20 Topics to Start Your PhilNITS Review On

A recent visitor (BK) to my blog wanted to know if I had a list of recommended topics to focus on in reviewing for the PhilNITS exam. So I came up with one.

Actually those who have attended my reviews were provided a list of Frequently Appearing Topics/Questions, plus subsequent discussions on them. But since that might be difficult to share here, let me give you a list of the 20 most important topics. As the actual scope of questions of PhilNITS is very wide, I hope this short list will be more manageable and can help get your review going:

1. Radix Conversion
2. Data Structures (Lists, Queues, Trees)
3. Basic Search, and Sort Algorithms
4. Flow-charts and Pseudo-codes
5. Memory Architecture, and Performance Calculations
6. Processor Performance Calculations
7. Auxiliary Storage Capacity and Performance Calculations
8. State Transitions
9. Data Flow Diagrams
10. Basic SQL Commands
11. System Availability (MTBF, MTTR)
12. Software Development Methodologies
13. Testing Methodologies, and Phases
14. OSI Basic Reference Model
15. TCP/IP Addressing, and Common Protocols
16. Database Normalization
17. Public Key Cryptography
18. Basic Accounting (Break-Even, Profit, Loss, Inventory)
19. Seven QC Tools
20. Arrow Diagrams, and Critical Path determination

As for Tips and Techniques on how to prepare for the exam, and how to improve your chances of passing, these past entries may be useful :

http://abrightfit.blogspot.com/2009/04/pointers-on-how-to-pass-philnits-fe.html

http://abrightfit.blogspot.com/2008/07/pointers-on-how-to-pass-philnits-fe.html


The best of luck to you.

Lessons Learned from PhilNITS

Today is May 8, 2009. I just finished eating an early lunch when I visited the PhilNITS website (www.philnits.org). I was surprised to see the results of the April 26 (2009) exam already posted, as I expected it to come out after a week more or so.

I immediately looked for passers from Davao (starting with FE005-...), and was surprised to find only 5 in the list of FE passers. I have set my mind not to expect too much (as I did last time), lest I might be dissapointed. But to be honest, I was hoping more from Davao would pass. Maybe because some took the "Removal" exam only. Maybe because some of the examinees already took the October 2008 exam and some of them even got very good scores. Maybe because our current batch of examinees really showed very good promise during our review program. Maybe because some of the examinees were quite confident about their performance when I asked them immediately after the exam.

Today, I was just reminded how difficult it is to pass the PhilNITS exam, and how unexpected the outcome can be. I have learned these so many times before while helping to prepare examinees to pass it. I have not really forgotten those lessons, I just thought that with all the lessons I already learned, and with all the new techniques I introduced to prepare for the exam, that "this time" would be "the time."

But alas, it was not to be.

Today I feel down... I feel I let so many people down.

But I will not give up. PhilNITS is definitely hard to pass, but it is not impossible. And I will continue to find ways to help people do well in the exam...

PhilNITS Exam (Davao City) -- April 26, 2009

Today is another exciting day for Davao IT!

Today, April 26, 2009, a total of 76 IT students, professionals, teachers and enthusiasts are challenging the PhilNITS certification exams. Majority are taking the exams for the first time (most of them college students in their 3rd year of education), while some have experienced taking it before and are determined to continue the challenge. Almost all examinees are challenging the FE (Fundamental IT Engineer) exam, but there was one who challenged the SW (SW Design and Developent Engineer).

To facilitate the exam, and to provide morale support, Shinichiro Kato (PhilNITS' Vice President for Finance) and PhilNITS Davao staff members Joy Alferez and Renan Cruz were there. Arriel Nengasca also lent a hand in behalf of DTI-XI. I too visited the UIC (Bonifacio) Campus to give support to the PhilNITS people and to the examinees, especially to those who attended my reviews and orientation seminars.


My hopes are high that our examinees will do well in the exam. But with an average passing rate of only about 10% nationwide, I am realistic in my expectations. Still, knowing personally the capability of most of the examinees, I am confident that they have done well. I am just hoping their scores are good enough to reach the passing mark. Last year our review program helped to produce the first student passer from Ateneo de Davao University (Jedd Benedict Kris Mahilum), and also from University of Southeastern Philippines (Rendell Andrin). Three of our review participants from UP-Mindanao also passed (Larvi Jerrick Badoy, Raymond Bryan Brion, Ian Jay Plaza). A good number also got good scores, but ufortunately were a little short of the passing mark.

The PhilNITS review courses were made possible through the generous sponsorship of Data Horizon (a Japanese SW Development company). PhilNITS Foundation also found additional sponsors, allowing more Davaoeños to take the examination in spite of their tough financial standing. This was all made possible through the tireless efforts of PhilNITS president, Ma. Corazon Akol, and its vice president, Shinichiro Kato.

It would be about a month or so before the results of the exams will be known. For the time being, we can relax knowing we prepared well for the exam. Pass or not, we have already benefited a lot (in terms of IT knowledge and skill improvement) from preparing for the exam.