Back again...

[Merlin]

Hey folks,

Some of you (@cookderosa, @sanantone, @burbuja0512, and @rebel100 for example) may remember me from when I was active on these forums back in 2011-2012. I was originally working towards a B.S. degree from COSC, but after a cross-country move and a series of events that derailed my educational plans in a big way (a baby for example), that degree never came to pass. I am back again with a 2018 resolution to make good on my original goal... though now it looks like TESU (formerly TESC) is probably the better option for me.

I've been lurking on the forums for about a month now, collecting information, building my own catalog of TESU credit transfer equivalencies, and leveraging what others here have kindly shared, so I have a spreadsheet, course plan, and a pretty good idea of my path. I've already completed coursework at The Institutes, Sophia.org, and TEEX, and just received my Guardian scholarship from Study.com with the latest batch on Feb 1st so I'm ready to go.

The funny thing is, I was planning to start on Shmoop classes this month, but the day after I signed up, I got the Guardian scholarship email, so I canceled Shmoop to focus on Study.com. I'm already roughly half-way done with Personal Finance reading/quizzes and hoping to finish by early next week, if not by the end of the weekend, so I can start taking advantage of the two free monthly exams. Of course, before I get there I have to figure out how to deal with the proctored exam, which seems like it will be annoying.

Speaking of online courses, my plan is to primarily use Shmoop, Study.com, and Straighterline for my credits. Plus a couple courses at Saylor.org as well. I was originally hoping to sit for several more CLEP & DSST exams since I have done well on those, but the local testing centers have all disappeared for some reason. The closest testing center is now on the other side of the bay, which is outside the range I'm willing to travel, so I'll be focusing on online courses this time.

A big issue for me right now is learning how to study for these courses. I'm a monster memorizer (good short-term memory), but a terrible note taker, which is one reason I didn't really enjoy traditional college courses. I also need to figure out how to jump back into academic writing (after half a decade of being away from MLA writing) to finish the final research paper for the Eng Comp I course that I left undone at Straighterline.

Also, I didn't manage to finish stats while ALEKS was still ACE Credit recommended, so I still need to take that, despite having forgotten everything I learned about college algebra from ALEKS back in 2011. I've always struggled with math (well, with remembering it anyway) so I suspect I will need to start over again. I am planning to take Finite Math first to prep for stats, though I'm not sure I'm ready for finite math either.

I just submitted my TESU application as a Study.com affiliate to take advantage of the free application window, though I'm not in a hurry to send in transcripts for assessment yet since I'm still adding to them. I'm not 100% convinced I can get through my degree plan within 12 months, so I don't know if I'm going to worry about signing up for any TESU courses or paying the waiver fee to lock in before the June deadline or not. I'll give it a few months to see how things look.

Other than toddler babysitting duties, I should be able to dedicate more free time to educational work this time since I'm taking a break from work. Though that could always change suddenly.

Anyway, I'm posting mostly to say hello, and so people at least have some idea who I am if I start replying to posts or asking questions. I might use this post as my progress/questions post as well if I think about it.

Thanks for reading my ramble and I'd appreciate any study advice, particularly in regards to Study.com and SL. Also, any tips to get back into academic writing or statistics for the math impaired would be helpful. (I'll be focused on the open book exam courses at SL so that should help. I'm also planning to re-read the SL course textbook to start with, and already have Purdue OWL bookmarked.)

Best,

-Merlin

[quigongene]

I found Study.com's Statistics to be fairly easy, FWIW. And welcome back!!

[bjcheung77]

That's a nice lengthy read! Good work on coming back and getting it all done. You might want to show us your spreadsheet and we'll see what courses can be used in the "empty" spots if there are any. You seem to have it all planned nicely, I recommend the SL/Study.com combo as well. Especially the open book or closed book SL courses for the Gen Ed/Business Requirements and 3 SL courses can be used in the GM AOS. For your CIS, you would need to use Saylor and CSU Global in addition to SL/Study.com

[dfrecore]

I started Stats at SL and found it to be fairly difficult (my 47yo brain just doesn't work that way anymore) and switched to Study.com and am finding it easier - more concepts and less computations.

Also some things to remember/think about:
1) Personal Finance counts as a course so you're down to 5 that you get included in the scholarship
2) Study.com's courses that start with a 100 will just be quizzes (1/3) and final (2/3), while the courses that start with 300 are some combination of quizzes, final, papers/projects - so if you're a better test taker, stick to the 100's as much as possible (like for International Business vs. Global Management through them).
3) For some reason, TESU won't let you use Study.com for your Oral Communications requirement, so use SL instead (or the TECEP)
4) The online proctoring is less annoying than you might thing - you don't really notice them while you're testing, it didn't bother me a bit.  But give yourself plenty of time on the front end for getting logged in and going - it usually takes a good 1/2 hour from starting to actually beginning the exam
5) Your Computers CLEP and CC course may duplicate.  If not, then you can use one in the Science or Gen Ed Electives area.  You're going to have to wait to see what TESU brings those in as
6) Send them all of your CC transcripts now, and then send the ACE transcript as soon as you finish Personal Finance.  Sometimes they want a completed Study.com course before they'll put your affiliate membership in there.
7) I'm not certain how many credits you'll get for your Astronomy course, you might want to include that in your next post.
8) If you like testing, think about Davar as well.  Lots of people on here like them, they give you the study material and then you test when you're ready, from home.  They regularly have specials going where the cost goes down considerably.

Here's a spreadsheet for the BSBA in GM, I put in everything where I thought TESU would put it.  But you'll be able to verify after you get your eval back.

Good luck!

[Merlin]

I found Study.com's Statistics to be fairly easy, FWIW.  And welcome back!!

Easy is relative. I was not "getting it" when I originally tried learning it at ALEKS. But then again that seems to be a common theme since others have posted similar comments. When I realized that was going poorly, I also tried to use Khan Academy to help supplement the ALEKS stuff, but that didn't really go any better.  That was right after I completed the ALEKS College Algebra class so my math skills were fresh.

Now its 6 years later, and I doubt I remember anything from those math classes since I almost never have a need to use algebra. Which suggests any attempt at college-level math will be doomed. I know the statistics.com intro to stats class just requires basic math, and not algebra or calculus, but it's also expensive and not self-paced. I also know that the Business Stats at SL is supposed to be more theory and less math than Intro to Stats. Sounds like the Study.com stats class is similar to SL?

Most every online course provider has their own stats class, at least Davar/Ed4Credit/Saylor/Shmoop/SL/Study.com, as well as the DSST, so it could potentially try it more than once if needed.

And thanks!

---

That's a nice lengthy read!  Good work on coming back and getting it all done.  You might want to show us your spreadsheet and we'll see what courses can be used in the "empty" spots if there are any.  You seem to have it all planned nicely, I recommend the SL/Study.com combo as well.  Especially the open book or closed book SL courses for the Gen Ed/Business Requirements and 3 SL courses can be used in the GM AOS.  For your CIS, you would need to use Saylor and CSU Global in addition to SL/Study.com

Yeah, I wanted to make sure I covered all the "newbie" stuff so people wouldn't assume they needed to explain stuff to me. I absorb knowledge pretty quickly and after reading everything here and on the other forum over the last 30 days, reviewing the wiki's & course provider transfer equivalencies, going through ACE and NCCRS to map classes, and review every transcript assessment I could find online for TESU in the last year or two, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on equivalencies and requirements.

I currently have a plan for all 138 credits. Though I do have some alternatives in mind in case I don't like the format of one provider vs another. I already have Saylor on my list for a bit of the CIS, but I'm debating on CSU Global for the Systems Analysis requirement or if I should do a PLA. I have 20+ years of software engineering experience and after reading through the educational outcomes for the class, I'm leaning towards the PLA. I've already reviewed the material for PLA-100 and PLA-200 on the open course site, so I think that is doable.

I'm also not 100% sure I need to do the dual specialization. My course plan currently tackles the Gen Ed's first, then BSBA Core, then BSBA GM. Once I'm to that point, I'll think about whether to continue with the CIS and what do to about that Systems Analysis course. I don't really need the CIS, it's mostly there so I at least have something CS/IT related in my degree for my personal edification.

My spreadsheet is kind of busy, with notes and many alternatives for each option, along with my course plan and such. I was considering uploading it, but I'd need to clean it up first.

Thanks!

---

I started Stats at SL and found it to be fairly difficult (my 47yo brain just doesn't work that way anymore) and switched to Study.com and am finding it easier - more concepts and less computations.

Also some things to remember/think about:
1) Personal Finance counts as a course so you're down to 5 that you get included in the scholarship
2) Study.com's courses that start with a 100 will just be quizzes (1/3) and final (2/3), while the courses that start with 300 are some combination of quizzes, final, papers/projects - so if you're a better test taker, stick to the 100's as much as possible (like for International Business vs. Global Management through them).
3) For some reason, TESU won't let you use Study.com for your Oral Communications requirement, so use SL instead (or the TECEP)
4) The online proctoring is less annoying than you might thing - you don't really notice them while you're testing, it didn't bother me a bit.  But give yourself plenty of time on the front end for getting logged in and going - it usually takes a good 1/2 hour from starting to actually beginning the exam
5) Your Computers CLEP and CC course may duplicate.  If not, then you can use one in the Science or Gen Ed Electives area.  You're going to have to wait to see what TESU brings those in as
6) Send them all of your CC transcripts now, and then send the ACE transcript as soon as you finish Personal Finance.  Sometimes they want a completed Study.com course before they'll put your affiliate membership in there.
7) I'm not certain how many credits you'll get for your Astronomy course, you might want to include that in your next post.
8) If you like testing, think about Davar as well.  Lots of people on here like them, they give you the study material and then you test when you're ready, from home.  They regularly have specials going where the cost goes down considerably.

Here's a spreadsheet for the BSBA in GM, I put in everything where I thought TESU would put it.  But you'll be able to verify after you get your eval back.

Good luck!

Yeah, it sounds like I have a few years on you, so I'm not looking forward to it. I believe I understand a lot of the stats concepts since I use them in other ways, but that isn't the same as an academic understanding of the subject. So, we'll see. I'll probably be going back to look at Khan Academy and the Saylor course materials to see how I fare on the free material and figure out what I need to do from there. But I'll probably check out the Finite Math course at Shmoop first since its supposed to introduce stats concepts as well.

As for your other comments...

1. Yeah, already aware of that.
   
2. I'd read something similar, but its good to see the confirmation. I'm not worried about projects and papers, but yeah I do tend to test better. I will have to take some of the upper-level courses either way, so once I get my eng comp stuff settled I should be in a good position. I have a 95% in the SL course up until the final research paper, which I have to start over on, so I feel like I'm a decent writer, just need some easy wins to get my confidence up.
   
3. I've seen mixed responses on that. I plan to take the Study.com Comm 120 for that requirement and see how it goes.
   
4. I just learned that study.com used RPNow, which is less annoying than ProctorU in some ways. But its still more annoying than unproctored. I'll always feel like I'm stepping on eggshells and have to worry about talking to myself or looking away from the screen when I think, etc.
   
5. Yeah I'm aware of that too. When I did the COSC assessment, though brought in both under different course ID's. The Intro Comp could come in as CIS-101 or COS-102 at TESU, so I'll have to see how things go after my assessment.
   
6. Good to know. I'm just trying to avoid extra costs of sending transcripts over and over.
   
7. All my CC courses are quarterly so my COSC assessment translated my astronomy class + lab (5 quarter units) into 3.33 semester hours. I'm assuming TESU will do the same thing. But I'll have to see how it goes.
   
8. Davar is on my master equivalency list as well. I don't currently have any courses planned with them, but I'm keeping the door open for alternatives.
   

Thanks for the spreadsheet. I'll review it against mine when I get back to my desk. Considering I've reviewed a dozen or so of the other spreadsheets you've made for people for BSBA, I suspect I already have a pretty good idea of what I'll see.

Thanks!

[studiousimp]

Chiming in to say hello and confirm that TESU evaluated my 5 quarter unit courses as 3.33 as well. Good luck on your return!

I'm another who is finding Study.com's stats course more tolerable than the several others (including SL and ALEKS) I've tried.

[quigongene]

Easy is relative. I was not "getting it" when I originally tried learning it at ALEKS.

Trust me, neither was I. ALEKS Stats pissed me off so badly I started looking for degrees that didn't require it ;-) . I didn't do great with Study.com, but I passed it.

[Merlin]

Chiming in to say hello and confirm that TESU evaluated my 5 quarter unit courses as 3.33 as well. Good luck on your return!

I'm another who is finding Study.com's stats course more tolerable than the several others (including SL and ALEKS) I've tried.

Yeah, quarter unit courses should always come in at 2/3 when being evaluated as semester hours. The only concern I have with my CC credits (aside from the potential conflict between the CLEP and the CC class evaluation-wise) is the currency requirement. But, I think that would only really apply to the Intro Computing class and I'm prepared to lose those credits if needs be. Astronomy should be fine since it hasn't really changed in the last 30 years.

I'm planning to check out the Study.com material when I'm done with the Personal Finance class.

Thanks!

---

Easy is relative. I was not "getting it" when I originally tried learning it at ALEKS.

Trust me, neither was I.  ALEKS Stats pissed me off so badly I started looking for degrees that didn't require it ;-) .  I didn't do great with Study.com, but I passed it.

Noted. I've heard the SL Business Stats is also much better for folks who didn't do well with the ALEKS course. I'm curious how the two compare content-wise?

I'm looking at the Shmoop class since it's not too expensive and I am hoping it will overlap with the Finite Math class and allow an easier progression. But then again, Shmoop courses tend to be harder than a lot of the other providers, so who knows how well that will go. Worst case, I can fall back to the intro to stats on statistics.com. That one only requires basic math and includes a teacher who may be able to make some of the concepts more relatable.

Thanks!

[dfrecore]

Chiming in to say hello and confirm that TESU evaluated my 5 quarter unit courses as 3.33 as well. Good luck on your return!

I'm another who is finding Study.com's stats course more tolerable than the several others (including SL and ALEKS) I've tried.

Yeah, quarter unit courses should always come in at 2/3 when being evaluated as semester hours. The only concern I have with my CC credits (aside from the potential conflict between the CLEP and the CC class evaluation-wise) is the currency requirement. But, I think that would only really apply to the Intro Computing class and I'm prepared to lose those credits if needs be. Astronomy should be fine since it hasn't really changed in the last 30 years.

I'm planning to check out the Study.com material when I'm done with the Personal Finance class.

Thanks!

---

Easy is relative. I was not "getting it" when I originally tried learning it at ALEKS.

Trust me, neither was I.  ALEKS Stats pissed me off so badly I started looking for degrees that didn't require it ;-) .  I didn't do great with Study.com, but I passed it.

Noted. I've heard the SL Business Stats is also much better for folks who didn't do well with the ALEKS course. I'm curious how the two compare content-wise?

I'm looking at the Shmoop class since it's not too expensive and I am hoping it will overlap with the Finite Math class and allow an easier progression. But then again, Shmoop courses tend to be harder than a lot of the other providers, so who knows how well that will go. Worst case, I can fall back to the intro to stats on statistics.com. That one only requires basic math and includes a teacher who may be able to make some of the concepts more relatable.

Thanks!

Currency only counts for your AOS.  So Gen Ed's, Core, Free Electives, do not require currency.

The SL Business Stats class is actually a better course than the Intro to Stats one.  The Intro is from Saylor.  So it's not really "falling back" to that, as it's just not a good course.  I think it's also not and open book final, which actually makes it harder.

I would not pay for the statistics.com course, as it's pretty expensive.  Study.com and SL both have tutoring available if you need it.  I would try one before thinking you need to go to statistics.com.

[Merlin]

Currency only counts for your AOS.  So Gen Ed's, Core, Free Electives, do not require currency.

Ahh, I didn't realize that. Good to know.

The SL Business Stats class is actually a better course than the Intro to Stats one.  The Intro is from Saylor.  So it's not really "falling back" to that, as it's just not a good course.  I think it's also not and open book final, which actually makes it harder.

I would not pay for the statistics.com course, as it's pretty expensive.

When I referred to the Intro to Stats course, I was talking about the statistics.com one, not SL. I have no plans to take the SL Intro Stats course, partially because it is closed book as you mentioned, but more because it is apparently much tougher than the Business Stats class for the same end result. However, I thought the SL Intro Stats is no longer the same as Saylor? I read somewhere that it used to be the same but was changed to a different product when the price raised from $25? I could be mistaken though.

As for taking the statistics.com course, given the cost, I probably wouldn't take it unless it was the last course I needed to complete my degree and I had already failed at the other cheaper options, thus the "falling back" comment.

Study.com and SL both have tutoring available if you need it.  I would try one before thinking you need to go to statistics.com.

Study.com doesn't provide tutoring for College Accelerator courses. This topic came up during my "welcome to study.com" dialogue. From what I am told by my advisor, they have an "Ask the Expert" feature but it is only for the non-college courses right now. The advisors will try to assist with course content questions as best they can, but should not be relied on for tutoring. They will try to contact an instructor for assistance with questions they cannot handle, but it was suggested I seek external tutoring resources for anything more involved.

This turns me off Study.com a bit since I know some of the other providers do offer basic tutoring as part of their course offerings. So if I need help with Study.com courses, I'm on my own... or I need to find a third-party tutor.