A Special Note of Thanks

Yesterday (March 28, 2010) we had the PhilNITS examinations here in Davao City (simultaneous nationwide, and also with several Asian countries).

I intend to write more details about the examination, particularly the one here in Davao, soon. But for now, I would like to say "Thank You"...

... to all those who took the exams!
... especially to those who exerted extra-ordinary efforts to prepare for the exams
... to those who participated in our tight-scheduled, month-long (almost), daily reviews
... to Data Horizon, for continuing to sponsor the review and the exams for our students
... to members of the Davao Software Industry, Inc. (DSII) for taking/challenging the exams
... to MCA, for sponsoring the exams for some of our Davao IT engineers
... to PhilNITS Foundation, especially the Davao team, for their support and assistance
... to Kato-san, for visiting Davao again, after almost a year
... to the teachers, for their undying support and inspiration to their students
... to those who joined our bowling game last March 21 at the Fairlanes bowling alleys
... to my lovely wife, my cute kids, and my family, for their support and understanding

I am saying my "thank you", not in anticipation of the would-be results, but I am saying my "thank you" regardless of what would be the results of the recent exam.

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...