General order of Sophia, SDC etc., when to transfer, and graduate?

[mahaganapati]

Standard pretext: Sorry if this has been asked N+1 times already or available on the wiki - I searched and did not find it.

1. Is there a recommended order of taking classes - I have most of my gen ed credits and electives planned for Sophia, and most of the AOS credits and AOS electives for CS planned from Study.com

2. Should I transfer credits as I earn them, or better to batch them?

3. When should I plan to have all non-TESU classes done in order to graduate? I recall reading I would need to be done with classes at TESU in November to graduate by March the next year? So I would want to take my last classes at TESU in the fall semester starting in October?

Thank you again to everyone's guidance and wisdom!

[LevelUP]

Usually, we recommend starting with Sophia to build some confidence and momentum doing all the GE all you can.

Then for your AOS using SDC

Do these courses first: (These are mainly business type courses)
Computer Science Elective (any course that work) (LL)
Operating Systems (should be easy) (LL)
Management Information Systems (UL)
System Analysis & Design (UL)
Database Management (UL)

Then do these courses in this order:
Discrete Mathematics
Introduction to Programming (Java Based, contains lots of data structures material in the course)
Data Structures (Has Java programming assignment)
Computer Architecture (contains bits from discrete math and data structures) (take the exam before doing the assignment)
Calculus I (Likely hardest course, take last)


Whatever credits are left, finish them after you do Calculus. 

You can transfer in the credits however you want. Considering TESU could change how things transfer in, I wouldn't wait too long.

If you wanted to graduate by March of next year, then you need to take the TESU courses starting November and have all courses transferred in by Feb 1st.
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/gr...nformation

You can start the TESU capstone course when you hit 100 credits.

[mahaganapati]

Usually, we recommend starting with Sophia to build some confidence and momentum doing all the GE all you can.

Then for your AOS using SDC

Do these courses first: (These are mainly business type courses)
Computer Science Elective (any course that work) (LL)
Operating Systems (should be easy) (LL)
Management Information Systems (UL)
System Analysis & Design (UL)
Database Management (UL)

Then do these courses in this order:
Discrete Mathematics
Introduction to Programming (Java Based, contains lots of data structures material in the course)
Data Structures (Has Java programming assignment)
Computer Architecture (contains bits from discrete math and data structures) (take the exam before doing the assignment)
Calculus I (Likely hardest course, take last)


Whatever credits are left, finish them after you do Calculus. 

You can transfer in the credits however you want. Considering TESU could change how things transfer in, I wouldn't wait too long.

If you wanted to graduate by March of next year, then you need to take the TESU courses starting November and have all courses transferred in by Feb 1st.
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/gr...nformation

You can start the TESU capstone course when you hit 100 credits.

Thanks so much! I'm just about done with CSM Learn, then I'll get started on Sophia. Thanks for the help!

[rachel83az]

Have you already enrolled at TESU? Or even applied? With TESU, we highly recommend becoming a fully enrolled student ASAP so that you can transfer in classes every month or two, as you complete them. It is especially important to transfer in whatever you have at the time before January 1st and July 1st in any given year because this is when policy and/or category changes tend to occur. As a fully enrolled student, the catalog changes will NOT affect you (unless you want them to) but the policy changes would.

If you have applied, but haven't enrolled and are still in applicant status, you can find instructions on how to enroll here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Th..._to_Enroll

Also, to start the capstone, you would need 100 credits AND most of your UL credits completed. Do you have your 24 RA (the capstone & cornerstone don't count) credits yet? Are you going to avoid the residency waiver by doing a 16-credit-term? For Comp Sci in particular, this path is actually recommended over trying to transfer everything in.

[dfrecore]

I would not wait to start on calculus - if it's going to be the hardest course, you don't want to wait until the end, putting a lot of stress on yourself to learn it. Instead, I'd start now, even if that means going back and starting with Precalc on Khan, or Study.com, or however you choose to do this. Get working on the math NOW! I say this as a person who sees people working through their degrees all the time, and SO MANY wait until the very end to do the math, and are just freaking out by the time they get to it. They literally have every other course done (including the capstone at times) and haven't even started on the math. That just adds so much unnecessary pressure.

So, get that math done (or at least started) early. Do some every day, alongside your other courses.

[rachel83az]

That's a good point. Also, Sophia's Algebra in no way prepares you for the world of higher math. I recommend that CS students go ahead and use Sophia for the credit, but then AUDIT the self-paced Algebra and Pre-Calculus courses that are offered by ASU. You might even want to give their calculus cours a whirl to see if it clicks with you.

[LevelUP]

I forgot to say to do Calculus at Straigherline because you can use the Nspire CAS calculator.

With the $50 discount, it's $120 for the first month, which is a pretty good deal.

[dfrecore]

I forgot to say to do Calculus at Straigherline because you can use the Nspire CAS calculator.

With the $50 discount, it's $120 for the first month, which is a pretty good deal.

I'd probably try to learn a lot of the concepts free through various means before doing SL.  A month is not a lot of time to get through a difficult course, so learning it first and then going through the SL course quickly for the credit might work.

It's probably also a thought to take the Calculus CLEP exam, the Saylor Calculus exam, or the Study.com calculus course if you feel like either of those would work.  Lots of options.

[bjcheung77]

@mahaganapati 1) Complete all your Sophia.org courses first during your subscription months, then 2 or 3 Study.com courses at a time. My suggestion is to go in number order, if you can handle 3 or more 1XX/2XX courses at Study.com, go for it, once you reach courses with assignments you'll have to slow down and take at least 2 a month to max the monthly subscription.

2) I would send in the credits in batches, for example, once you're done with your Sophia.org courses, send them all in at one go. Then when you're complete with your Study.com ones, send them in batches. There's really no need to rush in sending a course at a time as you get them completed...

3) Try to complete all of your alternative credits from Sophia.org/Study.com and whatever else you're looking at by mid/late October as you want to at the latest start your TESU courses by November if you want to graduate by March 2023. I would recommend getting a spreadsheet and documenting your degree plan/progress.