<aside> 💡 THINGS TO KNOW - from Reddit posts + what I remember encryption attacks names access matrices, access lists, capability lists (how to read/find) paging vs. segmentation external vs. internal fragmentation threads vs. processes and how they work together process states computer generations and what they implements system services - the names of them + what’s included storage systems replacement algorithms how HDDs work (seek time, rotational latency, CLV, CAV, head crash, etc) DMA

NOTE: The Competency Mapping resource within the course does not include everything you need for the PA + OA, you need to know things from literally every section and chapter for this class (except the ones marked Optional in Zybooks). An e-reader is your friend.

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The PA ≠ the OA for this class! Topics are the same but you need to understand the concepts and terms in much more depth to pass the OA.

I spent way too long on this class and did a bunch of things that didn’t really move the needle forward in terms of me passing or understanding the information. If I had to do the class again here’s what I’d do:

  1. Watch the Tami Sorgente Playlist. It’s not comprehensive but will give you a good start. It’s around 3 hours if you watch it sped up.
  2. Take the PA and Course Planner. As you’re taking it write down any terms/concepts in the questions or answers that you’re not 100% sure about.
  3. Go through Zybooks, skimming the chapters to read just the vocab terms (don’t worry about studying them, just read them). Then do the Participation activities on each page to lock in the terms and concepts - you can skip the Challenge Activities but I recommend watching the Participation ones that show the step-by-step videos. Read the explanations for right/wrong answers as you go through the Participation Activities. You really have to understand the concepts thoroughly and be able to approach them from various angles for the OA. This is probably going to take a while, longer than it would with another course, because the material is long and dry but it’s honestly probably the quickest way.
  4. Go through the list of terms/concepts you wrote down and cross off the ones you now know. Search the book for the ones you still haven’t learned.
  5. Take the PA again. Then click all the “Review” links in the Coaching Report and read those pages in their entirety. Also go back to Chapter 1 and memorize tables 1.1.1, 1.3.1, and 1.3.2.
  6. You should be read to start review at this point. Here are some good quizzes:
    1. Jacques Quizzes - all of these are good, you don’t need to know the numbers associated with the ports whenever that pops up so don’t worry about memorizing that.
    2. Course Search > Module Quiz Answers has a document with some great questions but the answers are provided. I couldn’t find the blank quiz (in the 2 mins I spent looking).
    3. Quizlet Sets - these sets are all great, you can focus on the ones named “Trivia” and “Operating Systems”, I did them in match mode several times then test mode.
    4. Processes - this resource helped with understanding the nuances of processes for me, there are also other pages for pretty much all the OS topics here
    5. Sanfoundry - I didn’t get to this but the questions look similar in nature to the ones on the OA, NOT the same topics, but approached from the same angle. If you take the PA topics, and rewrite the questions to mimic phrasing style and depth of this set, that’s the OA.
    6. Cram - didn’t get to this but it looks decent at a glance.
  7. DON’T SKIP! There are two documents in Announcements > Article that have additional material that is tested but not in the book. My version of the OA didn’t have any questions from here but it’s worth looking over.

Notes on other resources: