Need help deciding between the big three.

[Merlin]

Great questions. Can anyone give an example of the way the “courses” work at wgu? I talked to an enrollment person and they explained the college sends- provides  all materials online and then you test when ready -  are the test similar to TESU exams ? Are they reasonable questions -  essays or term papers due as well or just test when ready? And can retest occur for the same course or do you just loose that one and move on to next? Enrollment specialist are not very detailed


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WGU is a competency-based school, so passing a course is about demonstrating your comprehension of the material and how to apply it. There are two ways that competency is measured at WGU: Exams or Performance Assessments (papers, projects, or presentations). Most degree plans require a mix of the two, but at the undergrad level, most courses appear to require exams rather than performance assessments.

All the course prep materials are provided when you activate the course. This includes books, videos, and instructor provided materials such as interactive lectures (they call them cohorts), powerpoint slides, and other materials the instructors think will be helpful. You also have access to Lynda videos which are helpful as a supplemental source of training.

For courses with exams, that means there is usually a single exam required to pass the course. From my experience, the exams are primarily multiple choice questions. Though I've heard that some exams also require fill in the blank answers. If you fail an exam you can retake it up to 3 times. If you don't pass after the 4th attempt, you are withdrawn from that course and cannot take it again. However, before you can retake an exam you need to work with the course instructor to make sure you're prepared, so its rare for someone to fail 4 times.

For courses with performance assessments, there can be anywhere from 1 to 4 tasks associated with the performance assessment. But most undergrad courses appear to require 1 or 2 papers to pass. If you fail a performance assessment it will come back with comments from the assessment team which you can use to improve your results and resubmit. As far as I know, you can resubmit as many times as you need.

Hopefully that addresses your questions.