07-15-2020, 01:57 AM
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Approaches to studying religion
Course content: Text
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Text and questions aligned fairly well
Time taken on course: About a day
Familiarity with subject before course: Not a religious expert, but had some familiarity with religion before this.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Most adult learners can probably pass this without reading the provided texts.l You might not get the highest score, but you'd pass. A lot of it is stuff that "everyone knows" like Islam being based in Mecca. I was less familiar with Hinduism and other Eastern religious practices but that was a small part of the course.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3 for an adult learner, 3-4 for a young college freshman.
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Art History I
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Aligned to the text very well.
Time taken on course: About 20 hours, spread out over the course of multiple days
Familiarity with subject before course: Some familiarity with art, but not nearly enough to pass this blind
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I don't have a visual memory so there's no way I'd have been able to pass a traditional art history class with having to memorize different pieces of art. This was hard enough, even though the milestones/exams were open book.
1-10 Difficulty level: 6-7
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Art History II
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Aligned to the text very well.
Time taken on course: About 30-35 hours, spread out over the course of multiple days
Familiarity with subject before course: Art History I had no bearing on being able to pass this or not.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This was even more difficult than Art History I. There are more surviving artworks from a hundred years ago than there are from a few thousand years ago, so that makes sense. Major focus on modern art and art installations. I realized before this course that art often has nudes but I did not expect the sometimes semi-graphic explanations of a few modern art performances. Modern art is strange.
1-10 Difficulty level: 8 or 9
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: College Algebra
Course content: Text; there are also videos but I didn't use them
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Well aligned to the text
Time taken on course: About 2 weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: Had done HS algebra, but it'd been a while
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There were typos and skipped steps littered throughout the course. It also does not cover at least some of the things you ought to know in order to continue on to higher math. It's a good course to check the required "college algebra" box for school but not really great for continuing on to calculus.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4-7 (depends on if you hate math or love it)
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Visual Communication
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Well aligned to the text
Time taken on course: A few days
Familiarity with subject before course: I had some experience with the type of graphic design covered in this course.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I was expecting to have difficulty with this because I'm not great when it comes to graphical design. Thankfully, this course only covered very basic aspects of typography and graphic design.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3-4
Course: Approaches to studying religion
Course content: Text
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Text and questions aligned fairly well
Time taken on course: About a day
Familiarity with subject before course: Not a religious expert, but had some familiarity with religion before this.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Most adult learners can probably pass this without reading the provided texts.l You might not get the highest score, but you'd pass. A lot of it is stuff that "everyone knows" like Islam being based in Mecca. I was less familiar with Hinduism and other Eastern religious practices but that was a small part of the course.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3 for an adult learner, 3-4 for a young college freshman.
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Art History I
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Aligned to the text very well.
Time taken on course: About 20 hours, spread out over the course of multiple days
Familiarity with subject before course: Some familiarity with art, but not nearly enough to pass this blind
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I don't have a visual memory so there's no way I'd have been able to pass a traditional art history class with having to memorize different pieces of art. This was hard enough, even though the milestones/exams were open book.
1-10 Difficulty level: 6-7
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Art History II
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Aligned to the text very well.
Time taken on course: About 30-35 hours, spread out over the course of multiple days
Familiarity with subject before course: Art History I had no bearing on being able to pass this or not.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This was even more difficult than Art History I. There are more surviving artworks from a hundred years ago than there are from a few thousand years ago, so that makes sense. Major focus on modern art and art installations. I realized before this course that art often has nudes but I did not expect the sometimes semi-graphic explanations of a few modern art performances. Modern art is strange.
1-10 Difficulty level: 8 or 9
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: College Algebra
Course content: Text; there are also videos but I didn't use them
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Well aligned to the text
Time taken on course: About 2 weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: Had done HS algebra, but it'd been a while
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There were typos and skipped steps littered throughout the course. It also does not cover at least some of the things you ought to know in order to continue on to higher math. It's a good course to check the required "college algebra" box for school but not really great for continuing on to calculus.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4-7 (depends on if you hate math or love it)
Provider: Sophia.org
Course: Visual Communication
Course content: Text with lots of pictures
Final exam format: Multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Well aligned to the text
Time taken on course: A few days
Familiarity with subject before course: I had some experience with the type of graphic design covered in this course.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I was expecting to have difficulty with this because I'm not great when it comes to graphical design. Thankfully, this course only covered very basic aspects of typography and graphic design.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3-4
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