Sophia Courses

[natshar]

I took the free Sophia course and just want to know how the other Sophia courses differ from the free ones. Are there more tests? Proctored? videos? Anything else worth noting.

[mysonx3]

I took the Ancient Greek Philosophers course and it was not proctored. No videos, just written material. However, my understanding is that this course is also different from most of their offerings, so probably not the most helpful info overall.

[armstrongsubero]

I think Sophia is hands down the BEST course provider I have come across, it is like the Apple of course providers. Everything is integrated well and the content is premium.

I would note that if you need to do college algebra, then it is the BEST option you can do. The course is very well laid out and consistent. If you can afford it, I would say do what you can through them. I know their are cheaper options, but you cant beat the quality of their courses.

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The other courses have proctored final exams with proctorU and all courses I have done have videos for every module, which is nice. Public speaking also requires you to submit assignments.

[Merlin]

[...]
The other courses have proctored final exams with proctorU
[...]

Sophia is also testing a biometric proctoring option that you can ask for if you're signed up directly through them. This system uses some kind of typing analysis system to validate who is taking the test, or something like that.

[dfrecore]

[...]
The other courses have proctored final exams with proctorU
[...]

Sophia is also testing a biometric proctoring option that you can ask for if you're signed up directly through them. This system uses some kind of typing analysis system to validate who is taking the test, or something like that.

I actually hated that!  Because I did all of my courses on my desktop in my office, but took my proctored exams downstairs at the kitchen table with my kid's laptop (nothing to steal on that piece of crap).  So my typing was completely different on that computer.  Threw the system completely off.

I'm not sure how it works now, if they weren't using anything to take over your computer like ProctorU, so you didn't have to worry about what computer you were using, maybe it would be a better option?  Not sure.

[BSLIONS]

I caught them when they had 50% off when you bought 3 courses or something along those lines. I bought six courses and am very close to finishing. I’m actually dreading the courses I need to do on study.com because the Sophia ones have been my favorite by far out of all the courses I’ve done. The unit challenges, then unit test system is balanced and laid out well to me. The only proctored test I was even close to failing was statistics because I hate math.

[katelynn]

I've taken 9 courses through Sophia and they're by far my favorite course provider. I personally find them to be the fastest to move through. I take all the quizzes back-to-back before reading the material (you can use the glossary if you need help), then I read the material, and then I take the exams. You can also skip the pre-exam tests if you feel confident enough. It's really impossible to fail a Sophia course unless you lack comprehension skills completely. Sometimes it feels like buying credit, honestly. They don't really feel like college-level material, but you'll probably take away a bit of new knowledge despite that. If you absolutely need to pass a course within 2-3 days, the price is worth it. 

I've never had to take a proctored test through them because the free ones don't require it and now they have the biometric keyboard verification option. You type out this sentence: "We record and use your typing pattern to verify your identity." once before each final exam. It couldn't be easier. You get your final grade immediately and can request credit right after finishing. There's no waiting for the middle-man like with other course providers, which makes it the fastest option, imo.

The free courses were very short, so naturally there will be more units in the paid courses. Each unit consists of 3 quizzes, a pre-test, and a final exam. Every unit has a random number of lessons depending on how in-depth that particular unit is, but each of those lessons within the units will have videos available. It'll be the same format as the free courses, only longer.

Their courses also cater to each study-type. I hate videos and lose my concentration with them, so I take advantage of the available transcript for each lesson. You get to pick which way you'd like to learn. A combination works too. 

I will say though, that I don't recommend going the Sophia route unless you use the 3 courses for half-off coupon. You can get 3 courses for less than the normal price of 2 of their courses.

To wrap it up, you can't go wrong with Sophia nor find a more conveinent, fast, user-friendly option. I haven't read a single complaint about Sophia relating to the format. What you can find is a cheaper option, but you can weigh out the pros vs. the cons for yourself. 

Good luck!

[Mab81]

I took the free Sophia course and just want to know how the other Sophia courses differ from the free ones. Are there more tests? Proctored? videos? Anything else worth noting.

I took Art History and a few others. There are a ton of typos, lots of wrong answers on the quizzes, and the photos (specifically of art, for art history) were extremely blurry. I also found questions that were not even covered in the lessons.

Overall my opinion is, if they were as cheap as Straighterline, then I would be all for it. However, due to the extremely high cost, I decided not to take any more classes with them. 

If I pay that much for something I expect it to be of good quality. I think their free courses were much more refined than the paid ones (for some reason). 

I did like the fact that they used biometric recognition instead of a proctor, so you don't have to sit around for 30+ minutes dealing with a proctor like in Straighterline.

[Toastmaster]

When I finish my degree, i will give an honest assessment of all the course providers i've used. I'll just say this, Sophia is my favorite too! It is literally the perfect content provider, perfect balance and blend of everything (Audio, Visual, etc) Just so damn expensive! The next best thing to that kind of experience is Study.com.

As someone else mentioned, Sophia is like the Apple of content providers, and I would say Study.com is like Windows. Useful. Ubiquitous. Cheaper. Good enough.

But I wish I had Sophia all the way through. Like, wow!

[dfrecore]

I took Sophia's Project Management course back in 2015 when they were giving away a free course for some reason. I remember that it was the first time I was able to take an UL (at that time) course for free. At that point, my alternative credits were limited to old work-related exams I took in 2000/01, some FEMA courses (back when TESU accepted them), ALEKS, CLEP, DSST, the free Kaplan PLA course, a PF course, The Institutes, and Ed4Credit. Sophia stood head and shoulders above them all.

The only thing that surpasses them for me is Study.com, not because the platform is better (it's not really), but because I felt like I could fit it into my life much more easily than anything else I've taken up to this point. There's an app, plus the ability to do the short lessons that you can literally do anywhere (in line at the grocery store, waiting for my kid to take her permit test at the DMV, waiting for my son between wrestling matches, etc.). It's just SO convenient.

But Sophia is hands-down the "prettiest" of the platforms. I absolutely LOVE their dashboard.