CPA exam (c++ associate certification)

[Kamjam66xx]

Im looking to schedule for the Pearson VUE c++ CPA exam, but i took their online course and i keep winding up at 68% for the final.

 

Does anyone who passed it have tips or specific things to study, things to watch for when taking the exam? 

 

Really any insight on the exam would be great. I feel like i studied everything enough, i thought for sure i would have scored at least 90%. I also thought i would be ready for the CPP exam too, but i guess not.

[reniat]

just out of curiosity, is there a specific job you are looking for that requires certification? Also, is this test expensive?
 

To answer the actual question, what kinds of answers are you getting wrong? I've never heard of a C++ cert, but I'm a C++ mentor at work and can answer specific C++ questions.

[Kamjam66xx]

3 hours ago, reniat said:

just out of curiosity, is there a specific job you are looking for that requires certification? Also, is this test expensive?
 

To answer the actual question, what kinds of answers are you getting wrong? I've never heard of a C++ cert, but I'm a C++ mentor at work and can answer specific C++ questions.

They are partnered with cisco now. Its roughly $300, its half off if you complete and pass their online course. Im looking for any jr software engineer position. 

 

It has national accreditation. 

https://cppinstitute.org/cpa-course-an-overview

 

It doesnt tell you the answers for the questions once you are done. Ill try retaking the course and copying the questions all into my IDE. It just has really bizarre questions.

 

I thought i knew everything, so i dont where i went wrong to ask about it.

[logic_error]

What kind of questions are present in the mock exam that you're currently getting 68% on?

[reniat]

4 minutes ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Im looking for any jr software engineer position. 

 

Just my 2 cents, I don't think this cert is worth it. I don't think i've ever seen a software cert on a job listing. I'm sure there might be some niche jobs that might require it, but I don't think its worth $300 imo. Would the cert be your only credentials on a resume? or do you have a degree of some kind? 

[logic_error]

8 minutes ago, reniat said:

Just my 2 cents, I don't think this cert is worth it. I don't think i've ever seen a software cert on a job listing. I'm sure there might be some niche jobs that might require it, but I don't think its worth $300 imo. Would the cert be your only credentials on a resume? or do you have a degree of some kind? 

I find universities/colleges and the like tend to push these things as being important. Personally I've never met anyone who cared.

[Kamjam66xx]

8 minutes ago, reniat said:

Just my 2 cents, I don't think this cert is worth it. I don't think i've ever seen a software cert on a job listing. I'm sure there might be some niche jobs that might require it, but I don't think its worth $300 imo. Would the cert be your only credentials on a resume? or do you have a degree of some kind? 

No degree yet, no Ged yet, no diploma.

I planned on getting c++ associate and professional certs, same for C, then python, oracle java certs, sql cert, c# cert. 

 

Regardless of if an employer wants it, i want it. I plan on doing WGU's online program after i get my GED. 

 

Also... i restarted the course, so i have to work to the final again. Ill post them later. It will take atleast 2 hours to do the tests for all 8 sections.

[reniat]

1 hour ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Regardless of if an employer wants it, i want it.

That's totally okay. Anything that motivates learning is great in my book. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting for $300 a cert. If someone had told you HAD to get that cert and it was a financial burden for you, that would be a problem.

[Kamjam66xx]

1 hour ago, reniat said:

 

Its actually a pretty hard test. Microsoft c# requires 65% to pass, pearson VUE c++ requires 80%. 

 

Its all mental and reading code, multiple choice.

 

 figure out the values for fully instantiated int** and grab some values from it, Namespace trickery, Bad naming conventions, casting, etc. Leave out includes. Its really hard to follow perfectly.

 

They literally have a problem where the classes and their member functions call and except references and pointers but all of their names are

  {who,  Who,  what,  What,  why,  Why,      Where,  where,  When,  when} declare variables with the same names in different scopes. and they just pass around numbers and do math test your knowledge of inheritance.

 

Im on chapter 7 of 8. So ill post some of the easier ones in a bit. It will let me take the mock 1-8 today then the final on the 21st. 

[reniat]

34 minutes ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Its actually a pretty hard test. Microsoft c# requires 65% to pass, pearson VUE c++ requires 80%. 

 

Its all mental and reading code, multiple choice.

 

 figure out the values for fully instantiated int** and grab some values from it, Namespace trickery, Bad naming conventions, casting, etc. Leave out includes. Its really hard to follow perfectly.

 

They literally have a problem where the classes and their member functions call and except references and pointers but all of their names are

  {who,  Who,  what,  What,  why,  Why,      Where,  where,  When,  when} declare variables with the same names in different scopes. and they just pass around numbers and do math test your knowledge of inheritance.

 

Im on chapter 7 of 8. So ill post some of the easier ones in a bit. It will let me take the mock 1-8 today then the final on the 21st. 

I mean that does sound hard, but i'm not sure how important the "trickery" stuff it is for writing actual software rofl

 

If someone at my job put up code with names like "who What when WHY" etc, their code review would get slapped into oblivion never to see the light of merge.

[Kamjam66xx]

8 hours ago, reniat said:

 

I've actually been taking notes, so its slowing me down. 

 

Most of its keeping notes of idiotic things you might not realize when reading a chunk of code really fast, like.

int vals[6] = {2,3,7,6,5,8,9};

 

Will post some questions tomorrow.

[Kamjam66xx]

On 12/14/2018 at 5:50 PM, reniat said:

 

Sorry, ive decided to really study it as hard as i can. So this is still only basic c++ stuff and not very hard questions. but the way they are worded got me on 2 and almost got me on the rest. its multiple choice, you just select what you think the output is. these arent really hard questions. ill post ones from the mock 0-8 when i do it. 

 

the part that makes it hard is that the real exam is 55 questions in 60 minutes which may or may not be taken up by a few minutes of instructions which count towards the 60 minutes. granted im new to c++,  i expect you to go through these like nothing. 

 

like i struggle to do this all mentally in 60 seconds.

 

    #include <iostream>
    using namespace std;
    
    class A {
    public:
        float v=0;
        float set(float v) {
            A::v += 1.0;
            A::v = v + 1.0;
            return v;
        }
        float get(float v) {
            v += A::v;
            return v;
        }
    };
    
    int main() {
        A a;
        cout << a.get(a.set(a.set(0.5)));
        return 0;
    }
----------------------------
    #include <iostream>
    using namespace std;
    
    class A {
    public:
        int cnt;
        void put(int v);
    };
    
    void A::put(int v)  { ++cnt; cout << cnt; }
    
    int main() {
        A a[2];
        a[0].cnt = 0;
        a[1].cnt = 1;
        a[a[0].cnt].put(a[1].cnt);
        return 0;
    }
----------------------------
    #include <iostream>
    using namespace std;
    
    class A {
    public:
        A(A *v) { A::v = v; }
        A() { A::v = 1.0; }
        float v;
        float set(float v) {
            A::v = v;
            return v;
        }
        float get(float v) {
            return A::v;
        }
    };
    
    int main() {
        A a,*b = new A(a);
        cout << a->get(b->set(a->v));
        return 0;
    }
---------------------------
    #include <iostream>
    using namespace std;
    
    class A {
    public:
        float v;
        A() { v = 1.0; }
        A(A &a) { A::v = a.v; cout << "1"; }
        ~A() { cout << "0"; }
        float set(float v) {
            A::v = v;
            return v;
        }
        float get(float v) {
            return A::v;
        }
    };
    
    int main() {
        A a,*b = new A(a),*c = new A(*b);
        c->get(b->get(a.set(1.0)));
        delete b;
        delete c;
        return 0;
    }

 

[reniat]

2 hours ago, Kamjam66xx said:

snip

 

The only way to get faster with these trivia type questions is to practice. One way to help parse through it faster if you are not already doing it, might be to approach it one statement at a time. Go through statement one, and figure out all the various object instantiations involved, before moving on to the next line, instead of trying to absorb the problem all at once.

 

I will say though, while this kind of C++ knowledge can be useful, it's mostly gained through familiarity and experience. It won't make you a good software engineer, just more fluent in C++ syntax. If you could magically imbue a bad developer with ALL possible C++ specific knowledge, they would still be a bad developer (just with flawless C++ syntax understanding). Things that make engineers "good" or "bad" are typically much more abstract design/style concepts that are much harder to put into a 1 minute per problem test. This can be things like:

• Knowing when to sacrifice code readability/maintainability for performance (and more importantly, when not to)
• Knowing how to make scale-able abstractions that don't end up bloated
• Knowing how to write an API that doesn't suck
• Knowing how to document things correctly
• Knowing how to make ACTUALLY passive changes to aforementioned API (e.g. impact analysis skills)
• Knowing how to write testable code
• Knowing how to write unit tests that actually fully test said testable code

There's tons more, but basically being able reason about a system as an abstract concept to make concrete decisions if far more important than having all the specifics of C++ syntax memorized. This is one of the reasons why great engineers can bounce between languages pretty easily. Google can bridge the syntax gaps between languages; googling "how do I write readable code" is a lot longer of a research problem than "iterators in C++".

 

EDIT: I'm NOT saying don't keep going with it. Having a deep understanding of the syntax of a given language is still a fantastic asset. I don't mean to discourage learning the language more, I just don't want you to confuse "this code compiles and has the correct behavior because the syntax is right" with "this code is good code".

[Kamjam66xx]

2 hours ago, reniat said:

 

Edit: copying the code into an IDE and using debugging helped A LOT. 

 

Right, ive been all the way through data structures, templates, macros, threads, stl, etc for a while now. Its not included in this certification, but i think it is in its second tier. This thing REALLY drills in a solid knowledge of the basics though.

 

After a few certs, im going to read up on object oriented design, software developement life cycle, dive deeper into debugging. 

 

But thanks, that confirms what i suspected. Havent done much real world application for C++ yet. 

Hoping oracle java certs are easier lol. 

[wasab]

On 12/14/2018 at 2:28 PM, Kamjam66xx said:

 

Regardless of if an employer wants it, i want it. I plan on doing WGU's online program after i get my GED. 

 

This is the wrong mindset. You shouldn't care if you have certification of not. Learning the neccessary skills are the important part.

[Kamjam66xx]

Just now, wasab said:

This is the wrong mindset. You shouldn't care if you have certification of not. Learning the neccessary skills are the important part.

Right, i understand what you mean. But i do care. Since this specific certification is actually kind of hard, Ill be proud of myself for getting it. 

[wasab]

7 hours ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Edit: copying the code into an IDE and using debugging helped A LOT. 

 

Right, ive been all the way through data structures, templates, macros, threads, stl, etc for a while now. Its not included in this certification, but i think it is in its second tier. This thing REALLY drills in a solid knowledge of the basics though.

 

After a few certs, im going to read up on object oriented design, software developement life cycle, dive deeper into debugging. 

 

But thanks, that confirms what i suspected. Havent done much real world application for C++ yet. 

Hoping oracle java certs are easier lol. 

You don't want to pick up bunch of lanaguges if you have no prior programming experiences. Know well in one lanagauge first and then you can pick others easily. 

 

It might test you well on the basics sythax but I do not think it gives a thorough hands on experience in software development and debugging. The certification exam questions look like what I would get on my freshman intro to programming final. It asks the right questions but if you want intimate knowledge of a langauge, you need to get your hands dirty and code a complex program(games are good choices) as a practice. 

 

Remember, often exams merely test you how good you are at taking the exam. Not how good you are as a professional

[Kamjam66xx]

Just now, wasab said:

 

Im a quick study, learned c++ from a 774 page book in 45 days - start to finish. I do make practice programs, like a procedural calculator that works on a string, simple vms. Im going to start doing the Chernos game engine and other series. 

 

I also got udemy classes though with projects for real world application. They give you useless certificates for completing those classes, but you learn.

 

I even studied some electrical engineering stuff, where it applied to programming.

 

I literally started learning programming on september, 28, 2018. So it hasent even been 3 months yet.

[wasab]

5 minutes ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Im a quick study, learned c++ from a 774 page book in 45 days - start to finish. I do make practice programs, like a procedural calculator that works on a string, simple vms. Im going to start doing the Chernos game engine and other series. 

 

I also got udemy classes though with projects for real world application. They give you useless certificates for completing those classes, but you learn.

 

I even studied some electrical engineering stuff, where it applied to programming.

 

I literally started learning programming on september, 28, 2018. So it hasent even been 3 months yet.

What I'm concern about is if you just decide to learn bunch of langauges for the first time, all at once as a first time programmer, you will burn out well before reaching the finish lines. 

 

As long as you do the coding exercises instead of just studying the exam questions, you will learn. Still, you should see coding of a complex software as the ultimate mark of your programming competence instead of an exam. 

[Kamjam66xx]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

 

Writing custom smart pointer templates classes made me want to give up, so did many other things. But i got over that hump, and i realize it just takes time and unconditional devotion. 

 

I get this horrible feeling in the back of my neck learning java though. It. Just doesnt feel right lol.

 

Honestly i think many languages can be learned in 7-20 days now.

[Guest]

From what I understand, you’re going to want a bachelor degree of any kind or a killer portfolio of projects you completed. 

[Guest]

 

Quote

Honestly i think many languages can be learned in 7-20 days now.

Yes but be an expert in 1. Knowing 2-3 languages is nice but you should specialize in 1 from how easy it is to learn new languages than expert in 1. 

 

I got a job as a JavaScript writer when I only knew c#. 

[Kamjam66xx]

4 hours ago, fpo said:

From what I understand, you’re going to want a bachelor degree of any kind or a killer portfolio of projects you completed. 

Yeah thats what i picked up on too. I plan on having a portfolio, bachelors, and certs. I love C++ and C, they make so much sense. I dont see why you cant master as many languages as you want. 

 

This has gone off topic now lol.

[wasab]

6 minutes ago, Kamjam66xx said:

Yeah thats what i picked up on too. I plan on having a portfolio, bachelors, and certs. I love C++ and C, they make so much sense. I dont see why you cant master as many languages as you want. 

 

This has gone off topic now lol.

You can in due time but not when you just started out and still learning the very basics like object oriented programming. 

[AngryBeaver]

On 12/14/2018 at 1:24 PM, logic_error said:

I find universities/colleges and the like tend to push these things as being important. Personally I've never met anyone who cared.

You might feel that way, but depending on the market and what you do those certs can make or break things. Some certs are more entry level so a decent degree makes them pointless, but other certifications are game changers.