How is Study.com better than Sophia or Saylor?

[rachel83az]

I'm wondering why SDC cost $200 while Sophia cost only $80 per month and unlimited course per month? Are the courses on SDC better than Sophia?

As others have already touched on, SDC has UL courses and Sophia does not. As for Saylor vs. SDC, another issue is that Saylor's courses aren't as widely accepted as SDC's courses. Saylor has a good number of courses that are accepted for credit, but their partner schools may only accept a small portion of them. For instance, TESU is listed as not accepting any of their Comp Sci courses (aside from Intro to Comp Sci), even though Saylor has multiple courses that are in that category and that are listed as being recommended for credit.

Another issue with Saylor is that their courses have a reputation for not being put together that well. The course content can be disjointed, then the exam may not mesh well with the contents of the course. Passing the certificate exam, even with a good score, does not guarantee that you'll pass the paid final exam. With the previous ProctorU fees of $25 per exam, you could theoretically spend $75 on a Saylor course and still not pass it. At $5 a pop, it's now much more reasonable to give the exams a shot to see if they work for you.

In contrast, SDC exams are generally well-aligned with the course content. If you pass the practice exam with 80%, you should pass the final exam with 70-90%. If you maximize your study time, you can take 5 SDC exams per month at an average cost of $82 each. I would wager that most students here probably have a 75-90% chance of passing an SDC course on the first try vs. a 75-90% chance of FAILING a Saylor exam - at least on the first attempt.

Some more things to consider:

Sophia: Whole grade is based on a combined score of quizzes, exams, and sometimes assignments. You can completely bomb a section and still pass. It also helps that everything is open-book. The courses can still present a challenge, though.
SDC: 1/3 of your grade comes from quizzes that are usually pretty easy to 100%. For the courses that do not have assignments, this helps take some of the pressure off of the final exam. 100% the quizzes and you can get as low as 56% on the exam and still pass. For courses with assignments, even less pressure is on the final exam. This is great for people who are nervous test-takers but who are otherwise competent.
Saylor: Everything rides on the final exam. You don't even have to complete the course content to take the exam! You either pass or you don't. At $5 an attempt, the stakes are relatively low now. It probably makes sense for more students to at least try one or two Saylor courses. But, if you are bad at taking exams, this is not the provider for you.