Looking for some advice before applying to TESC/TESU

[alzee]

If you already know it you're probably going to be fine. I was writing stuff in C++ in some cases to try and look at the resulting assembly structure in visual studio on a couple assignments.

Holy cow.. yeah that kind of thing can send anyone off the deep end.

Breaking it down to such a granular level from C++ was bit weird to wrap my head around.

When I first started learning to code, it was Pascal with chunks of inline asm for things that had to be fast or were unsupported by the language. Looking back, that mix was probably why it was relatively easy to pick up.

If I wanted to push it, I wonder if I could get a PLA due to my professional video reviews/podcasts. I probably could but whatever.

I'd say go for it if you were going to take an expensive TESU course, but the SL course is a sure thing, and cheap if you don't have to reup your SL subscription for it.

[Archer]

Don't take either econ course on SL. There's a crapton of exams in these ones so they are a bit of a drudge, I like the topic and have studied it independently so I've clipped through 21 exams in Micro in under 2 weeks but I still have 4 more counting the final. Macro I have 15 left in. Then it's that Intro to Comm.

After this I think I'll take the Biology exam at Saylor, I might take the CS101 (Java) exam there because it's technically credited differently than my C++ class. Any words on either of those? If I pass those two the only thing remaining is ALEKS stats. Then next term I graduate.

[alzee]

After this I think I'll take the Biology exam at Saylor, I might take the CS101 (Java) exam there because it's technically credited differently than my C++ class. Any words on either of those? If I pass those two the only thing remaining is ALEKS stats. Then next term I graduate.

I'm interested in the Biology exam as well, I'm still weighing options when it comes to using that or one from SL to meet the phys&nat world gened requirement.

As for the CS101 @ Saylor, it was no sweat if you have even mediocre Java skills. The materials covered in the free non-credit exam were very similar to what was on the proctored exam. I've been a developer for about 20 years, but have only been doing Java (Android development, specifically) for about a year. I had no problem with the Saylor course, passed with 88/100. 50 questions, I missed 6. Two I didn't actually know, two I didn't read carefully, one was brainmelt (a truth table -> boolean expression question) and I just guessed, and one I accidentally skipped without answering.

The only stuff I had to 'study' was related to file I/O (filereader/writer and bufferedreader) since I've never used Java for that.

[Archer]

Completed Macro and Micro but it took me nearly a month, those classes take a long time but aren't that hard for anybody with patience. Now looking at I.T. Fundamentals, Environmental Science or Biology for Physical and Natural World. Does anybody know if we can use classes from our major for physical/natural world requirement? I've more than met the AOS credit requirement so I'm thinking I should be able to put overages into that PNW requirement so long as they are on TESU's list, I.T. fundamentals is. I've asked TESU's academic advising staff and I hope they get back to me by tomorrow. I was looking at Saylor's Biology exam and still am but need to find more reviews of it around here.

Still going to take Saylor's CS101 exam at some point. Thinking in late May or early June. Starting Intro to Comm this weekend and hopefully a class that goes towards the science requirement.

[alzee]

FYI, I'm in the IT Fundamentals course now.. I started it a few days ago. There are about 21 exams if memory serves, and they're done through some CM "acrobatiq" thing rather than the normal SL interface. If it just stopped here, it'd just be annoying, but as it is -- I really can't recommend the course.

Problem 1: Much of the material is written in a way that makes me question the author being a native English speaker. Not good for a college course.
Problem 2: The material is often *blatantly* wrong.

I don't mean wrong in the "I'm a clever snowflake and I like to argue with my teacher" way of being wrong, I mean wrong in an objective mathematically/scientifically provable way wrong.

At one point, in module 9, you're shown an example of a fully connected mesh network. Six nodes, each one connected to each other. Quick, how many connections is that?! The right answer is 15, and you can draw it out and count them yourself if you don't know the formula. You could even "brute force" it without drawing it.. the first node will connect to 5 others, the next node has 4 new connections... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15. The formula for this is actually a "complete graph" : (n(n-1))/2. It's also the same as saying sigma n-1.

The text says it's (n-1)^2 and, right next to the drawing, says there are 25 lines in the drawing. Then the author amazes you by pointing out that a 50 node mesh would require 2401 connections -- which is, again, completely wrong. 1225 is the correct answer.

Other blatant mistakes are made through the entire course, but they're not as easy to demonstrate.

I'm continuing with it, since I already forked over my $75, but I strongly recommend avoiding it for anyone that actually wants to learn anything.

[Archer]

FYI, I'm in the IT Fundamentals course now.. I started it a few days ago. There are about 21 exams if memory serves, and they're done through some CM "acrobatiq" thing rather than the normal SL interface. If it just stopped here, it'd just be annoying, but as it is -- I really can't recommend the course.

Problem 1: Much of the material is written in a way that makes me question the author being a native English speaker. Not good for a college course.
Problem 2: The material is often *blatantly* wrong.

I don't mean wrong in the "I'm a clever snowflake and I like to argue with my teacher" way of being wrong, I mean wrong in an objective mathematically/scientifically provable way wrong.

At one point, in module 9, you're shown an example of a fully connected mesh network. Six nodes, each one connected to each other. Quick, how many connections is that?! The right answer is 15, and you can draw it out and count them yourself if you don't know the formula. You could even "brute force" it without drawing it.. the first node will connect to 5 others, the next node has 4 new connections... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15. The formula for this is actually a "complete graph" : (n(n-1))/2. It's also the same as saying sigma n-1.

The text says it's (n-1)^2 and, right next to the drawing, says there are 25 lines in the drawing. Then the author amazes you by pointing out that a 50 node mesh would require 2401 connections -- which is, again, completely wrong. 1225 is the correct answer.

Other blatant mistakes are made through the entire course, but they're not as easy to demonstrate.

I'm continuing with it, since I already forked over my $75, but I strongly recommend avoiding it for anyone that actually wants to learn anything.

Good to know, I ended up buying into Microbiology + Intro to Comm.

[bjcheung77]

Good to know, I ended up buying into Microbiology + Intro to Comm.

Microbiology and Statistics are both very worth it at SL, it seems like a partnership between Saylor & Straighterline to provide the full 3 credits that ACE recommends.

[High_Order1]

FYI, I'm in the IT Fundamentals course now.. I started it a few days ago. There are about 21 exams if memory serves, and they're done through some CM "acrobatiq" thing rather than the normal SL interface. If it just stopped here, it'd just be annoying, but as it is -- I really can't recommend the course.

Problem 1: Much of the material is written in a way that makes me question the author being a native English speaker. Not good for a college course.
Problem 2: The material is often *blatantly* wrong.

I don't mean wrong in the "I'm a clever snowflake and I like to argue with my teacher" way of being wrong, I mean wrong in an objective mathematically/scientifically provable way wrong.

At one point, in module 9, you're shown an example of a fully connected mesh network. Six nodes, each one connected to each other. Quick, how many connections is that?! The right answer is 15, and you can draw it out and count them yourself if you don't know the formula. You could even "brute force" it without drawing it.. the first node will connect to 5 others, the next node has 4 new connections... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15. The formula for this is actually a "complete graph" : (n(n-1))/2. It's also the same as saying sigma n-1.

The text says it's (n-1)^2 and, right next to the drawing, says there are 25 lines in the drawing. Then the author amazes you by pointing out that a 50 node mesh would require 2401 connections -- which is, again, completely wrong. 1225 is the correct answer.

Other blatant mistakes are made through the entire course, but they're not as easy to demonstrate.

I'm continuing with it, since I already forked over my $75, but I strongly recommend avoiding it for anyone that actually wants to learn anything.

Oh thank God.

I thought it was just me.

In addition to the material that doesn't align with the real world, technically, the questions often had more than one acceptable answer. Or were wrong.

I felt you really, really need to buy into the teachers' point of view if you want to succeed, including their concepts of dates, and when things began, and were superceded.

I barely passed. I'm not dumb about computers OR networking OR the history (I was around for much of it!)

[Archer]

SL is offering me Survey of Western History or IT fundamentals free of charge, given reaction to IT fundamentals I'll see if SOWH transfers in as something other than my previous History courses.

[KayV]

Survey of World History transcribes as HIS-127.