tests gave me a 10 to 15% edge on each test. That doesn't sound like much, but when it takes 70% to pass, the extra cushion was nice.
Thanks Thanks both of you. Those words were really encouraging for me. I have to complete 38 credits in all to get this degree. Upper level credits in Computer Architecture, Data Communications, Systems Analysis & Design and Operating Systems. (1) Do we have any exams that I can do for Systems Analysis & Design and Operating Systems courses. And how should I approach those exams ? (2) I also have to complete courses in Discrete Mathematics (makes me sick), English compostition, Ethics , Social Sciences & history. Any suggestions about these especially Disc. maths ? Thanks again
Excelsior BS-CIS degree requirements and exams According to the examination menu I was given by Excelsior when I enrolled, here's the mapping of Excelsior requirements you've asked about and appear on the menu to ICCP exams: Sys Anal & Design - ICCP Systems Development Operating Systems - ICCP Op Systems Programming I don't have any info on the other requirements as they didn't apply to me. I also suggest you confirm your degree plan with your advisor before moving forward. My suggestion to you for preparing for these exams is to get a free student account for the Excelsior EPN web site and browse the Discussion area. There's some good info there though it's limited. I'm hoping that posting info about my experiences in preparing for each exam will encourage other students to do the same. By the way, I thought the Treibel book had a number of typos. I searched the web for a errata sheet for this edition of the book to no avail. So when I have some time, I will post my own errata sheet at the Excelsior web site along with answers to some of the even numbered questions.
There is a cheap DL option for discrete math (some college in Texas?). Do a search and I bet it will pop up. Alternatively, if you have a local community college, they may have a discrete math option. Either way, you have to take a class.
Re: Excelsior BS-CIS degree requirements and exams Why dont you talk to somebody at Touro University International (www.tourou.edu) about their MS-ITM and they will advise you about the pre-requiresites if any. Touro is RA and you can find some good comments about the university on this Board.
Re: Thanks I took Discrete Math via correspondence through Southwest Texas State University (Math 2358). It's very cheap at only $214 plus the book and the solutions manual, which you'll definitely want to buy. You will need a proctor for 2 exams, but usually librarians at public libraries will do this for free - I live just 20 minutes from SWT, so I just took my exams on campus at the correspondence office. I can't say that the course is easy (there are a LOT of homework problems), but Prof. Snyder is very responsive to email, so there is help available if you need it. I managed to squeak by with an A, so it is doable. It's the only self-paced Discrete Math course that I've come across, and the price is pretty hard to beat...
Gary, From reading your previous posts, I believe you received a degree in Computer Science from TESC. Your recommendation for the Discrete Math class from Southwest Texas State is useful. I was wondering if you could recommend other courses that you used, or wish you had used to fulfill your degree requirements. Also, do you know of any other self-paced, accredited CS courses that are available?
I don't know of any other self-paced courses that would fit into the CS major, other than the calculus courses for the corollary requirement (there are several schools that offer these courses via correspondence - LSU comes to mind off the top of my head). In addition to the Discrete Math course from SWT, I took 4 DL courses from Texas State Technical College. TSTCis a 2-year school and was very inexpensive for me since I'm a Texas resident, but it might not be a cost effective option if you'd pay out-of-state tuition. These were my only credits from a 2-year school, but if you're planning things out you need to make sure that you don't go over the limit on credits from 2-year schools. I used the DANTES MIS exam as a CS elective, and I'd previously completed the the rest of my CS courses residentially at various schools. I started an online course (for the Assembly Language requirement) at University of Hawaii, but in the middle of the semester I got approval to use (for that requirement) a course I'd already taken, so I withdrew from the course since I no longer had any use for it. It's too bad that I lost the money I'd paid for the course, but I didn't realize until it was too late that I could appeal the classification/application of the courses I'd already taken. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask here or to email me at [email protected].
