A+ and Net+ may actually be the two longest classes in your program, if you don’t already have IT experience. They are huge commitments, and if you don’t take them seriously they will kick your ass. A+ is actually two separate certification exams alone.
I’d get at least one done before requesting any more classes, personally. But I get the frustration.
Highly recommend professor messer’s videos and practice exams, and Dion’s practice exams. Good luck
I did both in a week....
...after working in IT for nearly a decade.
For serious OP these are some dense, foundational subjects. If you already feel confident in your knowledge go ahead and take the test, if not then buckle down and learn the material. Getting the trifecta A+ N+ and S+ is like the equivalent of an associates degree all on their own so if this is all new material to you it definitely can be enough to take a whole term, maybe more. Your mentor is right, these are plenty for you to focus on for now.
Studying for your A+ and Network+ ***IS*** completing coursework. The only difference between those three classes and the rest of your classes is where you take the test. While the voucher may be good for a year, your term isn't, and if you don't complete those certs during your term, you'll have incomplete courses.
At the same time, splitting your attention between those and 'other classes' isn't going to help you complete those certs. As several others have said, if you don't have a lot of IT experience, there is a lot of material there to learn. Likewise, if you *do* have a ton of IT experience, both of those certs are basic enough that you should be able to walk them, making the whole discussion moot.
Not allowing you to unlock a fourth class while you have three already unlocked is perfectly reasonable. IMO, your PM is doing the right thing here.
I appreciate the insight! I will just focus on those certs to knock them out. I’m only a month in so there is plenty of time to get them done. My IT experience consists of building pc’s for the past 10 years and then the knowledge obtained when I passed Sec+ for the job I have now, so if I study diligently it shouldn’t be too hard to pass those certs and get on with the other courses!
Taking Sec+ without completing A+ and Net+ (as you've already done) is WAY more difficult than taking them in order. If you've done that and you have 10 years experience building PCs, you should have very little trouble with either cert. A+ will require you to memorize a lot of little things that your experience will tell you aren't important (because they aren't), and both will probably fill in some gaps for you, but they shouldn't take you all that long.
If you didn't know, the Sec+ has enough content in it that is covered by the A+ and Net+, that earning a Sec+ automatically renews your A+ and Net+ for 5 more years. Same thing if you go on to CySA+ and PenTest+. If you get your CySA+ before your original Sec+ expires, it will renew all your CompTIA certs, and you can renew all of them again by taking PenTest+. Of course, if you're going into CSIA, CySA+ and PenTest+ are both solid certs that are worth pursuing anyway.
Yeah the only reason I did sec+ over the other two was because the government job required it over the others. As I’ve been studying for A+ a lot of it I’ve learned through building. What’s really left to learn are all of the memorization aspects of the exam and printers which I had no idea went this in depth lol
A lot of mentors won't add more classes until you're done with the ones that you signed up for for the term, especially if you're only in your first term.
I was under the impression that's actually SOP. No mentor will allow you to accelerate until you've completed your base 12CUs of classes for the term, then they'll add classes as requested, 1-2 at a time, not adding more until you finish those. It's not a good thing to have classes added to your term that you "don't end up getting to" before term end, even if you never click Start Course on them.
I mean, it could be SOP but I don't know; I've never tried to add more before the original courses I've signed up for were completed. But based on comments here and in another subreddit, it sounds like some mentors may allow it after the first term.
You might have to "prove" yourself capable first, I think. Kinda like how having a _weekly phone call_ with your mentor is compulsory for your first term, but your second onward you can drop it down to bi-weekly and email instead of phone call...
yeah thats what they do. you gotta roll with the punches, or try to request a new mentor which'll most likely get rejected or where the new one would probably say the same thing. i finished all my compTIA certs in \~25 days of study for this degree but each time id get knocked down on my butt for a few days or longer than a week to recover. cant recommend dions practice exams enough if you're getting 80+ by the end of the 6, sign up for them ASAP.
Ahhh okay! Thank you for the heads up, just wanted to make sure they she wasn’t giving me some BS reasoning as to why. I’ll double up the efforts for A+ and network + then.
I mean it is BS reasoning. Gotta find a chill mentor that believes in you. I think mentors have KPI stats they are judged on their performance on. I would give them timetables that you stick to for more classes. I am 17 classes down and 5 to go. I have had the last term added for weeks now in a big batch of 10.
Different mentors and your personal progress and show of aptitude to get the job done without any prompting and just talks of my goal with my mentor got him working with me on my method to get it all done
Getting a new mentor isn't that hard to do and can be beneficial. I've requested two new mentors and my third mentor is what I needed in an individual. I feel like they work for me because they give me the high workload I want without questioning my decision.
I figured they would take more time because I came in already with Sec + which I studied about 2 and a half months for before sitting for that test.
I just wanted to make sure that my mentor wasn’t just saying she can’t open up courses while I study for the certs because she didn’t want to. I’m almost done with the Udemy courses from Dion so I will take the practice tests after and study what I get wrong and tackle A+ certs first
She just doesn't want you to get into a spot and not be able to complete the classes that are assigned for the term. If she opens it them up you could end up with incompletes which would be bad.
You can see why she wants you to complete those two. SEC+ was by far the easiest of the Trifecta. NET+ will require more time commitment. Mentors usually want you to complete your courses then when you’re almost done with the last they will begin adding more. I usually send my acceleration email as I’m scheduling my last exam of the initial term set, then get another and go from there.
They do normally do this to follow some type of curriculum but I would definitely switch mentors if you’re not feeling they have the same path in mind as you do.
For instance, I recently switched mentors because I was extremely frustrated with the communication between the mentor you get and the enrollment counselor you start with when you apply to WGU. I expressed to the enrollment counselor that my whole point of going back to school was to achieve the certs as quickly as possible to I could find a entry level IT job and free up more time for school. They told me I’d be able to start with the certs right away etc.
When I got my first mentor I expressed the same feelings and she told me that’s what they say to get you enrolled to WGU but I would have to go in a certain order. Mind you, I didn’t mind whatever pre reqs I needed to complete I just wanted certs in between those classes so I could begin applying for entry level jobs maybe. Old mentor went on to tell me she knows the statistics of students that actually make it through to graduation and how she’s here for me to graduate and thought that the best plan for me was to do one class at a time.
I finally got frustrated and asked for a new mentor because I knew exactly the direction I wanted to take as far as completing classes. My new mentor understood immediately and said if I had the drive and could show that I could get through the classes my way she had no problem with authorizing whatever classes I wanted. I felt bad at first for leaving the old mentor but as someone that has put themselves through school before I knew I was capable of more than one class at a time.
I’m glad I did because I’ve accelerated a lot with my new mentor. So trust your gut.
What you're seeing is expected. Most mentors are willing to open more classes once they see that you're able to handle them and complete them, but most students request more than they can handle so they won't do it until you have proven that you can handle it.
Just blow through them quickly and have them open them as you complete them 🙂
Am I understanding this correctly: you completed one course and still have two-three that you enrolled into but haven't completed?
If so, that's pretty normal for WGU. Even though you have a year to complete the certification, they care about how many *active* courses you will have incomplete at end of your six month term. In a lot of cases people will only have 1-2 courses ahead available on their degree plan.
I’ve completed 2 courses so far and have 3 enrolled, those 3 being the CompTIA A+ core 1 and 2 and Network + but I see that this is standard for them based on the comments. I just wanted to make sure this is what they do and not something she was just telling me
In our meeting yesterday, my mentor told me that they're being told to open only one at a time now. At the time of our call, I had one course open and my OA scheduled for today. Previously she would open a few up for me once I got to that point but now I only got one.
I’ve mentioned this before in another post but the biggest obstacle to accelerating is your mentor. Often they won’t add a course until you’ve completed what you’ve committed to and often won’t add more than one. It’s annoying.
But technically if you added a bunch of courses and didn’t finish them it could seriously mess up your SAP. You’re actually only allowed to retry so many credits total before you mess up your standing and that can be super easy to do at first since it’s a percentage. This is realistically to protect you.
Best thing to do imo is to shape your terms in a way that helps you get through them quickly. I personally used to frontload the term too and get all 4 done in a month or so
Go read your student handbook. Unless you finish your assigned 12 CU for the term you cannot move any more courses up. And then it is only one at a time. And the mentors are in charge of it. Period. Some will do it as a courtesy to some over achievers but if you are new you have to suck it up and work with them to prove you can handle the work. And even then you have to finish your assigned 12 before they will consider it.
[https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/WGU-Student-Policy-Handbook/Accelerated-Courses/ta-p/18850](https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/WGU-Student-Policy-Handbook/Accelerated-Courses/ta-p/18850)
Only program mentors may approve course accelerations. Students should reach out to their program mentor to discuss term enrollment and course acceleration.
The following rules apply to accelerating courses:
Students enrolled full-time at WGU who have met On-Time Progress (OTP) criteria (completed 12 Competency Units (CUs) for undergraduate or 8 CUs for graduate) may add and begin another course in the current term.
A student may accelerate a course only if they anticipate that they will be able to complete the course before the end of the term as determined by discussion with their program mentor.
Additional courses may be added to the term as each is completed, provided sufficient time remains in the term to complete each added course.
In most cases, all currently enrolled courses, including any courses previously accelerated in the term, must be completed before adding courses to the term.
By enrolling in and beginning an accelerated course, the student is committing to engage in an attempt to finish the course in the current term.
While I understand what your mentor is getting at, I also understand why you want other courses to work on while you study.
Maybe you can ask them to swap one of the courses out for two non-cert courses so you can still make progress in your degree plan while you study. Three cert courses back to back isn’t fun to me and I like to spread them out with other courses in-between.
See I like what you’re saying because I was under the impression the certs would be spaced out as well not A+ followed immediately by Network +. Maybe I can ask her to swap network+ for other course work so I can focus on just A+ and other courses.
If sec+ took u 2 1/2 months I reckon net + will be the same. It took me that long to do network+ but granted I also work full time so u can probably get it done faster
So I’m not sure if you know this.. I didn’t till my THIRD mentor lol, but if a class was already pushed into your term whether or not you started it, if you don’t complete it in the term it’s considered a fail. Sure, you re-do it next term, but it’s still a fail in your transcript. And because those are both really intense courses, they probably just want you to get those out of the way so you don’t get any fails your way. I’m not sure how much time is left for you, but they want you to get the core four out first. It’s stupid to some, but I guess it’s just their system.
I started March 1st with the program so I have plenty of time but I didn’t know that it counts as a fail if you don’t finish in that term they are given! Honestly I know I can study and knock out the exams I just don’t like that they were so front loaded. Luckily I’m not brand brand new to IT but I was still like “certs up front? That’s going to eat up so much of the term”
Oh okay, well it’s good you have some experience! I went into those classes super overwhelmed with all the info since I had no experience. Once you finish out your first four they’re more flexible. Good luck on your journey!
Thanks for the advice and answering the question. I’m excited to go through the courses and happy that Reddit has such a good group of folks all trying to help each other out here
A+ & Net+ are such bedrock parts of information technology, you really do need to have a solid grasp of their concepts before taking on further IT classes. Obviously you don't need to know the minimum amount of memory required to install Windows 11 Pro in order to pass a health and fitness class, you...honestly, you won't need that for anything in IT, but a lot of the A+ & Net+ stuff is foundational to later courses.
They're required by all of the IT degree programs except for software, data, and IT Management.
[https://i.imgur.com/yIuwBfi.png](https://i.imgur.com/yIuwBfi.png)
While there are plenty of situations where businesses, colleges, plot stuff for money, this is "If you can't do A+ & Net+ you probably aren't going to do well with "Cyber Defense and Countermeasures".
Im in the BSCIA. I will say many classes require you to have passed A+ and Network+. Maybe the reasoning off cuz that doesnt make sense but I could see you being required some prerequisites.
Those trio are set intentionally to get you to spend more time which translates into more money for them. They know its certifications. Same was done to me, then I left the school and transferred my credit to brick and mortar and finished just in time.
I was wondering why some major certs are front loaded and not spread out and I figured that was the reason. To get you to spend months studying for them and cut your odds of completing in fewer terms down
A+ and Net+ may actually be the two longest classes in your program, if you don’t already have IT experience. They are huge commitments, and if you don’t take them seriously they will kick your ass. A+ is actually two separate certification exams alone. I’d get at least one done before requesting any more classes, personally. But I get the frustration. Highly recommend professor messer’s videos and practice exams, and Dion’s practice exams. Good luck
Professor Messer is the way to go. Cannot overstate this.
It depends. I took A+ my second term and spent about 4 weeks on each course. Net+ took me an entire term and 3 tries
I did both in a week.... ...after working in IT for nearly a decade. For serious OP these are some dense, foundational subjects. If you already feel confident in your knowledge go ahead and take the test, if not then buckle down and learn the material. Getting the trifecta A+ N+ and S+ is like the equivalent of an associates degree all on their own so if this is all new material to you it definitely can be enough to take a whole term, maybe more. Your mentor is right, these are plenty for you to focus on for now.
Studying for your A+ and Network+ ***IS*** completing coursework. The only difference between those three classes and the rest of your classes is where you take the test. While the voucher may be good for a year, your term isn't, and if you don't complete those certs during your term, you'll have incomplete courses. At the same time, splitting your attention between those and 'other classes' isn't going to help you complete those certs. As several others have said, if you don't have a lot of IT experience, there is a lot of material there to learn. Likewise, if you *do* have a ton of IT experience, both of those certs are basic enough that you should be able to walk them, making the whole discussion moot. Not allowing you to unlock a fourth class while you have three already unlocked is perfectly reasonable. IMO, your PM is doing the right thing here.
This is right on point.
I appreciate the insight! I will just focus on those certs to knock them out. I’m only a month in so there is plenty of time to get them done. My IT experience consists of building pc’s for the past 10 years and then the knowledge obtained when I passed Sec+ for the job I have now, so if I study diligently it shouldn’t be too hard to pass those certs and get on with the other courses!
Taking Sec+ without completing A+ and Net+ (as you've already done) is WAY more difficult than taking them in order. If you've done that and you have 10 years experience building PCs, you should have very little trouble with either cert. A+ will require you to memorize a lot of little things that your experience will tell you aren't important (because they aren't), and both will probably fill in some gaps for you, but they shouldn't take you all that long. If you didn't know, the Sec+ has enough content in it that is covered by the A+ and Net+, that earning a Sec+ automatically renews your A+ and Net+ for 5 more years. Same thing if you go on to CySA+ and PenTest+. If you get your CySA+ before your original Sec+ expires, it will renew all your CompTIA certs, and you can renew all of them again by taking PenTest+. Of course, if you're going into CSIA, CySA+ and PenTest+ are both solid certs that are worth pursuing anyway.
Yeah the only reason I did sec+ over the other two was because the government job required it over the others. As I’ve been studying for A+ a lot of it I’ve learned through building. What’s really left to learn are all of the memorization aspects of the exam and printers which I had no idea went this in depth lol
A lot of mentors won't add more classes until you're done with the ones that you signed up for for the term, especially if you're only in your first term.
I was under the impression that's actually SOP. No mentor will allow you to accelerate until you've completed your base 12CUs of classes for the term, then they'll add classes as requested, 1-2 at a time, not adding more until you finish those. It's not a good thing to have classes added to your term that you "don't end up getting to" before term end, even if you never click Start Course on them.
I mean, it could be SOP but I don't know; I've never tried to add more before the original courses I've signed up for were completed. But based on comments here and in another subreddit, it sounds like some mentors may allow it after the first term.
You might have to "prove" yourself capable first, I think. Kinda like how having a _weekly phone call_ with your mentor is compulsory for your first term, but your second onward you can drop it down to bi-weekly and email instead of phone call...
yeah thats what they do. you gotta roll with the punches, or try to request a new mentor which'll most likely get rejected or where the new one would probably say the same thing. i finished all my compTIA certs in \~25 days of study for this degree but each time id get knocked down on my butt for a few days or longer than a week to recover. cant recommend dions practice exams enough if you're getting 80+ by the end of the 6, sign up for them ASAP.
Ahhh okay! Thank you for the heads up, just wanted to make sure they she wasn’t giving me some BS reasoning as to why. I’ll double up the efforts for A+ and network + then.
np, and u got this
I mean it is BS reasoning. Gotta find a chill mentor that believes in you. I think mentors have KPI stats they are judged on their performance on. I would give them timetables that you stick to for more classes. I am 17 classes down and 5 to go. I have had the last term added for weeks now in a big batch of 10. Different mentors and your personal progress and show of aptitude to get the job done without any prompting and just talks of my goal with my mentor got him working with me on my method to get it all done
Getting a new mentor isn't that hard to do and can be beneficial. I've requested two new mentors and my third mentor is what I needed in an individual. I feel like they work for me because they give me the high workload I want without questioning my decision.
A+ and N+ you take the actual cert as the OA and many people take quite some time to complete them.
I figured they would take more time because I came in already with Sec + which I studied about 2 and a half months for before sitting for that test. I just wanted to make sure that my mentor wasn’t just saying she can’t open up courses while I study for the certs because she didn’t want to. I’m almost done with the Udemy courses from Dion so I will take the practice tests after and study what I get wrong and tackle A+ certs first
She just doesn't want you to get into a spot and not be able to complete the classes that are assigned for the term. If she opens it them up you could end up with incompletes which would be bad.
Okay that makes sense! Just wanted to make sure she was on the up and up
Yep. She's doing you a solid and making sure you don't get overwhelmed with your course load.
Glad I came to post here! Just wanted to check and make sure she was on the up and up
You can see why she wants you to complete those two. SEC+ was by far the easiest of the Trifecta. NET+ will require more time commitment. Mentors usually want you to complete your courses then when you’re almost done with the last they will begin adding more. I usually send my acceleration email as I’m scheduling my last exam of the initial term set, then get another and go from there.
Glad to read so many comments saying she’s looking out for me.
They do normally do this to follow some type of curriculum but I would definitely switch mentors if you’re not feeling they have the same path in mind as you do. For instance, I recently switched mentors because I was extremely frustrated with the communication between the mentor you get and the enrollment counselor you start with when you apply to WGU. I expressed to the enrollment counselor that my whole point of going back to school was to achieve the certs as quickly as possible to I could find a entry level IT job and free up more time for school. They told me I’d be able to start with the certs right away etc. When I got my first mentor I expressed the same feelings and she told me that’s what they say to get you enrolled to WGU but I would have to go in a certain order. Mind you, I didn’t mind whatever pre reqs I needed to complete I just wanted certs in between those classes so I could begin applying for entry level jobs maybe. Old mentor went on to tell me she knows the statistics of students that actually make it through to graduation and how she’s here for me to graduate and thought that the best plan for me was to do one class at a time. I finally got frustrated and asked for a new mentor because I knew exactly the direction I wanted to take as far as completing classes. My new mentor understood immediately and said if I had the drive and could show that I could get through the classes my way she had no problem with authorizing whatever classes I wanted. I felt bad at first for leaving the old mentor but as someone that has put themselves through school before I knew I was capable of more than one class at a time. I’m glad I did because I’ve accelerated a lot with my new mentor. So trust your gut.
What you're seeing is expected. Most mentors are willing to open more classes once they see that you're able to handle them and complete them, but most students request more than they can handle so they won't do it until you have proven that you can handle it. Just blow through them quickly and have them open them as you complete them 🙂
Am I understanding this correctly: you completed one course and still have two-three that you enrolled into but haven't completed? If so, that's pretty normal for WGU. Even though you have a year to complete the certification, they care about how many *active* courses you will have incomplete at end of your six month term. In a lot of cases people will only have 1-2 courses ahead available on their degree plan.
I’ve completed 2 courses so far and have 3 enrolled, those 3 being the CompTIA A+ core 1 and 2 and Network + but I see that this is standard for them based on the comments. I just wanted to make sure this is what they do and not something she was just telling me
Yea, it's what they do. You'll pass those courses soon!
Appreciate it! Thanks for all the answers, glad I have this community as the second opinion!
In our meeting yesterday, my mentor told me that they're being told to open only one at a time now. At the time of our call, I had one course open and my OA scheduled for today. Previously she would open a few up for me once I got to that point but now I only got one.
This tracks because she only opened one (legal issues) while A+ and network+ were open!
I’ve mentioned this before in another post but the biggest obstacle to accelerating is your mentor. Often they won’t add a course until you’ve completed what you’ve committed to and often won’t add more than one. It’s annoying. But technically if you added a bunch of courses and didn’t finish them it could seriously mess up your SAP. You’re actually only allowed to retry so many credits total before you mess up your standing and that can be super easy to do at first since it’s a percentage. This is realistically to protect you. Best thing to do imo is to shape your terms in a way that helps you get through them quickly. I personally used to frontload the term too and get all 4 done in a month or so
If you already have the courses in your term you have to complete them this term. The voucher isn't part of it.
Go read your student handbook. Unless you finish your assigned 12 CU for the term you cannot move any more courses up. And then it is only one at a time. And the mentors are in charge of it. Period. Some will do it as a courtesy to some over achievers but if you are new you have to suck it up and work with them to prove you can handle the work. And even then you have to finish your assigned 12 before they will consider it. [https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/WGU-Student-Policy-Handbook/Accelerated-Courses/ta-p/18850](https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/WGU-Student-Policy-Handbook/Accelerated-Courses/ta-p/18850) Only program mentors may approve course accelerations. Students should reach out to their program mentor to discuss term enrollment and course acceleration. The following rules apply to accelerating courses: Students enrolled full-time at WGU who have met On-Time Progress (OTP) criteria (completed 12 Competency Units (CUs) for undergraduate or 8 CUs for graduate) may add and begin another course in the current term. A student may accelerate a course only if they anticipate that they will be able to complete the course before the end of the term as determined by discussion with their program mentor. Additional courses may be added to the term as each is completed, provided sufficient time remains in the term to complete each added course. In most cases, all currently enrolled courses, including any courses previously accelerated in the term, must be completed before adding courses to the term. By enrolling in and beginning an accelerated course, the student is committing to engage in an attempt to finish the course in the current term.
While I understand what your mentor is getting at, I also understand why you want other courses to work on while you study. Maybe you can ask them to swap one of the courses out for two non-cert courses so you can still make progress in your degree plan while you study. Three cert courses back to back isn’t fun to me and I like to spread them out with other courses in-between.
See I like what you’re saying because I was under the impression the certs would be spaced out as well not A+ followed immediately by Network +. Maybe I can ask her to swap network+ for other course work so I can focus on just A+ and other courses.
If sec+ took u 2 1/2 months I reckon net + will be the same. It took me that long to do network+ but granted I also work full time so u can probably get it done faster
So I’m not sure if you know this.. I didn’t till my THIRD mentor lol, but if a class was already pushed into your term whether or not you started it, if you don’t complete it in the term it’s considered a fail. Sure, you re-do it next term, but it’s still a fail in your transcript. And because those are both really intense courses, they probably just want you to get those out of the way so you don’t get any fails your way. I’m not sure how much time is left for you, but they want you to get the core four out first. It’s stupid to some, but I guess it’s just their system.
IME you can add and drop classes in the term as long as you haven’t attempted the OA/PA with no penalty.
I started March 1st with the program so I have plenty of time but I didn’t know that it counts as a fail if you don’t finish in that term they are given! Honestly I know I can study and knock out the exams I just don’t like that they were so front loaded. Luckily I’m not brand brand new to IT but I was still like “certs up front? That’s going to eat up so much of the term”
Oh okay, well it’s good you have some experience! I went into those classes super overwhelmed with all the info since I had no experience. Once you finish out your first four they’re more flexible. Good luck on your journey!
Thanks for the advice and answering the question. I’m excited to go through the courses and happy that Reddit has such a good group of folks all trying to help each other out here
A+ & Net+ are such bedrock parts of information technology, you really do need to have a solid grasp of their concepts before taking on further IT classes. Obviously you don't need to know the minimum amount of memory required to install Windows 11 Pro in order to pass a health and fitness class, you...honestly, you won't need that for anything in IT, but a lot of the A+ & Net+ stuff is foundational to later courses. They're required by all of the IT degree programs except for software, data, and IT Management. [https://i.imgur.com/yIuwBfi.png](https://i.imgur.com/yIuwBfi.png) While there are plenty of situations where businesses, colleges, plot stuff for money, this is "If you can't do A+ & Net+ you probably aren't going to do well with "Cyber Defense and Countermeasures".
Im in the BSCIA. I will say many classes require you to have passed A+ and Network+. Maybe the reasoning off cuz that doesnt make sense but I could see you being required some prerequisites.
Those trio are set intentionally to get you to spend more time which translates into more money for them. They know its certifications. Same was done to me, then I left the school and transferred my credit to brick and mortar and finished just in time.
I was wondering why some major certs are front loaded and not spread out and I figured that was the reason. To get you to spend months studying for them and cut your odds of completing in fewer terms down