Utech CIT aptitude test

[gravyflex]

I would like to find out what the Utech Cit aptitude entrance test is like. Can someone who has done this exam share their experience.

I'm dreading doing it cause I really hate surprises.

[Xenocrates]

Gravyflex: The test for the Computing & Information Technology degree program @ UTECH is really an IQ test, masked as an aptitude test. It tests your abilities for reasoning and logic. This is of crucial importance because:

Typically up to 2,000 odd people apply for the degree course, but they can only take 800 students.

By the time most people get to second semester in second year, half of that number will drop out - mostly because they can't handle the workload (or the work for that matter)

UTECH STRONGLY emphasizes programming, logic and design courses - most of which are practical courses. If you don't have a passion for computing, especially with respect to designing and building computer hardware and software, you are not recommended to do the degree.

If you don't have physics, you are going to suffer. Believe it.

The IQ test scores your IQ rating. The 800 highest scores are allowed to successfully register for the degree program. Others are sent home. To get an idea of what you will see on the test, checkout the following:

[More to come...]

[Xenocrates]

Question 1

The Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dodo are all sitting at a table drinking tea.

The Mad hatter says that the March Hare is a liar.
The March hare says that the Dodo is a liar.
The Dodo says that both the March Hare and the Mad Hatter are liars.

Who is telling the truth?

Question 2

Eight women, Amanda, Betty, Carol, Doris, Ellie, Fay, Gail and Harriet, get together every Tuesday night to play bridge. They play two games at a tme with 4 women at each table. Each woman has a regular partner, but a different colour from all the other women. The colours were blue, yellow, red and white. Clues:

Amanda never wears yellow and does not have Gail as a her partner
Betty, the 2 women in red, and Doris are at one table
Fay, a woman in white, a woman in yellow, and Carol were at the other.
Harriet is wearing white and is not Carol's partner.

From the previous clues, tell:

Each woman's partner
The team played against
The colour of each team's outfit.

Question 3

There are five houses, each of a different colour and inhabited by men of different nationalities, with different pets, drinks and musical interests.
The Englishman lives in the red house
The Spaniard owns the dog
Coffee is drunk in the green house
The Ukranian drinks tea
The green house is immediately to the right of the ivory house
The Rap lover owns snails.
Beethohoven is enjoyed in the yellow house
Milk is drunk in the middle house
The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left
The man who likes jazz lives in the house next to the man with the fox.
Beethoven is played in the house next to the house where the horse is kept
The Bach lover drinks orange juice
The Japanese likes opera
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house

Who owns the Zebra and who drinks Water?

[Xenocrates]

Use those 3 questions I posted to practice for the exam. I also strongly recommend doing the logic puzzles at: www.expandyourmind.com.

Try and have fun at doing them. That's your best chance of passing to get in. Good luck. ;)

[gravyflex]

Wow!

Thanks for the heads up my friend. I wish I had asked sooner.
I will be doing these until the 24th. Hope they don't change the test date again. Any additional material would be welcome.

[gravyflex]

I guess the 24th and 25th of April is official now and I hope there won't be anymore changes. The notice was printed in the Sunday Gleaner. I find that it is rather impersonal the way Utech advertises the aptitude test. I wonder how many people will miss the notice. Don't they collect your email address on your application? I'm wondering how difficult it would be to send the notices by email. What do you think Xenocrates?

I called and asked if the fee had to be paid before the exam day and I was told no. Had I not seen this notice I would have gotten what the duck got. Why is Customer Service always M.I.A. in Jamdown.

[Xenocrates]

I tell you what Gravyflex, if it wasn't for a female companion I just happened to be with on the last day of registration, I would not have known that it was the last day of registration and I would not have been @ UTECH to begin with.

UTECH's administration is frighteningly bad - even though the education is top notch. I've seen primary schools with more airtight administration than UTECH. Heck, I've been to churches where their administration is far more sophisticated. There have been many excellent teachers to leave UTECH because of the poor administration. One that comes to mind is a brilliant programmer by the name of Jeffery Roach (sp?) He is by far the single most brilliant programmer in all of Jamaica. Full stop.

Gravyflex, when you get to UTECH, ask about Jeffery Roach. The man has left a legacy of excellence there. That's why UWI comp sci degree students come to UTECH to learn how to program. CyVan can probably tell you. He was a tuff teacher to deal with, but his brilliance was unmatched. Many even rumored him to having an IQ in the 250 range!!! :o :o

(He designed that Aptitude test that you will be taking ;))

But he left UTECH - like many other brilliant teachers before him, partly because of the ridiculous administration. UTECH administration has a lot to be desired. Recently, 3rd year students, primarily those who were avid programmers, sharply criticized the administrative heads for coming up with the name University of Technology, yet not making use of the technology. Do you know how many brilliant final year projects done on student administration were delivered by students? Yet, UTECH admins have not used even one of them. Idiots. >:(

Can you believe that it is just now that they have come up with an online Student Administration system? UWI has had this in place for AGES. If (or should I say when) you get in, whenever there are assignments due back on a particular date, or you are supposed to get a package, a report, or some other document is supposed to be put out by a particular date, don't wait on administration to contact you (even if they say they would). Don't wait on them to contact you if you passed the aptitude test either. Most of the people in there need to be babied by students to get anything done the way it was planned. They are Slackers by any definition of the word. All of them need to go on customer relations courses.

If UTECH had an administration HALF as efficient as UWI's, they'd be the ultimate university. No other University in the Island would even stand a chance @ competing particularly with the technology oriented degree programs. I mean, ask any electrician or programmer here. If they want a degree, few of them would want to do it anywhere else except @ UTECH.

So even though the courses are top notch (no compromises made there) the administration is poor. Believe it. But Grin and bear it. They are making some changes and I have seen improvements recently. At least you will graduate with the satisfaction of knowing that when you apply for a computing oriented job, 9/10 times, the UTECH student is chosen over ones from other universities. It's statistically proven fact. Students from other universities will only get the job over you if they have more experience. And believe me, you will be chalking up a LOT of experience @ UTECH.

Did I mention that Linux is now a mainstream course there? You'll be doing Linux administration when you get in as a part of your comp sci degree course. By the time you hit 3rd year, you'd have earned some MAD skillz dog ;)

[Greatis]

does you know if Utech acknowledges certifications?

[Xenocrates]

I went in with my MCSE certification, and they still didn't give me exemption from the related courses. But it doesn't matter. Having a cert and going to UTECH = Easy A's. What you should know though is that the Security specialization @ UTECH follows the exact same course outline as that of a CSSP cert course. So you can do the UTECH course and take the CSSP exams. Same thing with A+ certs.

But I must give a word of advice to all those with certs who are thinking of doing the UTECH thing:

Don't skip the classes just because you know it already. In fact, don't apply for exemptions. The extra A's are always good for your GPA and you will be mighty surprised at what new things you can learn. I've met one too many programmers who are genuinely good, but skip classes and then have to drop out or repeat courses. Too much self confidence can be a bad thing.

[gravyflex]

Luckly I was warned my a great many people about the bad admin @ Utech. So I have been calling them for weeks to check if the date had change. They are not going to catch me with my pants down. :D

I think I will heed your advise about the exemptions although Its tempting still cause I hear the workload ruff. I am looking forward to the electronics courses because I have seen first hand how it can help you in the working world. The Utech grads always impress me with thir skills. I have my fingers crossed that I will get in(trying not to get too excited here).
From your experience so far would you recommend working and studying?

Looking forward for trek into Kingston on the 24th. ;)
Thanks for the feedback.

[Xenocrates]

Work & Study @ UTECH is suicide. If you can avoid doing it, avoid doing it. If you can't, don't procrastinate. I'm serious.

I worked for a few years and saved up enough cash to send myself to UTECH for the 4 years quite easily. That way I didn't have to rely on student's loan or have to be worrying about money for school fee or books - so working wasn't mandatory for me. You will probably get away with work and study up to second semester 2nd year. But let me tell you:

First semester 3rd year WILL KICK YOUR *****

I'm not trying to frighten you, but I wish I had somebody to tell me, because I would have prepared myself. I'm still sufferring from headaches created by first semester in the 3rd. Make sure you make friends with only people who you know are willing enough to loose an undetermined amount of sleep to get the job done. Failure to identify and stick with such people from the first year will put you in a rather precariously dangerous position. Academically and health-wise.


Procrastination is your WORST enemy!

UTECH is known for giving students 2 and 3 major projects in the same semester to complete. When you hit 3rd year, that number rises to no less than 7. Yes, that's 5 + 2 = 7. In one semester. :o :o :o Again I say:


Procrastination is your WORST enemy.

Start the projects the night you get them. Especially if you planning on working and schooling @ the same time. I couldn't handle it - which is why I took some time off from work. Make sure you identify your worker friends from 1st semester 1st year and hang on to them. This is one degree course you cannot pass by yourself. Believe me. I don't care how bright anyone is. I've seen people with phenomenally higher IQs drop out in the second year. Make sure you make lots of friends dog.

YOU WILL NEED THEM! Especially if you cannot avoid work and study. ;)

[owen]

matrices (possibly spelt wrong), couple math questions at the end of the paper. Chances are they use the same exam every year. Study all your fifth form maths topics for the 20 questions at the end of the paper.
As far as I remember everything is multiple choose (except like 5 or so questions). the point is get everything right. most likely the papers will be machine marked so your aptitude won't count as much as your ability to get all the math questions right. study your algebra.

[Xenocrates]

Owen, how recent was it that you did the aptitude test? When I did it, there were no math related questions. They were all logic based.

[owen]

Owen, how recent was it that you did the aptitude test? When I did it, there were no math related questions. They were all logic based.


last year there where 20 or so multi-choice math questions. you were lucky

[Xenocrates]

I guess it was because Roach was still there. Funny. He left shortly after I got there...

[BlackCryptoKnight]

What you should know though is that the Security specialization @ UTECH follows the exact same course outline as that of a CSSP cert course. So you can do the UTECH course and take the CSSP exams.


Not quite sure about that X. i think the UTECH Security course is closer to Security+ than CISSP. Maybe someone can post the course outline so they can be compared - UTECH vs. Security+ vs. CISSP. I think that would be very helpful 8)