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The official guide to courses by Straighterline, Study, et al: We want YOUR input!
Provider: Study.com
Course: Communications 120: Presentation Skills in the Workplace
Course content: Videos
Final exam format: 70 multiple choice 
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Very similar. The quizzes and practice tests prepare you well.  
Time taken on course: 3 days
Familiarity with subject before course: I've done some public speaking and plenty of business communication, but no prior experience is needed. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: None.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. I think that managing teams course from Sofia may have been easier, but this was pretty straight forward. It's probably necessary to review the content and familiarize yourself with the terminology, but it's all pretty straight forward and easy to grasp. This one's not time consuming or difficult. Great way to fulfill the oral communication requirement at TESU.
TESU BSBA CIS - March 2019
Clep: College Algebra, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, History of U.S. I, History of U.S. II, Principles of Management, Introductory Sociology, College Composition, American Government, Financial Accounting, Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Marketing, Information Systems, Introductory Business Law, Introductory Psychology, Western Civilization I, Spanish Language, Biology, Social Science and History, Precalculus, Calculus
Study.com: FIN-102 Personal Finance, FIN-101 Principles of Finance, ACC-102 Managerial Accounting, BUS-308 Globalization and International Management, CS-302 Systems Analysis and Design, CS-303 Database Management, COM-120 Presentation Skills in the Workplace, BUS-113 Business Communication, STAT-101 Principles of Statistics
OnlineDegree.com: Computer Science CS101
Saylor.org: CS402, BUS303, CS302
Certs: CompTIA A+, Net+, Sec+, Linux+, MCSA, LPIC-1, CCNA
TESU: BUS-421 Business Administration Capstone
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Provider: Study.com
Course: Rel 101: Intro to World religions
Course content: Usual study.com content. 91 quizzes. Some of the lessons were far longer than any study.com lessons I have taken- 18 min long. But I guess it is bcos they were trying to condense two important epics- Gilgamesh & the Odyssey into one lesson each!
Final exam format: 100 multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Very similar. The quizzes and practice tests prepare you well.
Time taken on course: 3 days
Familiarity with subject before course: I have deeply studied the Hindu & Buddhist faiths. So, I did not need to do it again. However, learning about Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism etc was new for me. I also knew some details about Islam and Christianity from high school. But I learned newer stuff. I enjoyed the course.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: None.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. Pretty straight forward and easy to grasp. This one's not time consuming or difficult. Great way to fulfill the Diversity requirement at TESU.
TESU BALS-Psych. + ASNSM(Math) 

TEEX(6): Cybersec. 101/201/301
The Institutes(2): Ethics
Sophia(2): Ess. Of Managing Conflict, Dev. Effective Teams
NFA(1): Comm. Safety Edu.
GED(10): NAS-131, SOC-273, MAT-121, HUM-101 (1)
Study.com(75): Intro to Psych., Soc. Psych.-1, Growth & Dev. Psych., Personality Psych., History & Systems of Psych., Org. Theory, Library Science, Comm. at Workplace, Intro to World Religion, I/O Psych., Ethics in Soc. Sc., Org. Comm., Eng. 104, Eng. 105, History of Vietnam war, Sp. Ed. History & Law, Diff. Ed., Classroom Mgmt., Foundations of Ed., Abnormal Psych., Rsch. methods in Psych., College Math, Intro. to Geometry., Calculus (6).
Saylor (15): Intro. to Mol. & Cellular Bio., Comp. Politics, Corporate Comm., Env. Ethics, Principles of Comm. 
TESU (1): Cornerstone, Lib. 495 Capstone.
CSM (3): Quant. reasoning. 
Aleks (6): Trigonometry, Intro to Statistics. 

MS-Psychology; Walden University 
GPA: 4/4
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Provider: Study.com
Course: Communications 120: Presentation Skills in the Workplace
Course content: Videos
Final exam format: 70 multiple choice 
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Aligned very well.
Time taken on course: 8-10 hours
Familiarity with subject before course: Very little
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Without a doubt the easiest three credits I've completed. Remember the main terms and concepts covered in the videos and achieving a passing score shouldn't be a problem. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 2
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Provider: Straighterline
Course: Calc II
Course content: No textbook. Material is presented through Thinkwell calculus videos with Edward Burger and then practice problems via ungraded quizzes. The course consists of four-chapter tests, 1 midterm, and a final, which are all timed. You can retake the first exam as many times as you want up to the point of taking the final exam which is proctored.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The difficulty of the final was consistent with previous chapter test material.
Time taken on course: I worked on this course regularly for almost 5 weeks.  
Familiarity with subject before course: I finished Calculus I just prior, which made the transition into this material easier. Much of the course expands on concepts and ideas from Calc I with a significant branch into the world of sequences, series, and summations, bookended with a several chapters involving polar coordinates and vectors. The course also covers other topics but lesser in breadth. Comparing it to Calc I, be prepared to take finding limits, trigonometric substitutions, and evaluating definite integrals to the next level. Again, Professor Leonard is helpful for some aspects as well as Patrick JMT who is also on YouTube. Navigating this course is different than Straighterline’s Calc I course, and I had the same frustrations regarding how much work was shown and consistency for worked out problems on practice quizzes.           
1-10 Difficulty level: It’s no doubt a difficult course, dutifully a 9 from me.
  
TESU - BS NEET (Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology) Credits 128/126.

TESU 19 Credits: TES-100, NUC-342-OL, CTR-212-OL, PHY-128-OL, PHY-129-OL, ENG-201-TE, NUC-490-OL, NUC-495-OL
STRAIGHTERLINE 19 Credits:  COM101, BUS106, CHEM101, CHEM101L, MAT150, MAT250, MAT251
CLEP 12 Credits: A&I Literature, College Comp II, Intro to Sociology, American Govt
NE (noncourse equivalency) 54 Credits: Various
B&M 24 Credits: Various
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I was just curious, would any of you guys be interested in a thread just like this but reviewing courses from TESU, COSC, Excelsior, WGU, etc? I looked over in the other forum but didn't see one, just seems like something people might want, although if they're transferring in everything and just doing the capstone, maybe not.
Study.com - 177 CR. TESU - 39 CR. Middle Georgia State University - 15 CR. Sonoran Desert Institute - 42 CR. COSC - 6 CR. Excelsior - 6 CR. CLEP - 6 CR. Sophia - 14 CR. TEEX - 2 CR. Shmoop - 18 CR. NFA - 4 CR. The Institutes - 2 CR. FEMA - 20ish


BA in History/English from TESU. 
BA in Communications from TESU. AS in Firearms Technology from SDI.




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(12-31-2018, 11:05 AM)jsh1138 Wrote: I was just curious, would any of you guys be interested in a thread just like this but reviewing courses from TESU, COSC, Excelsior, WGU, etc? I looked over in the other forum but didn't see one, just seems like something people might want, although if they're transferring in everything and just doing the capstone, maybe not.

I would be. I'm sure it would be more than helpful for a lot of students here.
WGU BSCSIA (In progress starting Feb 1st 2019)  49/122 credit hours.
PierPont BOG A.A.S 2018

CompTIA A+,Sec+.
SL. Intro to Environmental Science, Intro to Biology.  6 Credit hours.
Brick and Mortar college's 50 RA credits.
Pierpont institutional credit  INFO 2207, INFO 2256, INFO 2305. 9 Credit hours.
Sophia.
 Developing Effective Teams, The Essentials of Managing Conflict. 2 Credit hours
The Institutes. 312N-H Ethics, 2 credit hours.
Brick and Mortar College. Eng 205 research writing, 3 credit hours.

CLEP. Information Systems, 3 Credit hours.
Stanford Online. America's Poverty and Inequality Course, Statement of accomplishment.  
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Provider: Straighterline
Course: General Chemistry I
Course content: The course material is presented in an eTextbook. Otherwise, if you need a break from staring at a screen (like I did), you can purchase the textbook from online sources. The course consists of six-chapter tests and a final, which are all timed. You can retake the first exam as many times as needed up to the point of taking the final exam which is proctored. Considering the amount and detail of the material covered, I was somewhat surprised by the focus on doing calculations throughout the course, both in study and in testing.  

Final exam format: The final exam was multiple choice and 60 questions. 
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The reading and practice material did a decent job at preparing you for the tests.

Time taken on course: Collectively this course took ~ three or four weeks. I did all the reading ahead of time and then I did the actual course (referencing back to the reading material as needed). The majority of my study time was spent practicing how to use the formulas and doing calculations and conversions.   
Familiarity with subject before course: I was familiar with several topics before picking up this textbook. When it comes time to tackle atomic orbitals, subshells, hybridization etc. (chapter 9), I thought Khan Academy did a decent job of providing some clarity for me on these particular topics.  
1-10 Difficulty level: Difficulty was about a 5 because of all the calculations.





Provider: Straighterline          
Course: General Chemistry I Lab
Course content: This course consisted of 8 labs and 8 graded lab exams. Nearly all of what you need to know for the questions on the labs and exams is covered in materials provided under each chapter. The course is straight-forward. Yes, you are required to buy the lab kit.  

Time taken on course: This course took ~ two days.
Familiarity with subject before course: I was very familiar with the material as I had recently read the General Chemistry I course textbook. However, it is certainly possible to pass this course without taking General Chemistry I.

Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Some directions and references in the lab guide did not quite match the lab worksheet, and vice versa. I recommend that you read both the lab guide and lab worksheet fully before starting each lab. 
1-10 Difficulty level: Difficulty was 1.
  
TESU - BS NEET (Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology) Credits 128/126.

TESU 19 Credits: TES-100, NUC-342-OL, CTR-212-OL, PHY-128-OL, PHY-129-OL, ENG-201-TE, NUC-490-OL, NUC-495-OL
STRAIGHTERLINE 19 Credits:  COM101, BUS106, CHEM101, CHEM101L, MAT150, MAT250, MAT251
CLEP 12 Credits: A&I Literature, College Comp II, Intro to Sociology, American Govt
NE (noncourse equivalency) 54 Credits: Various
B&M 24 Credits: Various
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Provider: Saylor.org
Course: CS302: Software Engineering
Course content: One main textbook, various links to articles, publications, and videos with additional information. There is a lot of material. 
Final exam format: 50 multiple choice questions
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The practice final is similar, to the point that some questions are the same. The end of unit quizzes are not useful to prepare for the final at all since they're mostly essay prompts.
Time taken on course: 6 weeks. I took the direct credit final 3 times. I studied all the material the first time through and spent 3 times as long as I normally spend on courses (3 weeks 5 hours a day plus more on weekends). I failed, took it again 2 weeks later and failed again, finally passed this time after some more review.
Familiarity with subject before course: This is my last CS course for my degree, so I've already taken all the other programming courses. There was some crossover from Study.com system analysis and design, but this course covers a lot more. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This was the hardest course I've taken, and not really in a good way. It's hard because the content is dated and feels very disorganized since there's so much material from different sources. Some of the material will explain or define things differently than other parts of the material, which really makes it confusing. The questions on the final exam were completely baffling. Some seemed to have no correct answers even when I was searching through all the course material while reviewing. Others had multiple correct answers. I posted some more about that here: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid276964.
There are some great alternatives now on study.com, and I think those courses tend to be higher quality and less frustrating. I would recommend avoiding this course unless you already know the subject really well and just want to give it a shot on the final. I'd be curious to know what some actually software engineers think about this one. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 10. It was nearly impossible for me to pass regardless of how much time I spent preparing. I didn't know questions could be this confusing.
TESU BSBA CIS - March 2019
Clep: College Algebra, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, History of U.S. I, History of U.S. II, Principles of Management, Introductory Sociology, College Composition, American Government, Financial Accounting, Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Marketing, Information Systems, Introductory Business Law, Introductory Psychology, Western Civilization I, Spanish Language, Biology, Social Science and History, Precalculus, Calculus
Study.com: FIN-102 Personal Finance, FIN-101 Principles of Finance, ACC-102 Managerial Accounting, BUS-308 Globalization and International Management, CS-302 Systems Analysis and Design, CS-303 Database Management, COM-120 Presentation Skills in the Workplace, BUS-113 Business Communication, STAT-101 Principles of Statistics
OnlineDegree.com: Computer Science CS101
Saylor.org: CS402, BUS303, CS302
Certs: CompTIA A+, Net+, Sec+, Linux+, MCSA, LPIC-1, CCNA
TESU: BUS-421 Business Administration Capstone
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(06-04-2017, 09:11 PM)aviator guy Wrote: Provider:  Study.com
Course:  Business 101: Principles of Management
Course content:  16 Chapters with 119 lessons (video and text), and 119 5 question quizzes.  Quiz score determines passing score for final (minimum final grade is 55% assuming all quizzes are 100% but you only get 3(?) attempts per quiz to get the max score on the quiz.)  Each chapter has a practice test and a 50 question practice final is available.  
Final exam format: 100 multiple choice questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It was probably 25% new material that had been presented in the lessons but not drilled.
Time taken on course:  Approximately 8 hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: There was some overlap from other courses, a lot of common sense stuff.  I probably would have scored 50% on the final with no practice.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know:  You can take placement tests to work through many of the lessons (meaning you don't have to take the quiz for the lesson) and this greatly increases productivity.  Between this and having some carry over (some topics were covered in other courses I had worked on) I probably eliminated 50% of the content right off the bat.  A lot of questions on all of the tests can be whittled down through common test taking methods - context clues, process of elimination, etc.  Pro tip:  Study.com loves them some philosophers and theorists - knowing all of the names and theories in the course is an easy, low effort grade booster for the final.  Should you retain this information it will also allow you to name drop and exert your intellectual dominance in petty arguments for years to come.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3

Every time I come on these boards, I feel slightly inferior (lol), only because I'm currently taking this course, and I'm certain I've spent at least 20 hours on it and I'm currently doing the Final Practice Exam (you can take this at least 8 times if you like - I know I did it on another Study.com course). The videos are 119, averaging 8 minutes each. The quiz after each video takes about 2 to 3 minutes, there's flashcards that took me 1 hour to review, and I plan on taking a good 6 practice exams (3 hours): 16 hours videos, 4 hours quizzes, 4 hours flashcards + practice exams = 24 hours.   Still, the content is like a 3, as you said.  If you don't have old eyes, you can get through this in a very focused weekend session.
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Provider: Straighterline
Course: Western Civilization I 
Course content: Ebook, slideshow
Final exam format: 50 multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Very similar, maybe two surprises. 
Time taken on course: 2 days
Familiarity with subject before course: I read a lot, so, mild familiarity
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Open book tests, but, still want to be familiar because some of the questions require you to actually understand. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. Open book format makes this pretty low risk. You do not need to do the slideshow presentation, all of the information you need is in the ebook. 

Provider: Straighterline
Course: American Government
Course content: Ebook, slideshow
Final exam format: 50 multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: There were quite a few unfamiliar things. be careful on previous tests so that you don't need a great final grade. Final is closed book. 
Time taken on course: 2 days
Familiarity with subject before course: Casual familiarity- some of the history content was foreign to me and I'm bad at dates. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Open book tests except for the final. Still want to actually read the material or you may run out of time trying to find the answer in the ebook. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 3. Open book format makes this pretty low risk. You do not need to do the slideshow presentation, all of the information you need is in the ebook. 

Provider: Straighterline
Course: Intro to Religion
Course content: Ebook, slideshow
Final exam format: 50 multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: No surprises, I recognized around 25% of the questions from my previous tests. A couple weird questions, but, just don't waste time on them, just best guess and move on. 
Time taken on course: 2 days
Familiarity with subject before course: Familiar with around half of the material. Other half was unfamiliar. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Open book tests. The midterm is more challenging than the two previous tests. There are several questions where you cannot just find the answer in the ebook, you have to actually understand the chapter to answer the question. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 3. Open book format. Nothing too tricky.
Enrolled in WGU MAcc - Start Date 12/01/2019
B&M State College (90 credits 3.57 GPA)
Modern States CLEP  (27 credits) Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (64)  Introduction to Sociology (65) Information Systems (71) Principles of Management (68) Principles of Marketing (73) Principles of Macroeconomics (70) Principles of Microeconomics (53), Introduction to Business Law (60)
Sophia(2 credits)
Straighterline (9)American Government, Western Civilizations I, Introduction to Religion
WGU (71): Organizational Behavior, Spreadsheets, Global Business, Principles of Accounting, Accounting II, Managerial Accounting, Principles of Finance, Business Strategy.. graduated Oct/2019
WGU MAcc (30) Graduated Apr 2020
121 credits earned Dec 23, 2018-Feb 24, 2020 Smile 
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