Shmoop Course Completion Times- How Accurate?

[Mamalady]

Hi All!

Noob question. I've been reading a few reviews of Shmoop and it seems like a few students are finishing in significantly less time than the 30 or so estimated hours on the Shmoop site (or maybe I'm reading it wrong). It seems like with all of the readings and such it would be nearly impossible to finish in a week or so as some people have reported. 

Thx so much!

[eriehiker]

Well, you just need to take the tests and final. I've been taking world geography and not reading anything. I've got a 76 through 6 tests. It takes about 20 minutes each test.

[Ideas]

People speeding through already know some or most of the material. The courses vary a lot too. In the literature courses, the questions are more subjective and tricky, and based on their writings more than the books (source material). And in the literature courses, you're supposed to read some chapters of some books in addition to their writings.

[Old Guy]

History courses? After a lifetime of American history including a great personal interest, I wrote the exams cold and passed them. In some other subjects, I wrote exams cold and got results little above random. For each of the Shakespeare courses, I watched the plays online or on DVD from the library and aced them. The quality of your grey matter has a lot to do with ease of passing

[Mamalady]

Thanks All!

I thought you HAD to do all the readings for some reason. That clears things up considerably! Thanks so much.

[Ideas]

Thanks All!

I thought you HAD to do all the readings for some reason. That clears things up considerably!  Thanks so much.

Be careful if you do History. While some people can pass without reading, Shmoop ask things that are a little interpretive. Then with Literature it's much more subjective (except the Bible course isn't as bad).

[jsh1138]

try to find the thread on here full of reviews of each course from different places, like shmoop, study.com, etc. that will help you

there are quite a few shmoop courses you can do in a day or two

[literalkev]

It really depends on the course and what you know going into it. I finished each of the world history courses in less than a day, I completed lit in media, and holocaust lit in a day each as well. Biology though, I spent two weeks on that, and it very nearly crushed my soul.

[jsh1138]

it also depends on if you actually want to learn anything