The Introduction to Computing DSST exam is another with the reputation of being one that can be passed with minimum study time. Despite regularly using computers for 10 years prior to taking the exam, there were many terms or abbreviations that I didn’t know the actual meaning of.
The Management Information System DSST and the Informations Systems and Computer Applications CLEP exams overlap in information to be studied, so it would be a good idea to take all three back-to-back to bank on some easy credits. Check with your college first though, some like TESC only accept Intro to Computing or the Information Systems CLEP, but not both in the same degree plan.
How I studied
I skimmed over Jan’s Computer Literacy 101. There are pictures and good explanations for many topics.
I went over the Instant Cert cards twice.
Then I took all 3 of the Peterson’s practice tests, taking notes on what I missed. I found them to be more difficult than the actual exam, so don’t feel too discouraged if you don’t score that well.
I arrived at the testing center a little early and googled terms from the Instant Cert feedback forum on my phone like: Zombie computer, L2 cache, Abacus and Charles Babbage. It was a good thing too, because all of those appeared on my exam.
More things to know
- The first computer
- Why RAM is volatile
- WAN/LAN
- Star, Bus, and Ring network topologies
- Bandwidth
- What a modem does
- Phishing
- FTP
- ISP
- HTTP
- Packets
- Bit, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte
Final thoughts
If you have a background in computers you will find this exam to be super easy, but if you only have basic computer knowledge, I would look up many terms before walking into this one. This is one of those exam where I feel confident in saying that studying with Instant Cert alone would be enough to pass.
Hakeem says
For the instant cert did you use Computing and information technology to study from? Because I didn’t see any sets for intro to computing.