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The official guide to courses by Straighterline, Study, et al: We want YOUR input!
Provider: Sophia
Course: Ancient Greek Philosophers
Course content: 4 Challenges consisting of 5-9 lessons each, and one milestone.
Final exam format: 25 questions. Open book. NON PROCTORED.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: A little harder than the questions in the challenges. Nothing to sweat over.
Time taken on course: About 9 hours. (I started like an hour or so after I finished the OnlineDegree Psychology exam above - completed same day.)
Familiarity with subject before course: I mean I knew who Socrates was... 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Ok. So I was really hesitant to take this course after reading the loads of negative reviews on Sophia saying it was "too hard" and everyone crying over the test questions were not in the material... People - grab a tissue. This course is easy AS BALLS. So what if there is not a video on every single lesson - there are several videos, and he just says exactly the same thing as the text says anyways... Course could be a little more engaging and entertaining I guess but c'mon - its Philosophy... *yawn* - In case you don't know, you can take a free course, and Sophia will send you a $50 coupon - use it to reduce this course's cost to $99 instead of $149. Well worth it for 3 easy credits - plus you get to learn some interesting stuff that will come up in almost every discipline (Aristotle). The final "exam" (really just a milestone) is NOT hard, just read the material and you will do just fine. PEACE.  Big Grin
1-10 Difficulty level: 1.5
TESU BSBA Gen Mgmt  sh: 120 (Complete)
Saylor (9): Env Eth, Mor & Pol Phil, Corp Com
OnlineDegree (18): Int Ast, Mod His, Int Psych, Microecon, Mark, Bio
Sophia (6 3): Con Res (1), Teams (1), SS (1), Gr Phil
CLEP (15): Int Soc, Mgmt, Comp (6), Gov't
CSM Learn (3): CSM
Institutes (2): Ethics (2)
TEEX (10 5): CYB101, CYB201, CYB301
Study.com (61 58): W Civ I, W Civ II, Rel 101, Pres Skills, Int Bus, Glob & Int Mgmt, Macroecon, Int to Computers, Fin Acct, Man Acct, Bus Law, Int E-Com, Col Alg, Precalc Alg (4), Int Ent, Princ Fin, SB Fin, SB Mgmt, Dig Mark, W Art His I, Fin Mgmt
TESU (9): SOS-110, Intro to Islam, Capstone
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Provider: OnlineDegree.com
Course: Introduction to Microeconomics
Course content: 11 lessons each consisting of a main lecture video and a couple of related YouTube videos, a practice question and a quiz. Recommended reading is provided from open source textbook.
Final exam format: Proctored by ProctorU - $9. Multiple choice.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Similar. If you do good on the quizzes for each unit you should have no problem on the final exam.
Time taken on course: Several days. I did not spend all day each day on the course - a few hours here and there, with some days off in the middle.
Familiarity with subject before course: Very little.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Main lecture videos come from UC Irvine, with professor Phil "Does Your Graph Look Like This?" Navarro. Lectures are pretty dry and extremely boring 1990s powerpoint style with minimal visual stimulation. They are jam packed with the course material, so even though there are only 11 of them, and they are only 30-40 minutes each, you have to pause continually in order to write down the information and comprehend the concepts and graphs. The material is overall pretty simple and straightforward, but if you have trouble comprehending graphs like me, it may be a little challenging. I had to look up a lot of the material on YouTube for better understading (see Mr. Clifford's ACDC Econ and a channel by the name of DiagKNOWstics - VERY useful for both micro and macro concepts). The math is pretty simple - there is hardly any actual math, just understanding equations. As with the other OD.com courses, many questions are unclear, have typos, and/or do not make any sense at all. There were a few of these on the final. I got mad, but held it together and did the best I could. (You know, sounds like somebody who has English as a 3rd language wrote them, then accidentally cut out whole sentences from the question so it is not even a question)... You get what you pay for ($9) so I can't complain too much. As with all other OD.com courses, I believe the grading is as follows: 10% "attendance" (completing each module, which is required anyways), 50% quizzes (which are open book and occur at the end of each lesson), and 40% final exam. I barely passed the final, but the other factors brought my grade up to around 80%.
1-10 Difficulty level: 5 (easier if you are good at comprehending graphs)

Provider: OnlineDegree.com
Course: Introduction to Marketing & Strategy
Course content: 19 lessons each consisting of a main lecture video and a couple of related YouTube videos, a practice question and a quiz. Recommended reading is provided from open source textbook.
Final exam format: Proctored by ProctorU - $9. Multiple choice. 50 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Same stuff. If you do good on the quizzes, final will be a breeze.
Time taken on course: 3 days - probably about 15 hours total.
Familiarity with subject before course: Little.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The video lectures are from the Great Courses. There are 2 different professors - one for the Strategy part and the bulk of the course with Marketing. I thought the marketing professor was really funny. Lots of jokes and interesting content. Mind you, I usually listen to the material at an accelerated rate (you can download a chrome plugin to speed or slow any videos whether Vimeo, YT, or elsewhere to any desired rate) - but this guy talks soooo slowww that I usually had it cranked up to 1.7 - 1.8x. Then I just messed around on YouTube or did other tasks until the timer ran up and I could move on to the next module. This course is extremely easy. Just pay attention and you will kill it. I think I ended up with a 96%.
1-10 Difficulty level: 0.5
TESU BSBA Gen Mgmt  sh: 120 (Complete)
Saylor (9): Env Eth, Mor & Pol Phil, Corp Com
OnlineDegree (18): Int Ast, Mod His, Int Psych, Microecon, Mark, Bio
Sophia (6 3): Con Res (1), Teams (1), SS (1), Gr Phil
CLEP (15): Int Soc, Mgmt, Comp (6), Gov't
CSM Learn (3): CSM
Institutes (2): Ethics (2)
TEEX (10 5): CYB101, CYB201, CYB301
Study.com (61 58): W Civ I, W Civ II, Rel 101, Pres Skills, Int Bus, Glob & Int Mgmt, Macroecon, Int to Computers, Fin Acct, Man Acct, Bus Law, Int E-Com, Col Alg, Precalc Alg (4), Int Ent, Princ Fin, SB Fin, SB Mgmt, Dig Mark, W Art His I, Fin Mgmt
TESU (9): SOS-110, Intro to Islam, Capstone
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Study.com

Is it allowed to take the final exam before submitting the papers?

Eng 1, Eng 2, Software Engineering etc..
------------------

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(06-15-2019, 09:06 PM)akr680 Wrote: Study.com

Is it allowed to take the final exam before submitting the papers?

Eng 1, Eng 2, Software Engineering etc..

Yes, though they prefer you do the papers first.
Working on: Debating whether I want to pursue a doctoral program or maybe another master's degree in 2022-23

Complete:
MBA (IT Management), 2019, Western Governors University
BSBA (Computer Information Systems), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ASNSM (Computer Science), 2019, Thomas Edison State University

ScholarMatch College & Career Coach
WGU Ambassador
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I have done plenty of Study.com courses and have never submitted the paper first, ever. They say in the notes to do the papers first but no one has ever said anything to me about it. Don't worry about it
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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Provider: Study.com
Course: Computer Science 305: Operating Systems
Course content: Multiple Choice quizzes plus 2 assignments
Final exam format: 100 multiple choice quizzes
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The final is almost completely focused on Linux & Network Security. The course is much more varied than that.
Time taken on course: Couple of weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: I've taken a few computer courses, including a C programming course
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I took the practice final and basically aced it. Then I took the real final and struggled in places. There was almost no Linux, network set up, or C programming questions on the practice final and there was a good bit of all 3 of those on the real final. Lots of questions on the practice final about hardware, like network printers and USBs, almost none of that on the real one. Kind of weird. Then you have to do the projects, which are challenging. Nothing crazy but you better have more computer experience than just this course.
1-10 Difficulty level: 5
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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Note that it is not actually strictly necessary to do the projects to pass Computer Science 305
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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  • akr680
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(06-20-2019, 05:39 PM)jsh1138 Wrote: Note that it is not actually strictly necessary to do the projects to pass Computer Science 305

What do you mean by this? Just submitting blank files, or do they just not require a submission?
Completed:
BA History & Psychology, Thomas Edison State University, March 2020
ASNSM Mathematics, Thomas Edison State University, March 2020

Up Next:
JD, Cornell Law School, Class of 2024

Link to all credits earned: Link
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depending on the grading rubric, some courses you can pass without submitting anything at all for the assignments/projects. in those cases, since Study.com is pass/fail, they give you credit for the class even if you didn't turn in a project

So like if you do the quizzes and the final and you get 100 on both, and the final project counts for 20% of your grade, then you're at 80 already without the final project, so they just pass you, because there's no way you could fail even with a bad project.

Now on some courses, the project(s) are 50% of your grade or something, so you can't do that. It just depends. But all of them pass you when you hit a passing grade, so if 3 projects are "required" you can often pass the course with just 2. You just need to check the rubric. For instance on the UL Study.com Civil War course, one of the papers counts for twice as much credit as the other one for some reason, iirc. So I would do that one first and then just see.

If you bomb the test and your quiz score wasn't so great, then you can forget all that.
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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(06-21-2019, 09:01 AM)jsh1138 Wrote: depending on the grading rubric, some courses you can pass without submitting anything at all for the assignments/projects. in those cases, since Study.com is pass/fail, they give you credit for the class even if you didn't turn in a project

So like if you do the quizzes and the final and you get 100 on both, and the final project counts for 20% of your grade, then you're at 80 already without the final project, so they just pass you, because there's no way you could fail even with a bad project.

Now on some courses, the project(s) are 50% of your grade or something, so you can't do that. It just depends. But all of them pass you when you hit a passing grade, so if 3 projects are "required" you can often pass the course with just 2. You just need to check the rubric. For instance on the UL Study.com Civil War course, one of the papers counts for twice as much credit as the other one for some reason, iirc. So I would do that one first and then just see.

If you bomb the test and your quiz score wasn't so great, then you can forget all that.

The Operating Systems class in question has assignments worth 33% of the grade, so you can't just not submit those assignments even with a perfect score on the exam and quizzes. The same is true of every class of theirs I've seen that has assignments, including the UL Civil War course (and both assignments on that course are worth the same, though I know that part isn't true for all courses, e.g. the Holocaust course). They also didn't pass me on any of my UL courses until I had submitted all of the assignments, even though I always had more than enough points to pass after the first one. I think your information may be off here.
Completed:
BA History & Psychology, Thomas Edison State University, March 2020
ASNSM Mathematics, Thomas Edison State University, March 2020

Up Next:
JD, Cornell Law School, Class of 2024

Link to all credits earned: Link
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