Could use some guidance

[The_Professor]

I’m considering switching my strategy from a BS to some sort of general BA degree as I’m really struggling with the Financial and Management Accounting as well as the College Algebra requirements. I’ve been able to squeak out CLEP passing scores on MicroEconomics and MacroEconomics but I’ve kinda had enough of the Accounting and Math-related stuff. These areas are definitely my achilles heel, to say the least. My other alternatives would be to take a stab at these through StraighterLine or actually sign up for these courses at my local community college and hope for the best (with two small kids at home and no discretionary time to speak of, this is not a very viable option).

Can those in the know advise on what BA degrees may be available thru EC and/or COSC that do not have any Accounting or Math requirements? Thanks in advance for any insight and sage words of advice…

[TMW2010]

The Bachelors in Liberal Studies through EC requires 2 credits of college level math or statistics.

The easy way to go about this would be to just use ALEKS. You can do it at your own pace, its self guided, and $20/month (+$40 for the first transcript sent from ACE) There's a huge thread here about ALEKS... Intermediate Algebra wasn't that bad, but if you decided you did want to get College Alg out of the way, they offer it (with and without Trig)

-T

[cookderosa]

I’m considering switching my strategy from a BS to some sort of general BA degree as I’m really struggling with the Financial and Management Accounting as well as the College Algebra requirements. I’ve been able to squeak out CLEP passing scores on MicroEconomics and MacroEconomics but I’ve kinda had enough of the Accounting and Math-related stuff. These areas are definitely my achilles heel, to say the least. My other alternatives would be to take a stab at these through StraighterLine or actually sign up for these courses at my local community college and hope for the best (with two small kids at home and no discretionary time to speak of, this is not a very viable option).

Can those in the know advise on what BA degrees may be available thru EC and/or COSC that do not have any Accounting or Math requirements? Thanks in advance for any insight and sage words of advice…

At TESC, there is a BA in Organizational Management that might fit the bill! Bonus- no precal!

[The_Professor]

The Bachelors in Liberal Studies through EC requires 2 credits of college level math or statistics.

The easy way to go about this would be to just use ALEKS. You can do it at your own pace, its self guided, and $20/month (+$40 for the first transcript sent from ACE) There's a huge thread here about ALEKS... Intermediate Algebra wasn't that bad, but if you decided you did want to get College Alg out of the way, they offer it (with and without Trig)

-T

Interesting... Basically, what would be the key differentiators between ALEKS and Staighterline? Thanks...

[TMW2010]

With Aleks, you can take however long you want to get the 'class' done. Basically the way it works is

• You're given an initial assessment.
  
• Once the assessment is concluded, it takes correct answers that you've given and fills in sections of a pie chart for the lessons that would cover those areas.
  
• The Pie chart will list new lessons that are open to you in different areas of the class.
  
• You choose a lesson. You're given a problem which you can try to solve on your own or you can hit the 'Explain' button which walks through the steps of solving the problem. *
  
• Once you're done with the explanation, you can click the next question button and get a new problem to do. If you need to, you can click the explain button again for another explanation (which is good if they change up the problem a little bit)
  
• You answer from 2-5+ problems (depending on how many you get incorrect) and eventually you will finish the area, and get the option of More Practice or Done. More practice gives you more problems in that same area to do, and done takes you back to the pie chart.
  
• Every once in a while, you'll get another assessment. (And you'll see areas that haven't been covered in the assessment, which is normal, you can try to solve them or just answer 'Don't Know') Each assessment solidifies an amount of progress in your progress bar. You only have to hit 70% solid on the progress bar to finish the class. If you get areas that you have covered incorrect on the assessment, they *will* take away percentage points, and the lessons will reappear in the pie chart for you to do again.
  

Lather, rinse, and repeat until you hit 70% after an assessment, and then you log on to ACE's website, select the class you just completed, and add it to your transcript. ACE will contact ALEKS and verify that you've completed the class and after a few days (or more than a week around holidays as others have experienced) it will show up on your ACE transcript.

And you can also log on to your master account and force an assessment, which will begin the next time you log on as your student account. Assessments are not timed, so take your time on them. You can even log out, and come back a couple days later and your assessment will pick up where you left off.

* I found it benificial in my ALEKS experience to take screenshots of all the explanation screens so I could refer back to them. Others have suggested using a PDF maker program or printing them out. I tried the MS XPS Writer printer (that converts it to an HTML page object), but it didn't work that well, and left a bunch of bits and pieces off the page.

[Lindagerr]

Are you looking to work in computers? Or do you want to go into management, or are you planning on going on for a masters? I would think all of these factors would have to weigh into your decision.

[The_Professor]

Are you looking to work in computers? Or do you want to go into management, or are you planning on going on for a masters? I would think all of these factors would have to weigh into your decision.

I already work in management for an IT services company, hence my desire to augment my IT and Professional certifications with a BS Bus Admin/Info System degree (not looking to go any further past an undergrad degree at this stage in my life - 51 years old already). I may consider some sort of Organizational Management or Leadership focus, or maybe even just go for a Liberal Arts degree just to be able to list a college degree on my resume. I will remain open-minded until I figure out what’s doable and works for me…