WGU study guides, course by course
WGU is fully online and competency-based: you pass courses by clearing assessments, not by sitting through lectures, and a flat-rate six-month term covers as many courses as you can finish. Courses end in either an objective assessment (OA — a proctored exam) or a performance assessment (PA — a project or paper), and most students lean on the pre-assessment to decide when they're ready. That structure rewards students who can pace themselves, which is exactly where most people struggle.
WGU courses use short alphanumeric codes — older courses start with C (C182, C949) and newer versions start with D (D335, D426). Students search and discuss courses almost exclusively by code, not title.
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C182 — Introduction to IT
C182 is the foundational survey course for WGU's IT degrees, covering computing history, hardware, software, networking basics, and the role of IT in organizations. It's usually one of the first courses new IT students hit, and it ends in an objective assessment (OA).
C172 — Network and Security Foundations
C172 covers networking models, common protocols, network devices, and baseline security concepts — essentially a lighter cousin of Network+ material. It's a core early course across WGU's IT and cybersecurity programs and ends in an OA.
C779 — Web Development Foundations
C779 introduces HTML, CSS, and the basics of how websites are structured, styled, and published. It sits early in several WGU IT degree plans and is assessed with a proctored exam rather than a build-a-site project.
D426 — Data Management - Foundations
D426 covers relational database fundamentals: the relational model, ER diagrams, normalization, and introductory SQL concepts, delivered through zyBooks. It ends in an OA and is the prerequisite for the hands-on D427.
D427 — Data Management - Applications
D427 is the hands-on SQL course: writing queries, joins, aggregations, and DDL/DML statements against real databases. The OA is performed in a live lab environment where you write working SQL, not multiple choice.
D335 — Introduction to Programming in Python
D335 teaches Python from zero: variables, control flow, functions, lists and dictionaries, and file handling, delivered through zyBooks. The OA is a live coding assessment — you write working Python in a lab environment under time constraints.
D278 — Scripting and Programming - Foundations
D278 is the language-agnostic intro to programming logic: variables, expressions, branching, loops, functions, and basic program design, using pseudocode and flowchart-style thinking (with the Coral language in zyBooks). It ends in an OA and typically precedes the real-language courses.
D286 — Java Fundamentals
D286 teaches core Java — syntax, control flow, methods, arrays, and introductory object-oriented concepts — through zyBooks. Like D335, the OA is a live coding assessment in a lab environment, making it one of the hands-on checkpoints in WGU's software track.
C846 — Business of IT - Applications
C846 covers IT service management through the ITIL 4 framework — service value, the guiding principles, and ITIL practices — and culminates in the ITIL 4 Foundation certification exam, which counts as the course assessment. Passing the course means earning an industry cert.
D322 — Introduction to IT
D322 is the current version of the retired C182 — the survey course that opens WGU's IT degrees with computing basics, hardware, software, networking, databases, and security fundamentals. Like its predecessor, it ends in an objective assessment (OA) and is usually one of the first courses new students clear.
D315 — Network and Security - Foundations
D315 is the current version of the retired C172, covering networking models, protocols and ports, network devices, and baseline security concepts. It's an early requirement across WGU's IT and cybersecurity programs and ends in an OA.
D316 — IT Foundations
D316 prepares you for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) exam, which is the course assessment — passing the cert passes the course. It covers hardware, mobile devices, networking basics, virtualization, and hardware troubleshooting, and pairs with D317 to complete the full A+.
D317 — IT Applications
D317 is the second half of the CompTIA A+ pair: the course assessment is the A+ Core 2 (220-1102) exam, covering operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures. Passing it after D316 completes the full A+ certification.
D325 — Networks
D325 is WGU's CompTIA Network+ course — the certification exam is the course assessment. It goes well past D315's foundations into subnetting, routing and switching, network services, troubleshooting, and network security at Network+ depth.
C170 — Data Management - Applications
C170 is the older-generation applied database course still active in several WGU degree plans: SQL queries, database design, normalization, and indexing, built in MySQL. It's assessed with an objective assessment plus a hands-on component, and was the predecessor pattern for the D426/D427 split.
Cybersecurity
C836 — Fundamentals of Information Security
C836 is WGU's entry point to security: the CIA triad, threats and vulnerabilities, access control, cryptography basics, and security across operations, networks, and applications. It's required across the IT and cybersecurity degrees and ends in an OA.
C840 — Digital Forensics in Cybersecurity
C840 covers the digital forensics process — evidence handling, chain of custody, forensic tools, and the legal context around investigations. It's part of WGU's cybersecurity program and is assessed with an OA plus applied lab exposure in the course.
C841 — Legal Issues in Information Security
C841 covers cybersecurity law and ethics — CFAA, ECPA, regulatory compliance, and ethical frameworks — assessed through a performance assessment built around the well-known TechFite case study. You analyze the case and write papers applying laws and ethics to what happened.
C844 — Emerging Technologies in Cybersecurity
C844 is a hands-on performance assessment course: you run network scans with Nmap and packet analysis with Wireshark, then write up findings and recommendations as if reporting to an organization. It sits in the cybersecurity program's applied tier.
D329 — Network and Security - Applications
D329 is WGU's CompTIA Security+ course — the SY0-701 certification exam serves as the course assessment. It covers threats and vulnerabilities, security architecture, identity and access management, cryptography, and incident response at Security+ depth.
D430 — Fundamentals of Information Security
D430 is the current version of the retired C836 — WGU's entry point to security, covering the CIA triad, identification and authorization, access control models, cryptography basics, and security across operations, networks, and applications. It ends in an OA.
D431 — Digital Forensics in Cybersecurity
D431 is the current version of the retired C840, covering the digital forensics process — evidence acquisition and imaging, file system analysis, chain of custody, and the legal context around investigations. It ends in an OA.
D332 — Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis
D332 is WGU's CompTIA PenTest+ course — the PT0-003 certification exam is the course assessment. It covers the full engagement lifecycle: scoping and rules of engagement, reconnaissance, exploitation across physical, digital, and social vectors, and reporting findings.
General Education
C955 — Applied Probability and Statistics
C955 covers descriptive statistics, probability, basic data interpretation, and a light touch of algebra — it's the gen-ed math most WGU students hit first. The course ends in an OA, and the platform includes practice problem sets for every unit.
C957 — Applied Algebra
C957 is WGU's gen-ed algebra course, focused on modeling real situations with linear, exponential, polynomial, and logistic functions rather than abstract symbol-pushing. It ends in an OA and is a common companion or follow-up to C955.
C168 — Critical Thinking and Logic
C168 covers argument structure, deductive and inductive reasoning, logical fallacies, and evidence evaluation. It's a gen-ed staple across WGU programs and ends in an OA.
C100 — Introduction to Humanities
C100 surveys art, literature, music, and philosophy across major historical periods from the classical world through modernism. It's a common gen-ed requirement and ends in an OA.
C963 — American Politics and the US Constitution
C963 covers the founding documents, the structure of the federal government, civil liberties and civil rights, and the mechanics of elections and policy. It's a required gen-ed for many WGU programs and ends in an OA.
C165 — Integrated Physical Sciences
C165 is a survey of physics, chemistry, and earth science fundamentals — motion, energy, atoms, chemical reactions, geology, and astronomy basics. It satisfies the gen-ed science requirement for many programs and ends in an OA.
D339 — Technical Communication
D339 teaches workplace technical writing — audience analysis, document design, visuals, and clear instructional and persuasive documents. It replaced the retired C768, and WGU has shifted its assessment format between versions, so check your course page for whether you face an exam, writing tasks, or both.
C455 — English Composition I
C455 is WGU's legacy first composition course, assessed through performance assessment essays — typically a narrative essay and an evaluation essay — submitted with APA formatting. Newer degree plans use D269 instead, but C455 remains on many active plans.
D269 — Composition: Writing with a Strategy
D269 is the current first composition course on newer WGU degree plans, replacing the C455-era sequence. It's a performance assessment course built around strategy-driven writing tasks — commonly a planned essay plus a revision-and-feedback task — graded against rubrics.
D270 — Composition: Successful Self-Expression
D270 is the second composition course on newer WGU plans, focused on professional and research writing: tasks typically include a professional email handling a cross-cultural situation, a research-planning task, and a problem-solution proposal with credible sources.
C464 — Introduction to Communication
C464 surveys human communication — interpersonal, intercultural, small group, and public speaking contexts — along with the foundational theories and models. It's a long-running gen-ed across WGU programs; most versions assess with an objective exam, so confirm your course page.
D265 — Critical Thinking: Reason and Evidence
D265 is the current critical thinking course on newer WGU plans — the successor to the retired C168 — covering argument analysis, the Toulmin model, evidence evaluation, biases, and fallacies. It ends in an OA.
C255 — Introduction to Geography
C255 surveys physical and human geography — the five themes, map reading, climate and landforms, population, culture, and economic geography by world region. It's a gen-ed option on several WGU plans and ends in an OA.
D202 — Human Growth and Development
D202 surveys development across the lifespan — physical, cognitive, and socioemotional change from infancy through late adulthood — anchored by the major theorists: Erikson, Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg. It ends in an OA and appears across WGU's health and gen-ed requirements.
Computer Science
C959 — Discrete Mathematics I
C959 introduces logic, set theory, functions, relations, and proof techniques — the math backbone of WGU's computer science degree. It ends in an OA and is widely treated as the first real difficulty checkpoint in the BSCS.
C960 — Discrete Mathematics II
C960 continues from C959 into counting, probability, graph theory, trees, recursion, and algorithm analysis concepts. It ends in an OA and rounds out the discrete math requirement for the BSCS.
C949 — Data Structures and Algorithms I
C949 covers core data structures — arrays, lists, stacks, queues, trees, hash tables — plus searching, sorting, and Big-O analysis, with examples in Python. It ends in an OA and is a pillar course in WGU's computer science and software degrees.
C950 — Data Structures and Algorithms II
C950 is the project course that follows C949: you build the well-known WGUPS package-routing program in Python, applying hash tables and a routing heuristic to deliver packages under constraints. It's assessed as a performance assessment (PA) — code plus a written analysis — not an exam.
C952 — Computer Architecture
C952 covers how computers actually work: data representation, CPU datapaths, pipelining, memory hierarchy and caches, and a look at parallelism. It's a BSCS requirement built around a famously dense textbook (Patterson and Hennessy) and ends in an OA.
C951 — Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
C951 surveys AI concepts — agents, machine learning basics, neural networks at a high level — and is assessed through performance assessments, including building a simple chatbot and a robot simulation task. It sits late in the BSCS program.
D326 — Advanced Data Management
D326 pushes past basic SQL into PostgreSQL programmability: you build a business report using user-defined functions, triggers, and stored procedures, then record a video walking through your code. It's a performance assessment course in the BSCS and software tracks.
D333 — Ethics in Technology
D333 covers ethical theories and their application to technology: privacy, intellectual property, cybercrime, AI and emerging tech ethics, and professional codes of conduct. It's required across several WGU IT-college degrees and ends in an OA.
Software Engineering
D287 — Java Frameworks
D287 moves from core Java into Spring Boot: you take a provided starter application and extend it to meet business requirements, working with MVC structure, controllers, and templates. It's assessed as a performance assessment — a working project submission, not an exam.
D386 — Hardware and Operating Systems Essentials
D386 grounds WGU's software engineering students in how machines run their code: computer architecture, memory and storage technologies, operating system functions, virtualization, RAID, and cloud and networking basics. It ends in an OA.
D387 — Advanced Java
D387 caps WGU's Java sequence with a performance assessment: you extend a Spring Boot back end with an Angular front end to add multithreaded language translation and currency display, then containerize the app with Docker and document a cloud deployment plan, all through a GitLab pipeline.
D288 — Back-End Programming
D288 is the project course where WGU software students build a real back end: a Spring Boot REST application wired to a provided MySQL database and Angular front end, developed in the WGU lab environment with IntelliJ. It's assessed as a performance assessment, not an exam.
D480 — Software Design and Quality Assurance
D480 covers software design and QA practice through two scenario-based performance assessment tasks: a software design plan responding to a business ticket, and a quality assurance test plan for the proposed change. It's writing-heavy — documents, not code.
Business
D072 — Fundamentals for Success in Business
D072 is the on-ramp course for WGU's business degrees, covering professional skills, emotional intelligence, communication, and an orientation to business disciplines. It ends in an OA and is usually among a business student's first completed courses.
C211 — Global Economics for Managers
C211 covers micro and macro fundamentals through a managerial lens — supply and demand, market structures, trade, exchange rates, and monetary policy. It's a core course in WGU's business programs and ends in an OA.
C214 — Financial Management
C214 covers corporate finance: financial statement analysis, time value of money, valuation, capital budgeting, and cost of capital. It sits late in WGU's business core and ends in an OA with calculation-heavy questions.
D196 — Principles of Financial and Managerial Accounting
D196 introduces both financial accounting (journal entries, statements) and managerial accounting (costing, budgeting) in one course. It's a business-core requirement and ends in an OA.
C202 — Managing Human Capital
C202 covers strategic human resource management — talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, motivation, and compensation — from a manager's vantage point. It appears in WGU's business and management programs and ends in an OA.
C212 — Marketing
C212 covers the marketing core: the marketing mix, segmentation and targeting, consumer behavior, branding, market research, and digital channels. It's a business-core requirement and ends in an OA.
C232 — Introduction to Human Resource Management
C232 introduces the HR function — recruiting, selection, training, compensation, employee relations — with a heavy seasoning of employment law basics. It's an early course in WGU's HR and business programs and ends in an OA.
C233 — Employment Law
C233 goes deep on the legal framework of employment: at-will doctrine, EEO and discrimination law, ADA, FLSA, FMLA, and risk management in the employment relationship. It's a core course in WGU's HR program and ends in an OA.
C715 — Organizational Behavior
C715 covers how people behave in organizations — personality and perception, motivation theories, teams, leadership styles, power, conflict, and organizational culture. It's a staple of WGU's business and management degrees and ends in an OA.
C483 — Principles of Management
C483 is built around the P-O-L-C framework — planning, organizing, leading, controlling — covering strategy, organizational structure, decision-making, and control systems. It's a business-core course and ends in an OA.
C720 — Operations and Supply Chain Management
C720 covers how organizations produce and deliver: process design, forecasting, inventory management, lean and quality methods, and supply chain coordination. It's a business-core course and ends in an OA with some calculation questions.
C708 — Principles of Finance
C708 introduces finance fundamentals — financial statements and ratios, time value of money, risk and return, and basic stock, bond, and capital budgeting concepts. It ends in an OA and commonly precedes the heavier C214.
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