Speed Strategies

[SaebScholar]

I have read quite a few thread where people have made impressive claims of completing anywhere from 7 to 12 straighterline courses in the matter of days and weeks. I have just signed up for my first online course on Straighterline and it looks like I might be using SL and Schmoop for a number of credits in my degree.

I am still relatively new here, and I wanted to ask people to share the strategies they use to achieve such efficient course completion? How do you break down the courses? Are you able to skip straight to the exam and give it your best shot? Do you speed-read? Is it luck?

I'm not asking for anything dishonest, I just get excited when it comes to being able to push the envelope of learning for myself, especially after coming back to school a depressing TWELVE years after graduating. I feel though, that I now have potential to shift my education into gears never achievable by my younger self.

The feedback I have gotten here already has been life-changing, and the care, concern, and compassion I have received from total strangers is a precious treasure in and unexpected place. So thanks again and in advance.

[Shynepapin]

I have read quite a few thread where people have made impressive claims of completing anywhere from 7 to 12 straighterline courses in the matter of days and weeks. I have just signed up for my first online course on Straighterline and it looks like I might be using SL and Schmoop for a number of credits in my degree.

I am still relatively new here, and I wanted to ask people to share the strategies they use to achieve such efficient course completion? How do you break down the courses? Are you able to skip straight to the exam and give it your best shot? Do you speed-read? Is it luck?

I'm not asking for anything dishonest, I just get excited when it comes to being able to push the envelope of learning for myself, especially after coming back to school a depressing TWELVE years after graduating. I feel though, that I now have potential to shift my education into gears never achievable by my younger self.

The feedback I have gotten here already has been life-changing, and the care, concern, and compassion I have received from total strangers is a precious treasure in and unexpected place. So thanks again and in advance.

Study for two different courses but similar in relativeness of the subject at the same time. An example is English comp I and II, also Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. I know there are other pros here that would definitely have a better idea, but if I was you, I would only do what works for me, because at some point your brain might feel overwhelmed with info and you find yourself remembering topics or answers for Macroeconomics while doing Microeconomics. In essence find what works for you, it's always recommended to do Shmoop first but now that you got SL, I guess you'll just have to go on ahead and do what's needed.

[melody75]

I remember when I first started, I was just as excited as you are. There was this one particular post that was ingrained in my head. It was about this foreigner who couldn't take the tests in her country, so she ended up taking 20 tests in a month. Talk about high standard. And during that period, I keep seeing post bragging about how they passed test cold turkey. Well, I wanted in on some of that action so I decided to do a quick review for Introduction to Psychology since I love reading anything related to psychology. I signed up for SL and I tried to do in like 2 days and wump wump wump, I failed.

I just want to mention that people who completed more than 5 tests in a month are either working in that field and looking to get a degree. Or they studied intensely beforehand and then enroll in the monthly subscription to save money. I'm sorry if I coming off as pessimistic, but I really do believe that you should start small like a snowball and pace yourself accordingly.

Anyway, I don't have any study tips but I do have financial tip. And that is promo code is everywhere so try to look for one before you start. For SL there is promo code "Ash100" and it'll take off 100 dollar so you're just paying for the class. You can try cancelling auto renewal plan and using it next month or look out for other coupons, SL is very generous with their promotion.

Goodluck with your tests.

[Synicaal]

I have read quite a few thread where people have made impressive claims of completing anywhere from 7 to 12 straighterline courses in the matter of days and weeks. I have just signed up for my first online course on Straighterline and it looks like I might be using SL and Schmoop for a number of credits in my degree.

I am still relatively new here, and I wanted to ask people to share the strategies they use to achieve such efficient course completion? How do you break down the courses? Are you able to skip straight to the exam and give it your best shot? Do you speed-read? Is it luck?

I'm not asking for anything dishonest, I just get excited when it comes to being able to push the envelope of learning for myself, especially after coming back to school a depressing TWELVE years after graduating. I feel though, that I now have potential to shift my education into gears never achievable by my younger self.

The feedback I have gotten here already has been life-changing, and the care, concern, and compassion I have received from total strangers is a precious treasure in and unexpected place. So thanks again and in advance.

Here is a legit strategy and a not so legit strategy people use on SL courses.

Legit: Order the books/materials you need for the courses you plan on taking ahead of time. Read/Study the books. Sign up for SL and the courses. Do all the assignments one by one. Take Final. Collect credits.

Not Legit: Take courses that are "open" book and use the e-book versions. CTRL-F all the answers. Take Final (on some CTRL-F all the answers). Collect Credits.

CLEPs can be a fast way to earn credits quickly also. There is a lot of easy to study for ones. You can put in a day to a week of studying for most of the exams. If your near a test center and you can take multiple in a day you can probably study for 1day each on Marketing, Management, A & I Lit. 12credits down. Sociology and Psychology can be done but I would go closer to a week each on those. There is a ton of quick style credits. Study.com isn't so quick anymore because of there changes.

[dfrecore]

I can't even imagine taking 7-12 courses in a month anywhere, but then again, my lifestyle wouldn't accommodate this. I have a husband who travels, 2 kids, 1 of whom is home 3 days a week "homeschooling" (through a charter school), and their various sports and activities. Unless I give up sleeping, I just don't have the kind of time some people do to sit on the computer 14 hours a day and get this done. Not to mention I would probably go insane!

My advice is to make some realistic (for you) goals and work towards those. Figure out how much time you can spend on schoolwork, and then set that time aside to get it done. Even if it's only an hour a day right now because work is busy, but after Feb 1 there's some downtime and you can do 3 hours a day for example. Things like that are important. You don't have to have the same schedule all the time, you can work around it. My kids' sports have downtimes throughout the year, and I spend more time on my own stuff during that time than when it's really busy. So figure out a schedule for the next few months that will work, and then plan on getting your SL/Study.com subscriptions just as that downtime is starting for you.

Next, I would make a good solid plan for all of my courses, and where I was going to take them. Then, I would group them by type, rather than even where I was going to take them. For instance, if I was going to get my BSBA, I would probably do a combination of ALEKS, Saylor, Study.com and SL.
- I would use ALEKS to do Int. Alg & College Alg, then Stats. Then I would take the Business Stats exam (Saylor). I might take another easy math course or 2.
- I would use Study.com to study for Micro and Macroecon, but take the Saylor exams.
- I would do my accounting courses through either SL or Study.com, all in the same month or two.
- I would take Finance through Study.com. I would consider taking Corporate Finance or Multinational Business Finance (or both) through Davar Academy right after. Boom, a whole "section" of the BSBA done, and lots of overlap.
- Corporate Communication (Saylor) and Business Comm (SL or Study.com), then Oral Communication (or vice versa)
- Prin of Marketing (study with Study.com and then test through Saylor) and Digital Marketing (Study.com).
- Prin of Management, HRM, Org Behavior, all together. Then Strategic Management (TECEP)
- take all your history courses together, then American government/comparative politics
- take your computer courses together
- sciences together

You get the picture. I think this is more helpful than even figuring out what you want to take where. Yes, you don't want to spend unnecessary money on SL, Study.com or Shmoop subscriptions. I get that. But planning 4 completely different courses at SL is less helpful than 3 at SL, 2 at Study.com, and 2 Saylor exams (using Study.com to study) that are all related, therefore making studying for each exam easier due to overlap.

To get the most bang for your buck, plan 1 or 2 easier courses (World Religions, Sociology, Psychology) along with a harder month like your "finance" or "accounting" month.

[SaebScholar]

Why does it matters what order I take schmoop in?

[KayV]

She's suggesting you concentrate on one subject at a time, so focus on all the lit, then the history, that sort of thing, instead of History > Shakespeare> History >Women's Lit.

[cookderosa]

First of all, anything faster than 4 years is faster than the average student (technically, the average 4 year degree takes 6 years when earned traditionally).

So, why are people here faster?? Lots of reasons!

Online classes (whole semester classes taught online by a college) tend to be faster. You'll notice lots of 5-6-8-12 week options. There are trends toward faster options butt-in-seat too, but in general, the semesters are getting shorter, allowing you to complete an extra term each year. *Edit to add - people here generally do not do a traditional 2 semester and optional summer school year. Here, people start and go until they finish.

College at home vs a physical place- this cuts out a TON of time. For starters, there is no clock- if you're wide awake at 2 am, you can do school. If you have a ski trip planned, then do school like a crazy person and get it done so you can have 3 days off. Work as fast as you want. When you take away getting up, packing lunch, getting dressed, driving, parking, walking to class, sitting through class and doing it all in reverse, you can shave 10 hours off your week just BEING at home to learn instead of going somewhere. Add that with the increased efficiency of a self-paced schedule, and you're now able to complete MANY more courses than the standard 10 per year.

Credit by Exam credit is literally earned in 90 minutes. You go to the center, take the test. CLEP and DSST exams are there whenever you are ready - so again, you have control over this. It's possible that you are already fluent in a language or that you're already doing a higher math than what the exams offer, or that you can read well enough to take the Analyzing Lit exam, or you know enough about computers to take the test. The point is that if you already have the foundation knowledge - you can do test prep in a couple days and go take the exam. If you're learning from scratch, using resources targeted toward EXACTLY what you need to know is the fastest route. You can also take a slower route, especially if you're very interested in going deeper - but in general, once you start, it's hard to put on the breaks and smell the roses.

Businesses like Straighterline and others are self paced too. Anytime you do a program like that (or any of the others mentioned here) look and see whats graded. For instance, watching the videos doesn't count toward your grade - taking quizzes/tests does. Reading the text doesn't count toward your grade, passing the final does. So, how deep you dive is up to you. I made my oldest son in 2012 do EVERY. SINGLE. ASSIGNMENT. in his Straighterline classes, and he took them simultaniously like you would in college. It took him MONTHS and it was a very very long few months. That is NOT the efficient way to use SL. I'm smarter this time, and my 12th & 10th graders are going much faster and having a much better experience. They do 1 SL class at a time, they do 2 hours per school day (they have other things) and at that pace, they are finishing courses in 2 weeks. If I weren't such a "homeschool mom" they could go faster (skipping much of the content/reading- I get it) but they have plenty of time to do that after high school.

Finally, there is the culture here that promotes EFFICIENCY of time and money. The goal here is not to waste steps. To find out EXACTLY what you need, how to do it quickly and cheaply, and go full speed in that direction. No one here is putting off a test to go to a frat party or football game. When you take away all the emotion and feeling - look at it strictly as a logical and pragmatic process, you'll fly through.

I tested out of my AA in 6 months, and an additional 12 months for my BA - so all in at 18 months. That's not "fast" in these parts. It's LIGHTENING fast against the rest of the world.

[davewill]

Another reason some people here do them quickly is simply experience. If you've been writing for your work for years, Freshman Comp isn't a big deal. For CLEP and DSST, InstantCert can be a very fast way to bone up for the test, as long as you have a decent familiarity for the subject. Also, some people are just GOOD at taking tests.

[AJ_Atlanta]

I can't even imagine taking 7-12 courses in a month anywhere, but then again, my lifestyle wouldn't accommodate this. I have a husband who travels, 2 kids, 1 of whom is home 3 days a week "homeschooling" (through a charter school), and their various sports and activities. Unless I give up sleeping, I just don't have the kind of time some people do to sit on the computer 14 hours a day and get this done. Not to mention I would probably go insane!

My advice is to make some realistic (for you) goals and work towards those. Figure out how much time you can spend on schoolwork, and then set that time aside to get it done. Even if it's only an hour a day right now because work is busy, but after Feb 1 there's some downtime and you can do 3 hours a day for example. Things like that are important. You don't have to have the same schedule all the time, you can work around it. My kids' sports have downtimes throughout the year, and I spend more time on my own stuff during that time than when it's really busy. So figure out a schedule for the next few months that will work, and then plan on getting your SL/Study.com subscriptions just as that downtime is starting for you.

Next, I would make a good solid plan for all of my courses, and where I was going to take them. Then, I would group them by type, rather than even where I was going to take them. For instance, if I was going to get my BSBA, I would probably do a combination of ALEKS, Saylor, Study.com and SL.
- I would use ALEKS to do Int. Alg & College Alg, then Stats. Then I would take the Business Stats exam (Saylor). I might take another easy math course or 2.
- I would use Study.com to study for Micro and Macroecon, but take the Saylor exams.
- I would do my accounting courses through either SL or Study.com, all in the same month or two.
- I would take Finance through Study.com. I would consider taking Corporate Finance or Multinational Business Finance (or both) through Davar Academy right after. Boom, a whole "section" of the BSBA done, and lots of overlap.
- Corporate Communication (Saylor) and Business Comm (SL or Study.com), then Oral Communication (or vice versa)
- Prin of Marketing (study with Study.com and then test through Saylor) and Digital Marketing (Study.com).
- Prin of Management, HRM, Org Behavior, all together. Then Strategic Management (TECEP)
- take all your history courses together, then American government/comparative politics
- take your computer courses together
- sciences together

You get the picture. I think this is more helpful than even figuring out what you want to take where. Yes, you don't want to spend unnecessary money on SL, Study.com or Shmoop subscriptions. I get that. But planning 4 completely different courses at SL is less helpful than 3 at SL, 2 at Study.com, and 2 Saylor exams (using Study.com to study) that are all related, therefore making studying for each exam easier due to overlap.

To get the most bang for your buck, plan 1 or 2 easier courses (World Religions, Sociology, Psychology) along with a harder month like your "finance" or "accounting" month.

The one thing I noticed you saying is study.com but test Saylor - the Saylor tests rather specifics and I have found personally using anything else can be difficult. Also some of those courses transfer as UL via study.com but not via Saylor

Unless I missed something there