Basic Question About Sophia Touchstones

[RachelB]

I read on here that it's possible to submit all essays for English Comp at the same time - does this mean that you can work through all the touchstones at once and then, while you wait for the final grade, work on other classes?

Or do you have to do one touchstone, wait, do another, wait, etc.?

And is it this way for just English Comp, or is this true for all Sophia courses?

I'm gearing up to start my subscription next week, so I want to be as prepared as possible!\



Thanks!
Rachel

[rachel83az]

For English Comp I, you can submit all Touchstones as you go through the course. You cannot submit a Touchstone until you have completed the relevant unit.

For English Comp II, you must wait for Touchstones to be returned with a grade to continue on. Most of English Comp II is writing, not quizzes.

If you are going to UMPI, we don't recommend Sophia for English Comp. If you're going to TESU, we barely recommend Sophia for English Comp. If you're going to another school: it depends.

[RachelB]

For English Comp I, you can submit all Touchstones as you go through the course. You cannot submit a Touchstone until you have completed the relevant unit.

For English Comp II, you must wait for Touchstones to be returned with a grade to continue on. Most of English Comp II is writing, not quizzes.

If you are going to UMPI, we don't recommend Sophia for English Comp. If you're going to TESU, we barely recommend Sophia for English Comp. If you're going to another school: it depends.

Thanks, that's super helpful!

[origamishuttle]

If you're going to TESU, we barely recommend Sophia for English Comp.

For TESU, I highly recommend attempting the College Composition CLEP through Modern States. It's free to take online, doesn't require much time, and it's worth Comp 1 & 2, so it's generally worth at least an attempt. If you can't take it or don't pass, only then would I look for an alternative.

If you're going to another school: it depends.

It really does!

[LevelUP]

Keep in mind it is possible to open a 3rd course with Sophia if you ask customer support.

This would help if you need to do some courses that have a single touchstone.

[impasta]

Keep in mind it is possible to open a 3rd course with Sophia if you ask customer support.

This would help if you need to do some courses that have a single touchstone.

This is important to know! You can reach out to the Learning Coaches via live chat and get another course unlocked if you're stuck waiting on Touchstone grading. A couple days ago my fiancé had 5 courses active because the grading is taking forever. 

That being said, English Comp I at Sophia really does suck. My fiancé got one of his essays returned due to a bogus "plagiarism concern", so he reached out to the Learning Coaches. In the essay instructions, it required an explanation of the dictionary definition of a particular word. Turns out the dictionary definition in his essay was "too similar" to the dictionary definition another student had used in their essay. What?! Also, he had copied and pasted the Reflection Questions from the Touchstone instructions that he had to answer, and got dinged for that too because the questions were "too similar to what another student had submitted". Make it make sense...

[bjcheung77]

@RachelB, you want to maximize your transfer from alternative course providers such as Sophia.org, Study.com and so on to a max of 90 credits and take only the minimum 30 credits at UMPI. You'll get an evaluation to see where all your credits go and you can decide to take specific courses that are required at UMPI or transfer them in...

[ecdw94]

@RachelB, you want to maximize your transfer from alternative course providers such as Sophia.org, Study.com and so on to a max of 90 credits and take only the minimum 30 credits at UMPI.  You'll get an evaluation to see where all your credits go and you can decide to take specific courses that are required at UMPI or transfer them in...

I wish there was some excel or other file that can tell you EXACTLY what 90 credits you can transfer in, and what 30 you should/need to take at UMPI xD

[rachel83az]

@RachelB, you want to maximize your transfer from alternative course providers such as Sophia.org, Study.com and so on to a max of 90 credits and take only the minimum 30 credits at UMPI.  You'll get an evaluation to see where all your credits go and you can decide to take specific courses that are required at UMPI or transfer them in...

I wish there was some excel or other file that can tell you EXACTLY what 90 credits you can transfer in, and what 30 you should/need to take at UMPI xD

It's going to be different for every student and degree. Some degrees have about 100-110 possible credits to transfer in, leaving it up to the student to pick which courses to NOT transfer and to take at UMPI. Some students would rather complete (for instance) some UL Accounting credits at UMPI and transfer in Sophia's US Government. Others might prefer to complete the UL Accounting credits at Study.com and take UMPI's version of US Government instead. It all boils down to the strengths and weaknesses of an individual student.

[bjcheung77]

I wish there was some excel or other file that can tell you EXACTLY what 90 credits you can transfer in, and what 30 you should/need to take at UMPI xD

You pretty much have a WIKI that tells you what you can take for each and every course, and some recommendations or only options for those courses, I would follow the WIKI as a guide/reference, but if need be, you can always customize the classes to your liking. Here are the UMPI degree plans: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI