The official guide to courses by Straighterline, Study, et al: We want YOUR input!

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia

Course: French 1
Course content: Text. Videos. Audio. Flashcards.
Familiarity with subject before course: I know some Spanish, and there's some overlap between the languages, particularly in the grammar, but the pronunciation is completely different. I've never studied French before.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I really didn't like that they didn't start off with a pronunciation guide. That isn't introduced until after learning lots of greetings and such.

The audio files have the French, then the English, all in one file that plays through. I wanted the option to only play the French to practice pronunciation. The English translations were read with a strong French accent… sometimes could barely understand the English word. I wondered if it was done with AI, as they sounded completely unnatural.

It's a new course that still has a lot of errors in it.
1-10 Difficulty level: Unsure. I ended up dropping this class to focus on others I needed more. This was too time-consuming for me. I figured I'd review it here, anyway, in case the info can help anyone.

[legenwait4itdary]

Provider: Study.com

Course: Business 303: Management Information Systems

Course content: The course consists of quiz questions after almost every lesson, 3 written assignments, and a final exam (each worth 100 points; the assignments are worth 30, 35, and 35 points).

Time taken on course: It took me a couple of weeks, but I studied hard. My work is now winding down before the summer, so I was able to do a lot of work at…work. But I was basically doing something all the time. The assignments took a while. I did a lot of research for the assignments. What might have helped is that I am familiar with this sort of research as I did a lot of research for my M.Ed and B.Sc, so this was nothing new to me. Yet, it took me a while. I worked basically from the morning to the evening when writing the papers.

Familiarity with subject before course: I am quite familiar with computers (no formal training but I am pretty tech-savvy and like to read about everything tech). I also had some marketing and business courses when I was doing my B.Sc, so it helped but…I never worked in those fields after getting my B.Sc, so quite a bit of the knowledge was not there, but it did not take long to remember it.

Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I loved doing the assignments, and I did them before going through the lessons (but I understand it might not work for everyone). I did a lot of research but make sure you do not overdo it. My second assignment was close to 4000 words, and I was, rightly so, marked down for it. Use APA bibliography websites to help you with formatting citations and bibliography. Use JStor (you are required to have one peer-reviewed journal in your bibliography, and I made sure I did). Read the rubrics. I lost points (just 2 but still) because I did not check the rubrics carefully. Do not think ChatGPT will write the assignments for you. It will give you nonsense and fake references (you have been warned). Do your research and it is totally worth it. Get 100 on quizzes (easy), max your assignments, and then you will only need a few points on the final to pass the course. Overall, I dislike Study.com finals as I find the questions confusing. I only needed 18% on the final, so to be honest, I did not practice too much for it (still scored 76%, though). To be honest, I found the course quite interesting, and I learned a lot in the process (again, I like doing research). I wish some concepts were better explained, but you can always search elsewhere if you want to learn more about concepts they mentioned but did not go into detail.

1-10 Difficulty level: 5 if you enjoy doing research, much higher if you don’t.

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Provider: Study.com

Course: Computer Science 105: Introduction to Operating Systems

Course content: Quizzes after basically every lesson and the final exam. As the name suggests, it is about operating systems and how computers work. Nothing too complicated.

Time taken on course: A week.

Familiarity with subject before course: I am pretty tech-savvy and I assembled my own PCs when I was young (which was a while ago, lol). I like everything tech and do a lot of reading in my spare time about tech stuff, so many of the concepts were not new. What was mostly new was the terminology, not the concepts themselves.

Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Do the quizzes, make sure you get 100% on the quizzes. I also did a lot of practice before the final. I was a bit worried about the final, and rightly so. While I still scored 88%, I found quite a few questions confusing. While the questions are similar to the quiz questions and the final preparation questions, they are sometimes asked in a confusing way. But again, it is nothing a bit of critical thinking cannot solve.

I liked the spiral structure of the course. There were many repetitions of concepts from previous lessons, which I personally like.

1-10 Difficulty level: 3 if you are familiar with computers. 6 or 7 if you are not.

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: Microbiology
Course content: Text. Videos (but the videos just say what's already in the text, so they're redundant and a waste of time).
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 90 minutes, 50 questions. (Regular milestones are 60 min each, usually with about 15 questions.)
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Same.
Time taken on course: Around 26 hours
Familiarity with subject before course: I've taken Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Nutrition, and there's obviously some overlap there. I read health books out of personal interest, including books about Lyme disease which often go into some of the same details.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: 
1-10 Difficulty level: 4? It's not really difficult, per se, just tedious, especially if you're not passionate about science.

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: Introduction to Business
Course content: Text.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions, 90 minutes.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Pretty much the same.
Time taken on course: 4 ½ hours
Familiarity with subject before course: I knew almost everything in it already.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Some of the wording between the course content and the challenge/milestone questions are different, and some of the multiple choice options would include terms not introduced until later units. It’s very basic info, though, and usually still easy to determine the correct answer.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2.

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: Project Management

Course content: Text. Videos (with transcripts).
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions. 90 minutes.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's the same.
Time taken on course: 5 hours
Familiarity with subject before course: I was familiar with the concepts, though some of the terminology was new to me.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: If you get a challenge or milestone question wrong, there is no explanation for why. The course is very repetitive.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: Foundations of English Composition
Course content: Text.
Final exam format: There's no final exam. There are two milestones that have the same types of questions found in the regular challenges. Challenge questions account for 49 points, milestones for 147, and touchstones for 200 (396 total possible points).
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: There's no final exam.
Time taken on course: Under 6 hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: Very familiar.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This would probably be helpful for English language learners who are feeling anxious about their English skills. It covers very basic grammar and such.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3-4

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: English Composition 1
Course content: Text.
Final exam format: There is no exam.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: There is no exam.
Time taken on course: A long time, because I hated it so much I kept putting it off… hour-wise, I have no idea.
Familiarity with subject before course: Very familiar. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There are 5 assignments (touchstones) total, plus a few challenges.
1.) Narrative Essay (50 points)
2.) Comparison/Contrast Essay (50 points)
3.) Informative Essay Draft (40 points)
4.) Informative Essay Revision (60 points)
5.) Argumentative Essay (100 points)
1-10 Difficulty level: 5… I found this course incredibly frustrating due to the incompetence of the graders. They didn't follow the rubric. Instead of giving specific feedback, including why points were deducted, they would just copy/paste instructions stating to review the course and the rubric. I should have just powered through it, instead of putting it off. I’m sure that made it worse, lol, as the assignments themselves weren't difficult.

[Nukeme3]

Provider: Sophia
Course: College Readiness
Course content: Three units, 2-3 sections per unit, milestone after each unit (10-25 questions), and a touchstone writing assignment.
Final exam format: 25 questions, not proctored
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Format of the questions is the same but the verbiage and potential answers are not.
Time taken on course: Units and milestones can be done in one evening. Touchstone writing assignment is very straightforward when you write to the Rubrick. It took about 4 business days for the touchstone to be graded.
Familiarity with subject before course: If you have any prior college experience, it will be very easy. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The expectations and information are based on American/European colleges and universities. Cultural differences *might* affect the outcome. 
1-10 Difficulty level: 2

Very easy course for 3 credits. The writing assignment is a large portion of the grade, but is not difficult by any means. If you have any experience with writing college/university level papers, just follow your format, write to the Rubrick, and clearly state the information you are requested to answer. 

This transferred to UoPeople for 3 elective credits.

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Provider: Sophia
Course: Conflict Resolution
Course content: Six units, milestone tests (20-25 questions)
Final exam format: 25 questions. Not proctored.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Simple fill-in-the-blank questions based on a definition or short example. Other questions give a few paragraphs of hypothetical situation and ask about details
Time taken on course: 4 Days off and on. You can absolutely knock it out in a day, but it will be a lot of reading.
Familiarity with subject before course: Low
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Be prepared to read. Not only the learning material, but also the questions in the units describe a hypothetical situation that carries on throughout the module.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3 


A little time-consuming, but still an easy 3 credits. Good option to complete this while you are waiting on another course touchstone to be graded.

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Provider: Sophia
Course: Environmental Science
Course content: Four units, milestones (20-25 questions)
Final exam format: 25 questions. Not proctored.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Format of the questions is the same but the verbiage and potential answers are not.
Time taken on course: One evening.
Familiarity with subject before course: Low
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Very simple course. If you have any prior knowledge of other sciences, this should not be difficult at all.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2

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Provider: Sophia
Course: Visual Communications
Course content: Three units, with milestones (20-25 questions)
Final exam format: 25 questions. Not proctored. Open book.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Format of the questions is the same but the verbiage and potential answers are not.
Time taken on course: One day
Familiarity with subject before course: Minimal
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Very simple course that can be completed within a day. Great source for 3 elective credits.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2

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Provider: Sophia
Course: Art History II
Course content: Three units, milestones (20-25 questions)
Final exam format: 25 questions. Not proctored. Open book.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Questions are pulled basically directly from the reading. Facts and information about artists, styles, museums, and general art history. You are asked to identify the artist/architect of a painting or building, or given 4 paintings asked to identify which one was created by a particular artist or style.
Time taken on course: 3 days - though you might be able to get it done sooner.
Familiarity with subject before course: Low-medium : I had taken a previous Art History class that covered much of the same information.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: It should be easy if you are already familiar with Western art history. If you have no prior knowledge of famous artists throughout history then you will want to spend more time becoming acquainted with their works, styles, and important histories.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3

Simple enough, but a lot to remember. Still an easy 3 credits.

[RachelB]

Provider: Sophia
Course: Introduction to Sociology 
Course content: Text. Videos.
Final exam format: There is no final exam, just the regular milestone exams.
Time taken on course: I quite like this subject, so I read through almost everything, even though I knew most of it already. There is, naturally, a lot of overlap with other subjects/disciplines, so most people could probably skip a lot of the reading and get through it faster.
Familiarity with subject before course: Very familiar.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The course is quite a bit repetitive. Despite the fact that sociologists generally try to be objective, the course writer(s) had some glaring biases. Specifically, the material leaned politically left and there were a few unnecessary jabs at Christianity, but not other religions.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3