[New][Help needed] Need some insight/help planning BACS/BSCS

[TalentlessOlympian]

I agree you need to spend the next two weeks reading this forum. It will sink in, but not right away. But I'll address one topic right now.

Here are a few words on the speed of getting a TESU degree and getting the CS part completed faster.

Straighterline is the express lane method to rack up GE credits faster than any exam that requires studying. The idea is that you care a lot more about racking up credits fast rather than retaining the material you learned. The exams at SL are usually open book. Because of that, you should buy or otherwise acquire the e-textbook editions that allow you to control-F what you need during the exam. Most, but not all, SL courses have six exams. Five of the exams are not proctored. The sixth exam, the proctored final, may not be worth much. So it's possible to pass the class with a final score of 0% if you already have the required 69.5% needed to pass. If you randomly guess, you should get 30% on the final anyway with a no-stress final where you always choose answer C. But you must take the final to finish the class. You can retake the first exam as many times as needed with a cooldown of 24 hours per attempt. You should have a score close to 100% for the first exam if you're finding you're short on points. You can finish some SL courses in one day. The monthly subscription is $99, but there is a discount code that gets rid of this for the first month. On top of the monthly fee, you have to pay a fee for each course. I heard someone finish 12 SL courses in a month. The idea is to not pay the $99 for no more than the minimum time needed.

But there are a number of exams that may require zero studying to pass depending on your background. Don't be afraid of CLEP and DSST. For example, IT pros find that the computer related exams are easy to pass without studying at all. If you have many years in big corporate IT, you can take the MIS DSST cold. The sys analysis CSU-G CBE will require 1 day of cramming of the suggested textbook. An older edition of the textbook will work fine. Many find the A&I Lit CLEP to be ridiculously easy even with no background in literature. Most people can pass A&I Lit cold, especially with a very quick review of the notes in the IC section and the exam feedback forum. For CS, three exams will save you 9 expensive UL credits worth of classes.

As far as calculus, I would take the SL version. It is 4 credits each if you get ACE credit via the Alternative Credit Project Ecosystem rather than Straighterline. SL is actually OK-ish prep for calc 3, but who cares since that's not a degree requirement for you. Because of your previous background in calc 1, you can just skip to the exams if you remember your limits, chain rule, etc. If the material seems new or confusing, you should do the optional exercises to prep for the exams. SL calc isn't a pass in one day course unless you know the material already.

Finally, not all SL classes are good for speed. Classes outside of the 6 exam format are often poor candidates for speed.

That's definitely some useful information! I did read dfrecore's recommended reading for starting out. God damn, I wish this was introduced to me when I was graduating from high school. If I had known I could get my basic classes out of the way for less than $800 I would so much better off. No sense in dwelling in the past...
And I understand I should take more time reading and planning but I really don't have too much time to dwell on these courses and planning it all out. I will be reading a ton of the information here. And I do greatly appreciate everything posted in my thread and on this forum. The information is invaluable!

Since I plan on getting my CS degree from TESU, there is a really awesome wiki page that shows what courses are comparable to the actual courses offered. I am not sure which route I will be taking on the ALEKS vs SL. I feel like my math is rusty... Which means I might just jump into ALEKS at precalc or trig (thinking trig) and going back to Calc I from there. However, I do not know which resource offers which, yet.(I will find out)

I am having a hard time seeing which courses from my current transcript are transferable for my Gen Ed credits and Electives. If someone could tell me where I can match those up, then that would be amazing!

Here is the list I currently have for my necessary courses for my BACS from TESU!

Code:

I. General Education Requirements
A. Intellectual and Practical Skills
•Written Communication == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
•Oral Communication == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
•Quantitative Literacy == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
•Information Literacy == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
B. Civic and Global Learning
•Diversity == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
•Ethics == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
•Civic Engagement == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
C. Knowledge of Human Cultures == [color=#FFA500][?Transcript has it covered?][/color]
D. Understanding the Physical and Natural World == [color=#FFA500][?Transcript has it covered?][/color]
E. General Education Electives == [color=#00FF00][Transcript has it covered][/color]
II. Area of Study: Computer Science
A. Required Courses
•Introduction to Computer Science == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
•Data Structures == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
•Calculus I == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
•Calculus II == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
Select one of the following courses:
•Discrete Math == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
OR
•Linear Algebra (Calculus-based) == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At *][/color]
B. Capstone
•LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone == [color=#FF0000][Need To Take At TESU][/color]
C. Computer Science Electives*
Artificial Intelligence == [color=#800080]Not really interested[/color]
Assembly Language == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Comparative Programming Languages == [color=#800080]Not really interested[/color]
Compiler Construction == [color=#800080]Not really interested[/color]
Computer Architecture == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Computer Arithmetic Algorithms == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Computer Information Systems == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Computer Organization == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Computer Statistical Techniques == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Computer Simulation == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Operations Research == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Problem Analysis and Solution == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Programming Languages == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Software Engineering == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
Switching Theory and Automata == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]
UNIX == [color=#0000FF]Interested[/color]

* - Indicates a future credit substitute such as study.com/aleks/sl/etc.