Last answered:

04 Jan 2024

Posted on:

29 Nov 2022

8

Resolved: Feedback for practice exam

I really liked how challenging the test was. I really really REALLY disliked the time limit. 12 minutes is just not enough time to build and work through the queries to find the right solution. When I was able to review the test after, I was able to arrive at the correct answer on my own for each question but when I was racing the clock, I had simple typos and syntax errors purely from trying to type so quickly that caused me to run out of time.

I think the time limit should be at least 20 minutes for this practice exam.

3 answers ( 2 marked as helpful)
Super learner
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Posted on:

04 Dec 2022

3

totally agree just to figure out the data base is given and we have to download and use although its might be same as we previous used my 80% time gone and then we have to write queries run them and think where we are wrong it time consuming 20-25 minute must for this one

Instructor
Posted on:

05 Dec 2022

1

Hi Zachary and Mayank!

Thanks for reaching out and providing valuable feedback.

The practice exam in the SQL course serves two main purposes.

  1. It is supposed to check the students' ability to "figure out their way" throughout a database, or in other words - have a very good knowledge of how to find data from a complex database.That's why this test is using the 'employees' database - a database you can spend a lot of time during the course.

  2. The practice test acts as a stepping stone to the more challenging Course and Final exams. There, time is an even bigger factor, the database to work with will be unknown. Avoiding typos and speed of coding are a factor in the workplace as well. Therefore, the idea is to prepare you to raise your SQL coding to a level that the time provided to complete this exam is absolutely sufficient.

Please feel free to spend more time on the lectures and setting up the database. Being able to quickly and correctly solve an SQL query can also give you an edge on the market.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Martin

Posted on:

04 Jan 2024

2

I agree with the aforementioned problem of time not being sufficient and these feedbacks shouls be taken in consideration. I was already used to the database as I followed all lectures so far, I also did not have to go back that much on my solutions, and still did not have enough time to do all questions. I understand that time can also be challenging in workplace or interviews and so on, but the timing here seems to be not even reasonable. 

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