ATARNotes Study Guides for Software Development?

[paulsterio]

Who would buy one if I were to write one?

[brenden]

Do you EVER rest?!

[thushan]

In all seriousness, Paul's got a really strong work ethic.

[Lasercookie]

Give us your pitch How do you intend on approaching / structuring the book and where will you be putting the focus on with your questions/written theory explanations e.g. in depth explanations of theory or exam technique or focusing the more intricate parts of the study design etc. (some kind of balance I assume, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts).

I'll have to mention, for ITA at least, that Mark Kelly's QAT's exams for IT Applications really were the gold standard that I've come across VCE IT material and really stood out from the rest of the companies. It was really obvious that a lot of time was spent ensuring that exam was well written. I hope your work will raise that standard higher

[MJRomeo81]

Paul if you could pull this off then I don't know who wouldn't buy the book. There is definitely a market out there for such a resource. VCEIT.com is great but SD is seriously lacking prac exams. There needs to be a resource that not only explains things simply like VCEIT, but also has prac exam questions to test the knowledge.

The main textbook for SD isn't the best. I do commend Janson for his effort but many topics were explored superficially (OSI model, algorithms, security, etc). The new study design was implemented last year (when I sat the exam) and it was totally different from what I expected.

I think the tone of the book would have to be 'You don't learn a programming language in SD, you learn how to program'.

[paulsterio]

MJRomeo, that was my reasoning when I thought about writing this book because I think that there's a decent market out there. Like, there's really a lack of resources for software development and I would be able to fill a niche with this subject. You're right - the SD textbooks aren't bad, but I don't think they do a good job of preparing you for the exam - it's like, you could get similar information just by looking at Study Design and googling the points, given how much information there is out there for SD.

Laseredd, this is what I'm personally thinking. I'm going to write a book that is around 300 A4 pages - so about the same size as my Physics book, but I'll take a different approach. I'll start off with a brief course summary - so like cram notes. I'll then go through in depth notes and the intricacies of the course.

I'll then go onto show you how to answer questions on the exam, then I'll look at how to answer short answer questions and how to do a case study - so this is exam techniques separate to the theory.

Then I'll finally have some practice exams - so hopefully three practice exams with model solutions, I won't have detailed solutions for this subject because it's not practical, but I'll refer you to the appropriate theory pages.

[billyjackson768]

Shut up and take my money!

I'm feeling there is a definate lack of recources for this subject and anything new would be appreciated by many.

How long does it take to make a guide. Could it be out before the exams. If not I still do support this as it is a great idea!

[brenden]

It wouldn't be out before exams. I forgot about this post - my sister has just done subject selection and chose SD so I'm in if it's still in your mind.

[billyjackson768]

For the sake of future generations such as your sister. I'm still all for it then.