Any study advice for Technical Writing?

[fondue]

Does anyone have any study advice for the DSST Technical Writing exam? I'm going to pick up the DSST Technical Writing book but was hoping to augment the book with additional material.

Gee I wish IC had a Technical Writing section. It's scary not having my IC crutch to help me along.

[fondue]

Bumping this back to the top.

Any advice? I picked up a couple technical writting books that have to be to most boring read ever. Any essay topics?

Steve, I'm 0-1 without InstantCert, well most likely 0-2 having bombed my public speaking topic. Any magic you can work?

[snazzlefrag]

Bumping this back to the top.

Any advice? I picked up a couple technical writting books that have to be to most boring read ever. Any essay topics?

Steve, I'm 0-1 without InstantCert, well most likely 0-2 having bombed my public speaking topic. Any magic you can work?

Fondue,

Do you HAVE to take Technical Writing? If not, why don't you just choose a different exam that does have IC support?

Also, I don't think Technical Writing is a very popular exam. So you are unlikely to find too many people who can give you advice either.

Just thinking out loud,
Snazzlefrag

[BlackhawkGuy]

This may be too late, so if you've already taken the test, then just ignore me, but I'll respond anyways.

I guess I'm one of the more rare individuals who have actually taken the Technical Writing DSST. It was the first DSST that I ever took. All I could find to study was the "Official DSST Study Guide" for Technical Writing. Let me tell you what a bunch of garbage that book is. About 2% of that book related to the actual exam, but maybe that was just my personal experience, and not those of other people. But hey, I passed with a 56; the passing score is a 46.

I walked out of the Education Center almost certain I completely dive bombed it. But a few weeks later I found out I passed and I was nothing short of ecstatic.

So, it's not too bad if you're good at English, a lot of it involved "what word best combines these two sentences?", and they ask you about various technical documents and editors and composition and blah blah blah.

And by the way, if your college will let you get away with taking it w/o Essay do it. My school required I take the essay and I had to write 300 words (I managed 393) on the physical characteristics and mechanics of a #2 pencil. Yes you read that right, a frickin' pencil! *Nightmares*

[minn6703]

Hi! I am taking technical writing for my next exam ( I need three humanities---I hate humanities) I was wondering, is there any other study material out there? I kind of just want to take this test without studying but that might be suicide...
Any help?

[Lindagerr]

I also used a Rodman study guide, but I found that more annoying then useful. The Handbook may be available at your local library.

I would say at least half the test was on grammer, What word better completes this sentence, that type of thing. Also putting a paragraph in order by rearanging the sentences for a better flow. Finding and picking the correct sentence when it may only be 1 uncapitalized word or 1 slightly misspelled word. Pay attention to the little details.

The rest of the test was questions on proposals and reports, in which section is the executive summary, where are resumes that sort of thing. A couple of questions about proofreaders marks. It has been a long time since I took it that is all I can remember.

[Mechanix26]

There's this, which is what I used. I got an "A" at Excelsior. I can verify the essay portion is not required at Excelsior.

Online Technical Writing: Online Textbook--Contents

[rmulholland]

I seem to be the only one, however, I found the $5 DSST practice test to be useful. It helped focus my 2 hours of study in prep for the test. After getting a 70 out of 80, I'm thankful I didn't waste more than 2 hours studying.

My actual exam had 102 multiple choice questions, with question #103 being an essay. After working for 30 minutes on the essay, I clicked "submit" and my exam score immediately popped up, leading me to believe that the essay wasn't actually graded (at least, not by a human ... unless, a human was able to grade it in 0.2 seconds.)

[minn6703]

Thank you so much!
I am taking this exam on Feb. 15th---thankfully, the paper version. Keep your fingers crossed! Once I pass this exam, I will only have three more then I will be graduated!
Woo hoo!