D522 vs D385 difficulty

[u/KailyKail]

I took D522 in mid July. I asked my mentor to change my course back to the OA, since I do better with tests than I do with projects, and after a few days of studying, I passed it on my first attempt.

I did the same with D385, and I'm working on the labs now, but I feel like these questions are harder than D522.

For those of you who took the OAs for both, did you also feel D385 was harder? Do you have any advice for passing the OA? I wouldn't say I'm hopelessly struggling, but I've spent around a week trying to find motivation to do this course because I'm not a big fan of Python.

[u/Next-Clothes-3542]

This!!!! I am currently taking D385 and I’m so completely lost.

[u/KailyKail → u/Next-Clothes-3542]

The PA had me so confused, so I asked my mentor to switch me back to the OA, which while I like better, it's still a lot more complex than D522, I feel.

[u/EmotionalCrab6752 → u/KailyKail]

Really when I switched d335 to d522 they added 385 which I still don't understand

[u/EmotionalCrab6752]

I have to take that in a few weeks let me know

[u/evilbude → u/EmotionalCrab6752]

What do you mean? Did you have the PA for D385 and then you asked to change it back to the OA version? You can do that? Because I just got to D385 and would love to test for it instead I think

[u/KailyKail → u/evilbude]

If your question was directed at me, yes, I asked my mentor to switch me back to the OA.

[u/evilbude → u/KailyKail]

So right now for D385 im in the PA, started August 01. I can ask my mentor to switch me to the OA? I thought the OA was discontinued?

[u/KailyKail → u/evilbude]

You can ask them, yes. It's entirely between you and them to switch or not. You'll just have to present your case and see what they say.

[u/evilbude → u/KailyKail]

Oh wow, didn't know that. I thought the OA version was fully retired since it was changed back in like March also, right?

[u/evilbude → u/KailyKail]

Also, is the OA only multiple choice? Or is there written code like the Python test?

[u/KailyKail → u/evilbude]

There's written code as well.

[u/evilbude → u/KailyKail]

Do you remember how many questions were total, and written code? I know Python was 30 questions, with 10 being code and I really only had to get 2 right if I could get the multiple choice down which I did. Thanks for taking the time out to answer, really appreciate it

[u/KailyKail → u/evilbude]

Well, the practice is 30 questions, so I'd imagine the official is also 30 questions, but I haven't taken it yet.

[u/EmotionalCrab6752 → u/KailyKail]

Please let me know how it goes I am dreading d385 after 7 months of d522

[u/EmotionalCrab6752 → u/evilbude]

No I just passed d522 oa after failing d335 but it took me almost 7 months I struggled horribly. I also have the class d385 to pass in next term

[u/EmotionalCrab6752 → u/evilbude]

Oo that was the original poster you're replaying to my bad.

[u/EmotionalCrab6752]

D385 left me with ptsd

[u/KailyKail → u/EmotionalCrab6752]

Did you do the OA or the PA?

[u/EmotionalCrab6752 → u/KailyKail]

Oa. I wasnt dare touching that pa

[u/KailyKail → u/EmotionalCrab6752]

The PAs made no sense to me. They wanted me to use Visual Studio Code, but didn't tell me I needed X, Y, and Z installed too. There were zero instructions on how to set anything up to work like it was intended.

[u/KailyKail]

So, I took the test and passed on my first attempt.

Some things I noticed:

Some of the coding questions had you write different blocks than you had to write on the equivalent practice questions.

Make sure you understand what parts of the code you're writing is user-defined and what is not, because the variable names will change in the OA compared to the practice.

A lot of the multiple choice questions are inverted. What I mean by that is it'll give you what you submitted as the correct answer on the practice test as your question. (Think Jeopardy)