Advice on studying?

[Notgodot]

Hi all,

I'm currently working my way through all the Saylor courses in pursuit of my BSBA, but I'd very much like to speed up my progress. After I finished my first one, I realized it had taken me almost two months, which is just too long.

I'm basically starting from zero, as all my CLEP tests are more than 20 years old, and can no longer be accessed. I'd very much like to finish my degree in two years, which by my calculations means I should be roughly finishing two courses a month.

I realize I have to give up on the idea of "acing" tests if I want to go faster, and since all these subjects will be recorded as passes rather than having grades attached to them there's no real reason to be an overachiever beyond personal satisfaction. My situation is such that personal satisfaction needs to take a back seat to having a Bachelors as quickly as I can manage.

So any advice on how to speed up my studying would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

[KayV]

Did any of your CLEP tests end up on a college transcript? If they did, the Big 3 will still accept them.

I am wondering if Straighterline or Study.com would be a better choice for you than Saylor. For Saylor though, remember that your grade is based entirely on the final exam. If it's a course for which you already know a lot of the material, try taking the practice final, then go straight to the final if you do well enough.

Check out the Beginner's Guide on the wiki and there is also a Straighterline success story that might be helpful for you.

[Prloko]

If you want to speed it up, do CLEPs/DSST exams even if you have to redo the CLEP exams. It will be much faster than Saylor. You can also breeze through several straighterline courses within days if you have access to the courses E-book.

[Notgodot]

Thanks for the replies!

Unfortunately, none of my CLEPs wound upon a transcript, and as I'm overseas, it would be cost prohibitive for me to travel to take more.

I'm glad to hear that SL might see me moving faster. I've got about a half-dozen Saylor courses to fulfill the degree requirements, then I'm moving on to SL, ALEKS, TECEP etc.

I've been taking the unit quizzes before delving into the material, just to see how much I don't know. If I get 80% or more I just skip that particular unit.

[KayV]

If you think the Saylor courses are moving too slowly, you should check out TECEPs, SL, Study.com, etc. Lately we have had several people overseas who want to earn TESU degrees, so you might check out those threads.

[ajs1976]

Notgodot,

What requirements are you trying to meet through Saylor? If you post them, people may be able to suggest alternatives.

[Notgodot]

Hi Andy,

I've completed Business Law & Ethics, and am more than halfway through Principles of Management. Here are the courses I've mapped out for Saylor to cover various areas of my degree plan:

Business Statistics
Corporate Communication
Business Communications
Intro to Western Political Thought
Intro to Political Science
World History in the Early Modern & Modern Eras

These are all courses to fulfill various course requirements as listed in Sanantone's excellent BSBA Gen Mgmt guide.

[dfrecore]

Hi Andy,

I've completed Business Law & Ethics, and am more than halfway through Principles of Management. Here are the courses I've mapped out for Saylor to cover various areas of my degree plan:

Business Statistics - if you can't pass without studying, I recommend ALEKS, grab the other maths while you're at it
Corporate Communication
Business Communications - duplicate of Corporate Comm, don't take
Intro to Western Political Thought
Intro to Political Science - this is not ACE or NCCRS approved as far as I can tell, so it won't count
World History in the Early Modern & Modern Eras - this is not ACE or NCCRS approved as far as I can tell, so it won't count

These are all courses to fulfill various course requirements as listed in Sanantone's excellent BSBA Gen Mgmt guide.

Not sure where you got the info on those last 2 courses, as Saylor doesn't offer them for credit. Sanantone's guide does not list them either.

The main complaint people have with Saylor is that it takes too long to get through the courses. There is just an overwhelming amount of information. My best advice is to take the unproctored final exam, see how you do, and if you get a decent score, go ahead and take the proctored final. If you don't pass, you've only wasted $25 and almost no time. If you pass, you've gained 3cr and a lot of valuable time.

Then, you can either study with a different method if possible (IC cards), take the course a different way, or choose another course instead. If time is of the essence, then you just cannot waste a lot of time on a single course.

Please feel free to put your plan on here, and we can suggest some alternatives if you'd like.

[Notgodot]

I'm in Cambodia at the moment, and all my notes for my degree plan are in Vietnam, but the reason for intro to PoliSci and World History was to study for the TECEP, if I remember correctly. Can't remember why I doubled up on Corp Com and Business Com - might have been a genuine mistake on my part, or maybe I got confused about how they would be recorded byTESU - general education credit vs upper level?

In any case, if I can dispense with any of them for a quicker alternative, I'm game

When I have access to my notes I'll post my proposed degree plan here for sure.

Thanks very much for your help & advice.

[swalke321]

The history course and political science course are both TECEP exams. You must take the TECEP exams to get credit. Saylor recommends their courses as study material for the TECEP exams. The TECEP exams do not require the Saylor courses, you can use other study material. TESU has study guides on their website listing recommended study material.