CSM is INCREDIBLE!

[BrighterFuture88]

Ok, so for those of you who need a math course, I can’t suggest CSM enough.  I started yesterday and am nearly 20% complete with the overall course and as someone with ADHD who is AWFUL at math, this way of learning is far more effective than any traditional B&M setting that I have experienced in my life.  It’s fun and it will change its style based on what you do good & bad on.  Normally, I don’t retain this kind of information well, but the way they are explaining everything, I am learning a lot more than I ever have.  I can’t thank you all enough for suggesting this course to knock out my Quantitative Literacy requirement!

[natshar]

Ok, so for those of you who need a math course, I can’t suggest CSM enough.  I started yesterday and am nearly 20% complete with the overall course and as someone with ADHD who is AWFUL at math, this way of learning is far more effective than any traditional B&M setting that I have experienced in my life.  It’s fun and it will change its style based on what you do good & bad on.  Normally, I don’t retain this kind of information well, but the way they are explaining everything, I am learning a lot more than I ever have.  I can’t thank you all enough for suggesting this course to knock out my Quantitative Literacy requirement!

What did I tell you!! I basically said the same thing when I replied to your posts with glowing recommendations. My suggestions for the course would be to take it slow to increase accuracy and take frequent breaks.

If you feel confident enough in your math after completing CSM, you could try attempting ALEKS for college algebra because you get a free trial first and if you want to continue you could earn up to 9 credits for $20 from ALEKs. ALEKs is a similar format to CSM with adaptive software but not as good as CSM in my opinion. Also, there are is the College Math CLEP which is 6 credits which is free through modern states and supposedly not too difficult either. I feel CSM would be good preparation for that. This course gave me the confidence to tackle more Math courses I need for my degree.

[BrighterFuture88]

Ok, so for those of you who need a math course, I can’t suggest CSM enough.  I started yesterday and am nearly 20% complete with the overall course and as someone with ADHD who is AWFUL at math, this way of learning is far more effective than any traditional B&M setting that I have experienced in my life.  It’s fun and it will change its style based on what you do good & bad on.  Normally, I don’t retain this kind of information well, but the way they are explaining everything, I am learning a lot more than I ever have.  I can’t thank you all enough for suggesting this course to knock out my Quantitative Literacy requirement!

What did I tell you!! I basically said the same thing when I replied to your posts with glowing recommendations. My suggestions for the course would be to take it slow to increase accuracy and take frequent breaks.

If you feel confident enough in your math after completing CSM, you could try attempting ALEKS for college algebra because you get a free trial first and if you want to continue you could earn up to 9 credits for $20 from ALEKs. ALEKs is a similar format to CSM with adaptive software but not as good as CSM in my opinion. Also, there are is the College Math CLEP which is 6 credits which is free through modern states and supposedly not too difficult either. I feel CSM would be good preparation for that. This course gave me the confidence to tackle more Math courses I need for my degree.

You have been amazing with your recommendations and I can’t thank you enough for all of the help!  As someone who has only dreamed of obtaining a college degree, stuff like CSM all of you here who help me with my crazy questions on a daily basis are the reasons why I have a lot of hope for graduating with a Bachelors.  The crazy part is right before I discovered you all here, I was only going to obtain my Associates because I just couldn’t afford to put myself in Student Loan debt again, so a Bachelors was out of the question.  Now, thanks to you all, I have the chance to graduate debt-free.  

[CarpeDiem8]

Yes, totally agreed! If I wasn't for CSMlearn there's no way I would have endeavored to tackle Statistics course so I could go for a BA in Psych and now I am even considering a more math emphasized degree, like the BS in Data Science and Analytics since it's so relatable to my current job responsibilities! Sounds cheesy, but CSMlearn gave me wings and a love of and appreciation for math!

[BrighterFuture88]

Yes, totally agreed! If I wasn't for CSMlearn there's no way I would have endeavored to tackle Statistics course so I could go for a BA in Psych and now I am even considering a more math emphasized degree, like the BS in Data Science and Analytics since it's so relatable to my current job responsibilities! Sounds cheesy, but CSMlearn gave me wings and a love of and appreciation for math!

Exactly!  It’s so strange to actually enjoy Math in some way when it’s normally the subject I have always gotten D’s & F’s in my whole life.  If anything, it says a lot about the education system when I just wasn’t able to grasp basic Math in B&M, but machine-learning is working incredibly well.

[bjcheung77]

BrighterFuture88 - Since you've done a few FREE Sophia courses, I highly recommend taking the Ancient Greek Philosophers course at Sophia for 3 easy credits towards a BALS degree as Sophia is an amazing course provider with a quality learning/teaching platform. You can use the HALFOFF coupon if you take 3 courses, but if you are not taking anything else, use one of your $50 off coupons from taking the free courses.

Another option you would like to use are the paid TEEX courses, this is another provider that I highly recommend for AOJ (LL/UL), it's great for a BALS SS (Social Science option), there are a few that's only $45 to $75 for 3 credits. I would take these first (Sophia/TEEX both) as it's not proctored, in fact, if you take enough of these courses, you can add a Associates of Arts or something, or even an undergraduate certificate if you wanted.

Before you move onto StraighterLine or Study.com, my suggestion is to take all the Onlinedegree.com courses that interest you for cheap credits that go into your general education electives and free electives section. Each of these are proctored by RPNOW, so there is nobody looking at you while you do the exam, it's a recording of your exam/screen. This will get you familiar with remote proctoring at $9 for 3 credits each course! The cheapest 44 elective credits you can get (I recommend them over Saylor.org as they charge $25/3 credits and use ProctorU)!

You should then transfer everything into TESU once you complete the Onlinedegree.com courses, TESU will give you an initial evaluation. You can use mainly Study.com for the Area Of Study UL requirements (they also use RPNOW). If you need some LL you can decide to continue with Study.com or go with StraighterLine as your final option - they use ProctorU which is a person proctoring you in real time. Their system is a bit wonky and StraighterLine is a bit slow, but the only reason I like them is because most courses are open book final exam!

[natshar]

BrighterFuture88 - Since you've done a few FREE Sophia courses, I highly recommend taking the Ancient Greek Philosophers course at Sophia for 3 easy credits towards a BALS degree as Sophia is an amazing course provider with a quality learning/teaching platform.  You can use the HALFOFF coupon if you take 3 courses, but if you are not taking anything else, use one of your $50 off coupons from taking the free courses.

Another option you would like to use are the paid TEEX courses, this is another provider that I highly recommend for AOJ (LL/UL), it's great for a BALS SS (Social Science option), there are a few that's only $45 to $75 for 3 credits.  I would take these first (Sophia/TEEX both) as it's not proctored, in fact, if you take enough of these courses, you can add a Associates of Arts or something, or even an undergraduate certificate if you wanted.

Before you move onto StraighterLine or Study.com, my suggestion is to take all the Onlinedegree.com courses that interest you for cheap credits that go into your general education electives and free electives section.   Each of these are proctored by RPNOW, so there is nobody looking at you while you do the exam, it's a recording of your exam/screen.   This will get you familiar with remote proctoring at $9 for 3 credits each course!  The cheapest 44 elective credits you can get (I recommend them over Saylor.org as they charge $25/3 credits and use ProctorU)!

You should then transfer everything into TESU once you complete the Onlinedegree.com courses, TESU will give you an initial evaluation.  You can use mainly Study.com for the Area Of Study UL requirements (they also use RPNOW).  If you need some LL you can decide to continue with Study.com or go with StraighterLine as your final option - they use ProctorU which is a person proctoring you in real time.  Their system is a bit wonky and StraighterLine is a bit slow, but the only reason I like them is because most courses are open book final exam!

Someone could potentially get a BALS for almost no cost with all the free or almost free options out there. The only thing you'd have to pay for is the speech requirement and the UL courses. With CLEP, ALEKs, TEEX, Sophia, and of that you could easily do the entire degree besides ones I mentioned for a few hundred dollars easy. And onlinedegree.com won't just be electives a lot of the courses could count as gen ed or LL AOS.

[bjcheung77]

Someone could potentially get a BALS for almost no cost with all the free or almost free options out there. The only thing you'd have to pay for is the speech requirement and the UL courses. With CLEP, ALEKs, TEEX, Sophia, and of that you could easily do the entire degree besides ones I mentioned for a few hundred dollars easy. And onlinedegree.com won't just be electives a lot of the courses could count as gen ed or LL AOS.

Cool, Yes, I'm pretty much aware of that. The reason of my post earlier is because I wanted to inform the OP an option of going through the easier courses and moving onto the harder courses. For someone with ADHD, or in my case, major test anxiety, I would rather do the online ACE/NCCRS courses with a greater chance of pass and on a better proctoring platform before I do courses that have a harder chance of passing on an inferior proctoring/testing platform.

My post is geared towards obtaining cheap/easy/fast credits, and I wanted to see if I can add the extra value in that, it's not always because of 1 of those three, I like to balance them out... in this particular case, it's for the "easy/fast vs the cheap" and the value is getting prepared for say Study.com type of courses. The main difference is, for OD.com, you don't get to know what you got wrong on your quizzes, so I usually would recommend doing a spreadsheet on your quiz scores so you'll know where you stand in that particular course before you get to the final exam. There are maybe one or two courses that's harder than the others, such as the Intro to Python course, the majority of the others are very manageable.

Onlinedegree.com is most similar to Study.com, it's grading is roughly 50% quizzes, 10% attendance/watching videos in full, and 40% on the final exam. Study.com's are 33.3% quizzes, 66.6% final for LL, and for UL it's 33% quizzes, 33% final, 33% assignments. I like that much better than a TECEP that uses ProctorU or say a CLEP exam, even though a CLEP may be free, I would also recommend CLEP if they're closer to a testing center (but for me, I live a bit far from them).

There are a few courses that Onlinedegree.com offers that the others do not and there are some that overlap with other providers, I would take those that interest you the most. Hmm, say the OD.com CK101 Cooking course that transfers to TESU as a HOE-111 Home Economics course - you can use it to impress yourself by learning something new and also impress the lady friends! My newest pickup line when you're cooking alongside your hot date - Is that sound your tummy growling or is that your heart purring for me?

Here's the link of what they transfer to TESU as, most of them are general education courses or electives in that field, some can be used in the AOS LL as mentioned by natshar. I would do as many as possible to get as much credits towards your degree before moving onto another provider. Link: https://www.onlinedegree.com/wp-content/...apping.pdf

[Idreamofadegree]

Someone could potentially get a BALS for almost no cost with all the free or almost free options out there. The only thing you'd have to pay for is the speech requirement and the UL courses. With CLEP, ALEKs, TEEX, Sophia, and of that you could easily do the entire degree besides ones I mentioned for a few hundred dollars easy. And onlinedegree.com won't just be electives a lot of the courses could count as gen ed or LL AOS.

Would there be an example of this mentioned above?  It is very appealing to read for someone like Brightfuture88 and myself who are just starting out. If there was a degree plan maximizing the suggested free options to their highest potential, that would sure be great to see!  Know of any out there???

[bjcheung77]

Someone could potentially get a BALS for almost no cost with all the free or almost free options out there. The only thing you'd have to pay for is the speech requirement and the UL courses. With CLEP, ALEKs, TEEX, Sophia, and of that you could easily do the entire degree besides ones I mentioned for a few hundred dollars easy. And onlinedegree.com won't just be electives a lot of the courses could count as gen ed or LL AOS.

Would there be an example of this mentioned above?  It is very appealing to read for someone like Brightfuture88 and myself who are just starting out. If there was a degree plan maximizing the suggested free options to their highest potential, that would sure be great to see!  Know of any out there???

Pretty much depends where you are located and which university you're interested in getting the degree from.  If you're in the USA, the method to use is CLEP/MS while they're still free and finishing the degree off with Study.com...  If you're not in the USA, then the method to use would be Saylor/Shmoop (Shmoop is not for TESU).  I wrote about this on the other sister forum.  Link 1: https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?thr...elp.51278/ and Link 2: https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?thr...000.52514/