Study.com's Personal Finance course - terrible!

[bjcheung77]

LOL, Shmoop is the weirdest provider ever. I took three courses from them when they first started. I could hardly get my brain together with all the funkiness they place into the exams and course content. Basically I had to copy/paste their entire chapters into a word doc and a pdf, then save them into a readable/searchable format. The only "pro" with them is, they're non proctored, the majority were all "cons".

[Doodlebabe]

My personal favorite: talking about off-shore bank accounts to avoid taxes. Really? Is that truly something we're encouraging young, impressionable adults to look into?
I'm doing Hist 108, one of the Vietnam war options, and oooof. It's a quick class, I only started it on Monday and I could've been done by now if I wanted but I was just tired of listening to the same concepts over and over again so I'm spacing it out over the week (honestly, even spacing it out I'll likely still be done and just do my final on tomorrow instead of the weekend to be done with it). The quizzes seem unnecessary given the actual final questions are completely different and it gets just plain boring to read/listen/watch the same thing over and over again.
I know people aren't fans of Schmoop but I think I'm looking forward to the challenge compared to Study!

I find it hard to believe that Study.com hires subject matter experts. They definitely don't hire people who are competent in instructional design and pedagogy.

What's the point of grasping the information if it's

1. Wrong
2. Doesn't even come close to covering the full breadth of material
3. At the high school level?

I don't understand pretending to care about learning a subject, but not caring to learn it at the college level. In the end, you're just checking the box, so don't pretend you care about learning. If you actually cared about learning, you would be opting for better classes.

I am so disappointed with Study. I'm using it specifically because I got the scholarship and that waives some fees, but if it wasn't for that I wouldn't take any classes with them. You hit the nail on the head, they're high school level and they don't cover the breadth of the material at all. I know you get what you pay for, and with these courses be so cheap compared to taking the class at any given state university, they likely won't cover the same amount of materials. But it doesn't surprise me that these UL courses are being converted to LL at all because I wouldn't say the course I'm in now wouldn't even count as more than 1 credit if I tried to transfer it to my previous university.

I'm not sure what Study courses (if any) I'll take after this one. Free courses are great and all but I'd like to think that earning my degree requires at least a moderate amount of learning to be had. Or maybe I'll finish the scholarship to keep the costs down but take as hard of courses as I can elsewhere to make up for the lack of learning I'm getting here.

*To be fair: the first college I went to was a very small, Christian university and it basically felt like middle school in both the social life and the education. There was quite a bit of hand-holding going on, at least for the freshmen and sophomores. My homework used to be 5 question quizzes similar to Study except our finals were based directly on questions from the quizzes as well as being open book and I think I only wrote one paper the entire semester I was there, which was only 3 pages long. So some universities are/were at the same level academically. Definitely bare minimum to be ACE accredited in more than just the Study realm.*

[sanantone]

My personal favorite: talking about off-shore bank accounts to avoid taxes. Really? Is that truly something we're encouraging young, impressionable adults to look into?
I'm doing Hist 108, one of the Vietnam war options, and oooof. It's a quick class, I only started it on Monday and I could've been done by now if I wanted but I was just tired of listening to the same concepts over and over again so I'm spacing it out over the week (honestly, even spacing it out I'll likely still be done and just do my final on tomorrow instead of the weekend to be done with it). The quizzes seem unnecessary given the actual final questions are completely different and it gets just plain boring to read/listen/watch the same thing over and over again.
I know people aren't fans of Schmoop but I think I'm looking forward to the challenge compared to Study!

I find it hard to believe that Study.com hires subject matter experts. They definitely don't hire people who are competent in instructional design and pedagogy.

What's the point of grasping the information if it's

1. Wrong
2. Doesn't even come close to covering the full breadth of material
3. At the high school level?

I don't understand pretending to care about learning a subject, but not caring to learn it at the college level. In the end, you're just checking the box, so don't pretend you care about learning. If you actually cared about learning, you would be opting for better classes.

I am so disappointed with Study. I'm using it specifically because I got the scholarship and that waives some fees, but if it wasn't for that I wouldn't take any classes with them. You hit the nail on the head, they're high school level and they don't cover the breadth of the material at all. I know you get what you pay for, and with these courses be so cheap compared to taking the class at any given state university, they likely won't cover the same amount of materials. But it doesn't surprise me that these UL courses are being converted to LL at all because I wouldn't say the course I'm in now wouldn't even count as more than 1 credit if I tried to transfer it to my previous university.

I'm not sure what Study courses (if any) I'll take after this one. Free courses are great and all but I'd like to think that earning my degree requires at least a moderate amount of learning to be had. Or maybe I'll finish the scholarship to keep the costs down but take as hard of courses as I can elsewhere to make up for the lack of learning I'm getting here.

*To be fair: the first college I went to was a very small, Christian university and it basically felt like middle school in both the social life and the education. There was quite a bit of hand-holding going on, at least for the freshmen and sophomores. My homework used to be 5 question quizzes similar to Study except our finals were based directly on questions from the quizzes as well as being open book and I think I only wrote one paper the entire semester I was there, which was only 3 pages long. So some universities are/were at the same level academically. Definitely bare minimum to be ACE accredited in more than just the Study realm.*

I completely understand using Study for pragmatic purposes since you can earn many credits for free or cheaply. A lot of people here are adult learners just looking to check the box and may already have knowledge of the subjects they're taking. I'm just concerned about the people who believe they're really learning something valuable just because Study is drilling simple concepts and a limited amount of info into their heads, and the information may not even be accurate.

It's nice that Study is trying to make higher education more accessible to people who can't afford it, but it's not all that helpful if the students graduate far behind more traditional students.

[ndelco]

It's highly comical to me to see people complaining about Study.com not being college level and then in the same comment talking about harder courses like Shmoop. If you think you aren't learning with Study.com, Shmoop will be an even bigger disappointment. There are plenty of people here who like Study.com for what it is, but I've yet to find a single person with one good thing to say about Shmoop. Good luck with that.

Also, LOL at people saying to find "harder" courses like Davar, TEEX, and FEMA. Even SL courses aren't difficult. At least Study.com requires you to take a meaningful final to get credit.

And finally, if you aren't going to use the scholarship in full, contact them so they can give it to someone else. Don't just waste free courses because you don't like them. Someone else who really needs the savings could use them. At some point, they are going to stop giving the scholarship out.

[sanantone]

It's highly comical to me to see people complaining about Study.com not being college level and then in the same comment talking about harder courses like Shmoop. If you think you aren't learning with Study.com, Shmoop will be an even bigger disappointment. There are plenty of people here who like Study.com for what it is, but I've yet to find a single person with one good thing to say about Shmoop. Good luck with that.

Also, LOL at people saying to find "harder" courses like Davar, TEEX, and FEMA. Even SL courses aren't difficult. At least Study.com requires you to take a meaningful final to get credit.

And finally, if you aren't going to use the scholarship in full, contact them so they can give it to someone else. Don't just waste free courses because you don't like them. Someone else who really needs the savings could use them. At some point, they are going to stop giving the scholarship out.

No one said that TEEX, FEMA, and Davar are harder. Where did you get that from? LOL at making up stuff. I said that people should find BETTER CLASSES instead of pretending to care about learning. I want to make a joke about Study students right here, but I won't go there.

I've never taken a Shmoop course, so I have no opinion on them. Another person said that he or she is going to try Shmoop. It may or may not be a better fit. LOL-ing at that is just immature.

[eriehiker]

I think that the key is volume. If one study.com class is easy, then just take 18. That's what I did. I've been taking classes that I knew would help me and then I've been taking some because I kind of enjoy the topic and then there are some that I would probably never take in any other possible way than through a place like study.com. I think that I have learned quite a bit even if any one class might be easier than it would be at many colleges.

Here's my list:
Accounting 301: Applied Managerial Accounting
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0077 Course 06/20/2017
Accounting 302: Advanced Accounting
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0078 Course 07/19/2017
Accounting 303: Cost Accounting
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0105 Course 08/04/2017
Business 104: Information Systems and Computer Applications
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0008 Course 09/05/2017
Business 105: Labor Relations
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0070 Course 09/27/2017
Business 106: Human Resource Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0026 Course 09/25/2017
Business 109: Intro to Computing
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0010 Course 09/03/2017
Business 306: Strategic Human Resource Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0071 Course 09/26/2017
Business 309: Digital Marketing & Advertising
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0072 Course 07/05/2017
Business 311: Project Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0073 Course 09/03/2017
Business 312: Advanced Operations Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0050 Course 08/26/2017
Business 315: Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0086 Course 08/26/2017
Finance 102: Personal Finance
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0059 Course 05/27/2017
Finance 104: Financial Management
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0090 Course 09/03/2017
Geometry 101: Introduction to Geometry
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0091 Course 08/06/2017
Marketing 301: Marketing Research
Study.com, LLC
SDCM-0098 Course 09/29/2017
Math 107: Quantitative Literacy

Hospitality Management is still in the pipeline.

[ndelco]

It's highly comical to me to see people complaining about Study.com not being college level and then in the same comment talking about harder courses like Shmoop. If you think you aren't learning with Study.com, Shmoop will be an even bigger disappointment. There are plenty of people here who like Study.com for what it is, but I've yet to find a single person with one good thing to say about Shmoop. Good luck with that.

Also, LOL at people saying to find "harder" courses like Davar, TEEX, and FEMA. Even SL courses aren't difficult. At least Study.com requires you to take a meaningful final to get credit.

And finally, if you aren't going to use the scholarship in full, contact them so they can give it to someone else. Don't just waste free courses because you don't like them. Someone else who really needs the savings could use them. At some point, they are going to stop giving the scholarship out.

No one said that TEEX, FEMA, and Davar are harder. Where did you get that from? LOL at making up stuff.  I said that people should find BETTER CLASSES instead of pretending to care about learning. I want to make a joke about Study students right here, but I won't go there.

I've never taken a Shmoop course, so I have no opinion on them. Another person said that he or she is going to try Shmoop. It may or may not be a better fit. LOL-ing at that is just immature.

I didn't laugh at anyone but you. Finding something comical is not the same as openly laughing at someone. You constantly get on this forum and rag on Study.com, yet you've taken far easier courses according to your sig. Nobody on this forum claims to be a genius after taking the courses. You've never even taken a course from them but somehow you have the entire system figured out. Amazing. I'm not going to continue arguing with you. You have an issue with Study.com for some reason and that's your problem. Stop acting like other providers make their courses so much harder than Study.com, because they don't. You can make any joke about people that use Study.com that you want. I promise your opinion means nothing to me. I feel quite good about my decision to get that many credits for $1,000, and I'd do it all again. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum would also use Study.com again as well. Obviously, you'll now respond with what you think will be the smartest response ever so just know that I won't be reading it. Have a good night.

[sanantone]

It's highly comical to me to see people complaining about Study.com not being college level and then in the same comment talking about harder courses like Shmoop. If you think you aren't learning with Study.com, Shmoop will be an even bigger disappointment. There are plenty of people here who like Study.com for what it is, but I've yet to find a single person with one good thing to say about Shmoop. Good luck with that.

Also, LOL at people saying to find "harder" courses like Davar, TEEX, and FEMA. Even SL courses aren't difficult. At least Study.com requires you to take a meaningful final to get credit.

And finally, if you aren't going to use the scholarship in full, contact them so they can give it to someone else. Don't just waste free courses because you don't like them. Someone else who really needs the savings could use them. At some point, they are going to stop giving the scholarship out.

No one said that TEEX, FEMA, and Davar are harder. Where did you get that from? LOL at making up stuff.  I said that people should find BETTER CLASSES instead of pretending to care about learning. I want to make a joke about Study students right here, but I won't go there.

I've never taken a Shmoop course, so I have no opinion on them. Another person said that he or she is going to try Shmoop. It may or may not be a better fit. LOL-ing at that is just immature.

I didn't laugh at anyone but you. Finding something comical is not the same as openly laughing at someone. You constantly get on this forum and rag on Study.com, yet you've taken far easier courses according to your sig. Nobody on this forum claims to be a genius after taking the courses. You've never even taken a course from them but somehow you have the entire system figured out. Amazing. I'm not going to continue arguing with you. You have an issue with Study.com for some reason and that's your problem. Stop acting like other providers make their courses so much harder than Study.com, because they don't. You can make any joke about people that use Study.com that you want. I promise your opinion means nothing to me. I feel quite good about my decision to get that many credits for $1,000, and I'd do it all again. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum would also use Study.com again as well. Obviously, you'll now respond with what you think will be the smartest response ever so just know that I won't be reading it. Have a good night.

I was not the one to bring up Shmoop, and I didn't suggest any of that other stuff you listed as more educational alternatives. You're seeing things. I've taken far easier courses? Are you talking about the five FEMA credits? Most of those alternative credits were CBEs that require self-study, not courses. Were the few SL courses I took better than Study.com? Yes, they were, imo, but these were subjects I was already familiar from previous studies. I never claimed that I learned so much more at SL. I already had the knowledge from reading college-level textbooks and watching lectures, not from some dopey animations designed for children. What I liked about SL was that I could skip all the nonsense.

I DID take personal finance, but I didn't complete it. I had the Guardian Scholarship. You're all over the place and have none of your facts straight. You're reading things that aren't even there. What is wrong with you other than your inability to read? That's a serious question. 

You get way too offended when anyone criticizes Study.com as if you're a part of a Study.com cult or have a relative working there. I don't have the patience for this craziness. I deal with mentally ill people and people with anger management problems every day at work. I don't come here to deal with them some more.

[keepsingin]

Just have two things to add here bc I've taken 10 Study courses. I found the quizzes very relevant in preparing for the final. Personal Finance is an elective course and therefore not the best gauge of the majority of their college courses.

Out of all the ACE credit I've acquired, I've retained the most information from the Study courses than from any other ACE courses I've taken; their UL Acc courses prepared me much better for B&M UL Acc courses than the SL "Intermed Acc I" course did. That SL course seems pretty useless to me as I really didn't learn or retain that much from it; the same could be said for a number of other ACE credit that I've had to relearn for my UL studies. I have many classmates that have signed up for Study so they can learn the material for their B&M professor-led classes.

I get that not everyone learns the same, so Study isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. But whether or not Study teaches with HS methods, their teaching method obviously works for a huge number of people. If it doesn't fit your style, that doesn't make it a terrible provider, just makes it not a fit for you. If you just want to test out, then Study may be a disappointment because you have to go through the material, so it's not exactly the cram-and-CLEP method.

[sanantone]

Just have two things to add here bc I've taken 10 Study courses. I found the quizzes very relevant in preparing for the final. Personal Finance is an elective course and therefore not the best gauge of the majority of their college courses.

Out of all the ACE credit I've acquired, I've retained the most information from the Study courses than from any other ACE courses I've taken; their UL Acc courses prepared me much better for B&M UL Acc courses than the SL "Intermed Acc I" course did. That SL course seems pretty useless to me as I really didn't learn or retain that much from it; the same could be said for a number of other ACE credit that I've had to relearn for my UL studies. I have many classmates that have signed up for Study so they can learn the material for their B&M professor-led classes.

I get that not everyone learns the same, so Study isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. But whether or not Study teaches with HS methods, their teaching method obviously works for a huge number of people. If it doesn't fit your style, that doesn't make it a terrible provider, just makes it not a fit for you. If you just want to test out, then Study may be a disappointment because you have to go through the material, so it's not exactly the cram-and-CLEP method.

People are often conflating methods and level. There have been complaints about both, but they aren't the same thing. You can make a class extremely tedious, but it can still cover high school-level material. At the same time, a course can require very little graded work, but still cover college-level material.

For example, chemistry is an extremely difficult CLEP. Just because it doesn't require assignments, some might say that it's easier. Is it really easier or does it just require less work? A lot of people turn to Study.com and Straighterline because they are often easier than CBEs. And, is the CLEP really less work? You don't have assignments or quizzes, but you need to spend a good amount of time studying. There are people knocking out Study.com and SL courses in a day or two, but most people will need more time to pass the Chemistry CLEP.