How is Study.com better than Sophia or Saylor?

[fafdfienin]

I'm wondering why SDC cost $200 while Sophia cost only $80 per month and unlimited course per month? Are the courses on SDC better than Sophia?

[ROYISAGIRL]

I'm wondering why SDC cost $200 while Sophia cost only $80 per month and unlimited course per month? Are the courses on SDC better than Sophia?

SDC has more courses and some of the courses are upper level, whereas Sophia only has a hand full and they are all lower level.

[jsh1138]

Study.com has an app, a much wider choice of courses, way more UL courses, and your progress there on one course fills in material in other courses so it saves you time if you're doing multiple courses.

Sophia has something like 35 courses and Study.com has something like 225. It's not close at all in terms of the scope of what they offer. The app is a big deal because it lets you get stuff done on the bus or in line at the bank or whatever. And completing progress in one course by doing another is a big deal. I have finished a course without ever working on it, just by doing other courses. Then I just had to take the final. It makes a big difference. And of course if you want UL credit, Study.com offers more UL courses than every other non-college provider on here put together.

[rachel83az]

I'm wondering why SDC cost $200 while Sophia cost only $80 per month and unlimited course per month? Are the courses on SDC better than Sophia?

As others have already touched on, SDC has UL courses and Sophia does not. As for Saylor vs. SDC, another issue is that Saylor's courses aren't as widely accepted as SDC's courses. Saylor has a good number of courses that are accepted for credit, but their partner schools may only accept a small portion of them. For instance, TESU is listed as not accepting any of their Comp Sci courses (aside from Intro to Comp Sci), even though Saylor has multiple courses that are in that category and that are listed as being recommended for credit.

Another issue with Saylor is that their courses have a reputation for not being put together that well. The course content can be disjointed, then the exam may not mesh well with the contents of the course. Passing the certificate exam, even with a good score, does not guarantee that you'll pass the paid final exam. With the previous ProctorU fees of $25 per exam, you could theoretically spend $75 on a Saylor course and still not pass it. At $5 a pop, it's now much more reasonable to give the exams a shot to see if they work for you.

In contrast, SDC exams are generally well-aligned with the course content. If you pass the practice exam with 80%, you should pass the final exam with 70-90%. If you maximize your study time, you can take 5 SDC exams per month at an average cost of $82 each. I would wager that most students here probably have a 75-90% chance of passing an SDC course on the first try vs. a 75-90% chance of FAILING a Saylor exam - at least on the first attempt.

Some more things to consider:

Sophia: Whole grade is based on a combined score of quizzes, exams, and sometimes assignments. You can completely bomb a section and still pass. It also helps that everything is open-book. The courses can still present a challenge, though.
SDC: 1/3 of your grade comes from quizzes that are usually pretty easy to 100%. For the courses that do not have assignments, this helps take some of the pressure off of the final exam. 100% the quizzes and you can get as low as 56% on the exam and still pass. For courses with assignments, even less pressure is on the final exam. This is great for people who are nervous test-takers but who are otherwise competent.
Saylor: Everything rides on the final exam. You don't even have to complete the course content to take the exam! You either pass or you don't. At $5 an attempt, the stakes are relatively low now. It probably makes sense for more students to at least try one or two Saylor courses. But, if you are bad at taking exams, this is not the provider for you.

[jsh1138]

Yes, that's a good point. Study.com courses are much better organized in general although it does have some flaws.

I have tried Saylor, Straighterline, Sophia etc and to me Study.com has the best layout and course design.

[bjcheung77]

@OP, Depends on your situation, Study.com might not be better in regards to people just looking for quick lower level credit. If that is the case, I recommend Sophia.org over Study.com, for upper level credit it's a different story. Study.com pricing is pretty affordable for upper level credit, it's pretty good for lower level courses that might not be found elsewhere as well...

Sophia.org changed their pricing from $329 per course to unlimited courses during the Pandemic in March 2020 to "cash" in on the sheer number of subscribers, I think I read anywhere from 150 thousand total subscribers over that period. Then they added the $149/year special, which also added a few thousand subscribers... Before Sophia.org making that radical pricing change, my recommendation for lower level was StraighterLine.

Previously, StraighterLine for lower level, Study.com for upper level as both of these are subscription based, you need to work on multiple courses at a time to take advantage of the monthly fee. Now, Sophia.org/Study.com combo as Sophia.org leapfrogged StraighterLine as my go to for lower level recommendations. One reason StraighterLine is #3 is because there are some courses not offered at Sophia.org, the majority can be found on Study.com

My ranking is Sophia.org, Study.com, StraighterLine, Saylor.org - Straighterline beats out Saylor as some of their courses are open book exams and most can be passed before you get into the proctored final exam, whereas, Saylor.org is a on that one final exam... somewhat time consuming/stressful for people like me! Obviously, there are some courses that are free/cheaper, it all depends on what your situation is and what your needs are...

[dfrecore]

I also think Sophia used to have lots of courses that didn't have assignments, but they've recently been adding those to courses.

They also used to have straightforward course names (Into to Sociology, Intro to Psych, eetc.) but have since changed the names to ridiculous ones (i.e. Intro to Sociology: Embracing Diversity & Collaboration; Topics in US History: Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future; The Power of Persuasion; Taking Charge of Your Economic Future; Preparing for the Future of Work). Anything with a stupid name is coming from Strayer. No idea why they do this, except maybe to make their courses so ambiguous that they're hard to transfer to other schools, making you trapped there?

[LevelUP]

My ranking is Sophia.org, Study.com, StraighterLine, Saylor.org

Same here pretty much.  Sophia.org, Instacert, Study.com, StraighterLine, CLEP/DSSTs, Saylor.org

[dfrecore]

My ranking is Sophia.org, Study.com, StraighterLine, Saylor.org

My ranking is CLEP, DSST, Study.com, Sophia.  Hated SL courses, not much info on Saylor that's good, so they don't make my personal list.

I also put CLEP ahead of everything else due to acceptance rate to schools - much easier to find a school that will take CLEP than just about anything else out there except AP.  DSST is next, then Study because I like them and their app, and the availability of courses.  Sophia is a very close 4th to them (minus the courses with stupid names of course).

[jsh1138]

CLEP is great if you live near a testing center. The closest one to me is over an hour away but if there were one in my town half my credits would be CLEP