My struggle through Andela’s Assessment Tests (Am I good enough?)

Barbara Mangiri
Sep 6, 2018 · 5 min read

I’ve heard about Andela in passing from others or read about them online, but never imagined I’d actually apply to study or work with them.

Anyone with an interest in IT would have heard about Andela at least once, except if you’re an extreme workaholic or you’ve been living under a rock.

I’ve had formal education in a Programming field but in all my years of studying, I’ve never had as much zeal and focus as I do this year. I recently took a Full Stack Web development course at ElitePath Port-Harcourt to push me further and fast track my learning process.

My training at ElitePath has come in quite handy and given me more confidence to take on the Andela Tests. I’ve heard stories from friends about how difficult Andela tests were and was told the tests weren’t meant for just mere mortals. Apparently you had to be a genius to take their tests.

All the same, I was quite relieved when found out that there was a new Andela curriculum for Web development. According to the mail I received from Andela, the main focus was on Javascript and it was meant for those without experience in Programming (apparently).

I have some basic Javascript skills and have been exposed to materials at school and online too. I also had the opportunity to practice on some of the concepts I learnt, through assignments and classwork. So I decided to delve in. I asked myself a simple question: After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

So I took the Saberr personality test and went through the Andela Homestudy Curriculum. Which is quite bulky, with links to different sites, books and practice exercises, to get you familiar with programming and other relevant concepts.

It’s got tons of useful resources but the downside is that you’ve got to be online which requires loads of internet subscription. I wasn’t so worried about that because I had already subscribed for the sole purpose of learning stuff online.

I didn’t allow the materials overwhelm me. I copied out the stuff I felt, I really needed to learn. Some of it already seemed familiar to me so I just skimmed through those parts.

I recommend that any newbie without programming experience, applying for this same Andela program should start with:

40 key Computer Science Concepts explained in layman terms:

To get to the link above through the Andela Homestudy curriculum follow the path below:

2 Introduction to Programming>Computer Science Science Basics >http://carlcheo.com/compsci

If you can understand those concepts it’s going to be quite handy. Another thing you need to note, is that you’re not reading to cram and just pass the tests.

You’ll need to apply some of the things you’re reading about and the questions might not be asked in a straight-forward way. You’ll need to do some thinking.

But for a start it’s good to have a basic understanding of certain concepts.

Newbies in Programming should also try out the Javascript curriculum. Use this path, to access it in the Home study curriculum:

2 Introduction to Programming > Introduction to Javascript

Try as much as possible to understand some basics of Javascript. Codecademy gives you practice sessions and the other materials give you an idea of the syntax and how to use Javascript.

If you’re feeling like it’s a bit much, you could get videos online or get someone to explain things to you.

It’s really got to do with the state of your mind, how ready you think you are and the strategy you plan on using to get by.

I made up my mind that I would do the test no matter what. If I failed then I failed. Failing doesn’t mean you’re dumb. It’s good to try out stuff and find out your level so you’d know the areas you need to work on.

But the point is you can’t cover the entire HomeStudy curriculum so don’t try to. Focus on some sections and make sure you understand them.

I think I’ve given enough hints, so back to me and my struggle with the Andela Tests.

I received a mail on August 17th to take the first Andela assessment test and the deadline for submission was August 22nd. I was so busy and didn’t see the mail until the 19th. (You should always check your mails!)

I took the test on the 20th and it seemed quite easy. The best part was that I had made notes while reading the materials and I also knew where to go, in search for information. So I just went back to my notes when I forgot something or back to the Homestudy curriculum without wasting much time.

I felt happy about that initial stage, but my happiness was short lived. I received another mail on August 29th for my second Andela assessment test and the deadline for submission was September 21st. As usual I was quite busy and didn’t see the mail until a few days later.

When I started the test, I saw that it had 16 sections and the first section had about 15 questions.

As I progressed through the test, I realized that in each section there was at least one question which required me to write a code in Javascript. Although, the other questions in the sections were regular multiple choice.

The codes can make you panic and stop thinking logically especially if they’re lengthy codes. But please don’t let any of that scare you off. You don’t have to get everything correct.

In one of the sections, there was a function that had to do with accepting two numbers and returning a range of odd numbers between the two numbers.

It worked on my browser but wouldn’t work on the Andela test platform. I submitted it that way and moved on to the next question.

The best part is that you can always come back to a question you didn’t do correctly. Just try to relax while doing the Andela test.

Anyway, I finally survived and I’m finished with my second Andela Test. The test was meant to be completed in 4 hours, but I probably used up to 12 hours or more.

I may not be a genius, but so what? I’m not backing down. Everyone starts from somewhere and I believe anyone can do it too. So don’t give up!

Thank you so much for reading my post and I wish anyone taking the Andela test Godspeed!

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