04-12-2007, 08:11 PM
I took the pencil and paper version a couple of hours ago.
A disclaimer: I've been in the IT world for about 20 years and am currently an IT Director of a fairly large Jesuit University so I'm not a good example of someone coming off the street taking this one....that said:
I'm sure I passed it with room to spare. I prepared using only IC.
A couple of observations:
1. The test is a pretty good example of the difference between real world IT Management and the academic mindset. For example, there was a question that asked which IT type would be the one to produce a data flow diagram. In the real world, I would fire any of the four listed if they couldn't do it....in the academic world, there is a more easily definable answer. Also, there was only one question about steering committees (i.e. IT governance elements). In most IT/MIS organizations, governance committees play a very big role.
2. As some folks who have taken this exam have posted before me, there were far more questions that seemed more CLEP level computer questions than upper level DSST stuff. Things like the parts of a cpu, the difference between synch and asynch communcation, etc.
3. There were several questions related to differing kinds of systems: expert systems, decision support systems, GDSS, etc.
4. There were 89 questions on the exam. They were truly without sequence, I'd suggest using the randomization option when doing the IC cards.
5. There were only a few questions about the software development life cycle...although prototypes seemed to be a big deal. There had to be 3 or so questions about prototypes.
If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Bo
A disclaimer: I've been in the IT world for about 20 years and am currently an IT Director of a fairly large Jesuit University so I'm not a good example of someone coming off the street taking this one....that said:
I'm sure I passed it with room to spare. I prepared using only IC.
A couple of observations:
1. The test is a pretty good example of the difference between real world IT Management and the academic mindset. For example, there was a question that asked which IT type would be the one to produce a data flow diagram. In the real world, I would fire any of the four listed if they couldn't do it....in the academic world, there is a more easily definable answer. Also, there was only one question about steering committees (i.e. IT governance elements). In most IT/MIS organizations, governance committees play a very big role.
2. As some folks who have taken this exam have posted before me, there were far more questions that seemed more CLEP level computer questions than upper level DSST stuff. Things like the parts of a cpu, the difference between synch and asynch communcation, etc.
3. There were several questions related to differing kinds of systems: expert systems, decision support systems, GDSS, etc.
4. There were 89 questions on the exam. They were truly without sequence, I'd suggest using the randomization option when doing the IC cards.
5. There were only a few questions about the software development life cycle...although prototypes seemed to be a big deal. There had to be 3 or so questions about prototypes.
If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Bo
American Public University
Bachelor's in Business Administration
Graduated: June 2007
Clep Exams Taken: Amer Gov (73), Principles of Mgt (76), College Mathematics (54): Business Law (66)
DSST Exam Taken: MIS (70); Business Law II (65); Stats (58)
Bachelor's in Business Administration
Graduated: June 2007
Clep Exams Taken: Amer Gov (73), Principles of Mgt (76), College Mathematics (54): Business Law (66)
DSST Exam Taken: MIS (70); Business Law II (65); Stats (58)
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