Exam did not work for me

Well that was much worse than I expected and I have serious concern that I may come a touch short.

Multiple choice was like pulling teeth, and it seemed some MCQs were indeed just trying to catch us out, like the "triangular crossing" instead of "double crossing" for mobile comms and the FTP "options" which came down to a spot the word difference question.

It still makes no sense to me that they would expect us to memorise 900+ pages. Why did it change from an open book test in the past?
The fragmentation question stumped me unfortunately.

man i feel like s()_
first time in my life that i cancelled a subject (this is my 40th and last subject), but by last Friday i knew i wouldnt make this exam. (im an INF student so im taking 1 subject in 2011- INF460R, the lecturer took at sabattical in 2010)

i phoned Mr Mkhize asking for some tips, he said we need to know the format and layout of each and every packet.
i asked him a bunch of other relevant questions but he could not/ did not want to answer me on any of them.

One thing I was worried about was the fact that no calculator was allowed in exam, so there could be very little questions asked regarding subnetting first block, last block etc.
so whilst it made up a big portion of the tuts (calculations), one wouldnt do it in the exam, so what would you do in the exam?

also, if we had a previous exam paper, it would have been much better preperation, seeing that the tuts didnt reflect the exam - wrt to the calculations at least.

respect to all who were braver than me, and proceeded to write the exam.
i'll have to wait another year before graduating

Happy to know I'm not the only one feeling so s(). . .
First my car wanted to break down this morning on my way to the examination hall, and then the exam itself. . . ouch! What a way to start the day of the final exam for 2010.

I was afraid of the abundance of this much detailed questions to be asked in the exam. Never though it's really going to be that much!

I started my UNISA education back in 2005 and never had I been so bombarded with this amount of study volume. There were a lot of gaga modules to take and to reach the level that we are on now. There were a few second and third year modules that was tuff, but the assignments really gave you hope to pull through. Usually, when you failed you know that you must study harder. Obvious!
But in the case of this module, what do I say. "Study everything in more detail, again? Only 900 pages." You got to be joking me.

The assignment work was not a big help. About, I think, 15% was covered in the exam. What a tragedy!

And to add, some of the multiple "teeth pulling questions" were worded very weird!

Then what about the state diagram that we had to draw. There was no way in hell to know that I need to draw something like that.

I had high expectations for this module in the beginning of last year. I like networks and I want to become a specialist in that field one day. It is a very rewarding, rapid demanding growing technology, and I want to part of the action. The Honour students are very scares in our country today and some companies are aware of this fact. So it will definitely pay off for us, but this module is really just crunching that dream a little bit.

I have to wait for the marks to see what's going to happen. I'm not a lazy guy, I love hard work, but a module like this is little too much for me. If I have to take it again, well, "Dan moet ek maar my myner sokkies tot by my keel toe op trek" Bring it on!

JX, we did get the subnetting question to find the number of addresses and first and last address for 3 marks.
I was thinking the same as you, no calculators none of that stuff, my bad.

Also with the extra cost of this subject, for which nobody has a reason, I would also rather opt for another INF module should I fall short.
Will have to wait until 18 March it seems before I know my fate.

Oh oh, now I'm worried, because I found it better than I expected it was going to be. Some of the questions confused me a bit, like the state diagram, but at least I could 'write' (draw) something and although it might not be right I might get a mark or two.

But I guess the marks will tell...maybe I missed all the trick questions

I've been working in IT Infrastructure for the last 10 Years, and I am a CCNA.
(Just to give you a bit of background info)
I did not like this module, or the book selected for it. The assistance regarding the exam/module is too low, and the amount of studying required (including memorising) is too much.
Even for me (someone with work experience) the concepts wasn't new to me, it was just the amount of technical detail that these concepts go in to (which is not used in the field) is way too much information.
This sort of information would only be required if you are actually writing ISO for Routers or Writing Packet sniffers (like wireshark)
There ARE some practicality of this module: with IP Tools and Subnetting etc. But it is a very small section of it.
I am actually struggling to place this module into context.

Anyway, I also did not go and write the exam, and seeing some of your replies, my thought process was correct.

How can it be expected to memorise this vast amount of (irrelevant?) technical detail and have limited guidance of what is expected in the exam?

Anyway, I am not taking this subject next year. (Even thou I work with it every day) Weird!!

I have to admit I also struggled with this exam, it's my first year studying with Unisa and I'm finding it hard to pinpoint what's expected at exam level with certain courses.

Seeing as there was no past paper I too thought the focus of the exam would be more correlated with the tutorial questions, ah well.

Guys I saw this coming but I didn't have the solution. How can you remember the whole +900 pages of the book. The guidance on the exam tutorial later was of no help at all. Even the MCQ were there to make sure that you are burried , correct me if in wrong

I don't know what to say!!!!! It's supposed to be my last year doing honours at UNISA and now i don't know what to do since the exam was a complete disaster....................Let's not loose hope...................

Agh shame ... I feel sorry for you guys.
I was planning to do this module this year and assumed that a MCQ exam wouldn't be so bad, regardless of the large volume of work.
I've changed my mind now and will choose another module.
I knew it was a tough module but had no idea it was that tough.

YAY!! Our marks are out!! I passed this one with a distinction, so luckily I did not miss all the trick questions!! Good luck all!!