Study.com vs Straighterline

[l8989v]

I'm mapping out my way to getting credits and I was hoping to get feedback about your experiences. I'm now trying out English Composition at SL and I'm liking it so far, but I don't want to limit myself to only Straigtherline.

Any feedback is welcome. Price, convenience, credit (more specifically to TESU), overall...

I thought I wanted to go for a Business Administration degree, but I'm not sure anymore, so for now, I want to take general education courses!

Thank you!

- Linda

[johnjaxs]

TESU is one of Straighterline partner colleges which may make credit transfer easier and there is usually coupons that will help with the price. However I never used Study.com.

[adavis84]

Here's a recent thread that might help:

study.com vs straighterline microbiology

There are a few other threads you can search for that have additional info, but here's a quick run-down:

SL
- $99 / mo subscription fee. This doesn't include anything but access to the site.
- a one-time fee for each course you take. Most are $49/course.
- ebooks are included in some course purchase options, but otherwise you must source your own textbook. For most of their courses, you NEED the specified book as the exams and assignments are heavily based in the text.
- the learning materials are almost entirely reading-based.
- Finals are proctored through ProctorU by a live person. Your exam is graded immediately if it's multiple choice only (many are). If the final included a written portion (as my C++ course did, there's a few day wait for grading). Once complete, you can transfer your course out after 72hrs directly to TESU (or to ACE if you want).

study.com
- there are different tiers of subscription fees ($49/mo gets you access to the materials, $99/mo adds quizzes and support, $199/mo adds the ability to take final exams for ACE credits).
- you can take whichever courses you want, unlimited usage during your subscription fee, BUT you can only take two credit granting exams per subscription period.
- no need for books, all materials are included
- the learning materials are heavily video-based
- Finals are proctored by an automated system. Very similar process to SL, but requires a 1 to 2 week waiting period for grading.

I've used both, now. I like both for different reasons. For some courses, SL is faster and has fewer assignments (I've finished multiple SL courses in one or two days). Study.com requires the completion of every lesson quiz (for example there are over 200 lesson quizzes in the microbiology course) at 80% or better before you can take the final. The lesson quizzes range from 5 to 12 questions in my experience. The overwhelming majority are 5 questions.

One thing to keep in mind is that study.com seems to only offer courses that are also available through CLEP, DSST, UExcel, or TECEP. So, there are other ways than study.com for those credits. You could always use the $49 or $99 study.com plan to study for CLEPS, etc. You'd have to do that math as it pertains to your particular situation and pace to know whether or not that's beneficial to you.

To wit, however, SL offers some things not readily available from other sources. Examples are the 3cr C++ programming course and the 1cr Microbiology Lab. There are probably others.

I'm sure I've left something out, so anyone who has corrections or additions to this, PLEASE chime in!

[dfrecore]

I agree that study.com only offers courses available through CLEP/DSST/UExcel; just wrote a thread about this yesterday: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...post199374

I think a lot of people on this forum kind of choose SL because you get more for your money that way. If you choose SL, and then go through more than 1 course per month, you are getting the most bang for your buck. If you can take multiple courses in a month, you can really come out ahead.

[mednat]

I have not taken any for credit classes at study.com but I really like their material (used it for CLEP/Saylor prep). The videos were a godsend after reading text book after text book.

Straighterline on the other hand is an awesome value if you can go fast. It's really hard to beat the price you can obtain if you can do multiple classes in a month.

[adavis84]

The real key for me is the speed of SL. I was able to blaze through an SL course in an afternoon getting a 92 final grade. Not possible with study.com given the final exam turnaround and the 100% lesson completion.

I'm not so sure SL is always cheaper. It can be, but depending on the scenario, study.com could work out cheaper.

Here's my reasoning if anyone wants to humor me:

I'm going to make some simplifying assumptions to make this work a little neater and round dollar values to round numbers. I'm also going to assume we're talking basic LL gen eds with flexibility as to course choice.

SL
100m + 50c + 50b, where m is months, c is courses, b is books. I'm simplifying this by assuming the course is $50 and the the book will only cost you $50. Books may be more, or free depending on your resources.

study.com
200m

If we can accept those price formulas and supposing you only take two, three credit courses (and also supposing all things are equal with respect to amount of time spent studying and completing assignments):
SL is ~$50/cr, where study.com is ~$33. If SL books cost you nothing: SL is ~$33 as well.

If you can do three SL courses in a month and add a CLEP to the study.com mix (using study.com as a guide), you still come out ahead on the study.com.

SL in that scenario (100 + 150 +150) for nine credits comes out to ~$44/cr (of course, cheaper books changes that). While the two included study.com exams plus a CLEP which was studied for using study.com (200 + 80) comes out to about $31/cr.

If you need a subject not offered by CLEP (ex: need a pricier UExcel instead) my little system here is blown to bits and SL is where it's at. Now, of course, you can save a lot more money and prepare for CLEPS using free resources and skip both altogether.

Oh yeah, and SL coupons poke a big hole in this as well.

I certainly hope this is helpful in someway to someone

[dfrecore]

For SL, I forgot to take in mind the cost of books (although they're now included for all business courses for an extra $10 course cost).

I also really kind of thought about Study.com more as a replacement for CLEP/DSST's, because that's their main set of courses. It's a good direct replacement for those courses.

But, if you use Study.com for UExcel's because you actually need those exams, then you can save quite a bit of money:
- Pathophysiology UExcel is $95, plus Pearson VUE charges $50 (or $60) for a testing fee. If you add the additional $25 practice exam, the total price is $170 (using free Saylor study resources)
- Microbiology UExcel is $345, plus $60 testing fee, plus $75 for a practice exam, for a grand total of $480 (using free Saylor study resources)
- Psychology of Adulthood & Aging is $95 + $60 + $25 plus there is no Saylor course to study with, so it's an additional $60 for the cheapest recommended textbook. For a total of $240.

So, if you need UExcel's for additional harder-to-find Bio or Psych courses especially, then Study.com is a fantastic deal, even without the ability to study for as many courses as you'd like to.

And I too can appreciate the ability to watch videos rather than read textbooks, it's a nice change once in a while.

[sanantone]

I don't know which courses have e-books now, but when I was looking into taking a few SL courses, I was able to find the books for around $5 each.

[josephmarzullo]

What if you use 5 days trials to study, then when you're ready, you simply bypass/lapse the 5 day trial and take your 2 tests? Rince, repeat...

[smrt]

I can't learn from ebooks, so I bought the books I'd need for my planned SL classes on half.com. Spent a total of $25 shipped on books for I think 6 or 7 courses.

I made it through 4 SL classes in a month and had a coupon code to waive my $99 signup fee (seriously, Google for those!) so it ended up being $17 a credit for me -- You can't beat that with a stick.