Coursera Plan of Attack

[spohara]

I've seen a lot floating around about trying to get free Coursera through TADA or anther program where maybe you have to fight for seats or something. Remember, Coursera lets you audit anything for FREE.  Try auditing before a free trial, then knock the course out during the trial window after you've done 99% of the work.  To audit make sure you go to a COURSE, not a SPECIALIZATION.  Then click enroll.  It will ask you which specialization you want, but it doesn't matter since you're only auditing.  On the second window at the bottom, you will see the audit link (see attachment).

I believe you might be able to get a free trial of more than one specialization containing the same courses. Some of the longer certs (especially the IBM ones) have a specialization that leads up to it (and some of those are also ACE recommended, some are not).  So the plan of attack can be Audit>Specialization Free Trial>Audit>Professional Certificate Free Trial.