Error in Sophia College Algebra?

[rachel83az]

Introduction to Relational Databases is a great example. Several questions force you to ask "What does the test writer THINK is the right answer??" because there's more than one. Case in point are questions that have two answers that are exactly the same, but only one is counted as correct.

With Intro to Relational Databases, I sometimes had to use a diff checker to see what the difference was between two seemingly identical bits of code to see that, actually, one has a semi-colon in place of a comma or whatever.  When you're staring at 4 nearly-identical pieces of code, it can be difficult to manually see the differences. 

There are some issues in a few courses, but I'm not sure that Intro to Relational Databases is one.

[Tedium]

Mistakes do happen but they're not acceptable on a graded assessment; at least not for long.

Sophia has so many mistakes on graded assessments that I assumed they're intentional - to make it more challenging! Very few, if any, Sophia courses I've taken did not have at least one extremely questionable or demonstrably wrong question.  Introduction to Relational Databases is a great example. Several questions force you to ask "What does the test writer THINK is the right answer??" because there's more than one. Case in point are questions that have two answers that are exactly the same, but only one is counted as correct.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the value Sophia provides, and I recommend it to everyone. But the assertion that wrong answers are not acceptable.. is surprising. Maybe Sophia needs to make the feedback system a little more obvious and encourage participation somehow.

There are professional ways to say things, and you missed the mark.

Sophia and CSM have representatives that read our posts, respond, and make changes or answer questions when they could be like every other provider ever and leave us in the dark. We are participating in the feedback system right now. They don’t have to be here, but they are because they care about the end-user experience just a little bit more than the next company.

Someone posted a complaint on a third-party web forum, and it was addressed and corrected the next day. Seems to me like they care quite a bit about correcting their mistakes and listening to feedback.

When a provider comes to this forum and reads snarky comments like yours, they are not encouraged to go the extra mile that Sophia does. No one person, group, or system is perfect, but at least they are making an attempt to make things right. Can we tone down the attitude so that they and others are not discouraged from doing so in the future?


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[origamishuttle]

Introduction to Relational Databases is a great example. Several questions force you to ask "What does the test writer THINK is the right answer??" because there's more than one. Case in point are questions that have two answers that are exactly the same, but only one is counted as correct.

With Intro to Relational Databases, I sometimes had to use a diff checker to see what the difference was between two seemingly identical bits of code to see that, actually, one has a semi-colon in place of a comma or whatever.  When you're staring at 4 nearly-identical pieces of code, it can be difficult to manually see the differences. 

There are some issues in a few courses, but I'm not sure that Intro to Relational Databases is one.

We must have had different sets of tests because I'm very sure about what was on my tests. I remember at least two questions where the correct answer was repeated exactly. I tried not to do any diff, since I thought it might not be allowed, so I tried to spot any tiny difference, as in other questions, but I couldn't. So I broke down and used a diff checker, and there was indeed no difference. There were also questions that asked you to identify which SQL query will run without error, but more than one does, usually because they seemed to treat an optional clause like it's required. There were also questions with syntax errors and copy/paste errors - sometimes in the question, sometimes in the answer. Honestly, I kept thinking how lucky I am to already know SQL, with all the things that could easily trip up someone new.

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There are professional ways to say things, and you missed the mark.

Thank you for the feedback. I really did not intend to be snarky or to offend anyone. I was trying to share my experience. Again, I do recommend Sophia to everyone.

[sophia UX]

Thank you for the feedback. I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone. Please feel free to delete.

No offense here.

Thanks for continuing to recommend Sophia. We're always listening to feedback and trying to do better.

[booklovingirl]

Thank you for the feedback. I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone. Please feel free to delete.

No offense here.

Thanks for continuing to recommend Sophia. We're always listening to feedback and trying to do better.

Hi Sophia, thanks for being here and taking our feedback!

I sent you a PM with something else that is a wrong answer on a course. 

Can you tell me if there is anyway to resubmit a touchstone? I submitted one, leaving a key point out (ugh.) I emailed customer service but haven't heard back. It hasn't been graded yet.  Thanks in advance.

[rachel83az]

We must have had different sets of tests because I'm very sure about what was on my tests. I remember at least two questions where the correct answer was repeated exactly. I tried not to do any diff, since I thought it might not be allowed, so I tried to spot any tiny difference, as in other questions, but I couldn't. So I broke down and used a diff checker, and there was indeed no difference.

Since Sophia is open book, I treated it like anything I would use professionally was fair game. I would definitely use a diff checker professionally, so I used it with Sophia. Yes, we must have had different questions because there was always a difference. Even if it was a minor difference. Sometimes, things were slightly misspelled or punctuation was wrong/out of place, but there was a definite difference.

There were also questions that asked you to identify which SQL query will run without error, but more than one does, usually because they seemed to treat an optional clause like it's required.

Did you try running the queries in the DB? Some of those optional clauses are required with PostgreSQL. Having worked with MySQL in the past, I agree that there was often more than one that would likely have worked on an MySQL DB, but when pasted into the sample DB and ran to test, only one would work.

[origamishuttle]

Did you try running the queries in the DB? Some of those optional clauses are required with PostgreSQL. Having worked with MySQL in the past, I agree that there was often more than one that would likely have worked on an MySQL DB, but when pasted into the sample DB and ran to test, only one would work.

Yes, I tried to run everything through https://postgres.sophia.org/ that I could, and I was constantly restarting it and rerunning to make sure that it was in a correct state. That sandbox is an awesome resource, so I tried to maximize the benefit. I've worked with PostgreSQL, Oracle, and MySQL, so I understand the differences, which is another reason I kept referring to the sandbox - to ensure everything is proved out in PostgreSQL. I tried to be thorough and check all the answers, and in different ways, both running multiple queries together and resetting in between, which maybe would explain why I noticed the problem? And I completed the course a few months ago, so maybe problems have been fixed since then? I know that there were many reviews complaining of similar problems with the course when I took it...

[BSLIONS]

I have taken a ton of Sophia courses and I have seen several questions I got wrong and thought it was bs. They were either just flat out wrong or there were really two right answers but I didn't give the one they wanted. That's not a Sophia exclusive problem though, a lot of courses have poorly written test questions.