Comparative analysis of Study.Com & Straighterline

[Supermind]

Thank you Merlin. I read somewhere on this forum about a recurring discount of 40$/month for 3 months. Wanted to know if such an option exists and if so, how to avail of it? Is it just by lucky draw that SDC sends a special gift coupon?

The only active discounts that I know of are the coupons that provide a discount off the first month. I've heard that there are some extended free trials as well, but those don't allow test taking.

As far as I know, the only recurring discounts that are still available are institutional discounts via business partners. Like if the company you work for is a Study.com partner and they offer their employees a discount rate.

Study.com used to offer discounts and coupons for longer term subscriptions, but as far I know, they are no longer offered.

Up until a few months ago, the homeschool buyers coop offered a group-buy Study.com discount via their institutional plan, but I guess they filled their quota on that since it's closed now.

You can always try reaching out to Study.com directly and ask about multi-month discounts. They may still offer the plans but not advertise them on the website or something.

Thank you. I will do that.

[mysonx3]

Thank you Merlin. I read somewhere on this forum about a recurring discount of 40$/month for 3 months. Wanted to know if such an option exists and if so, how to avail of it? Is it just by lucky draw that SDC sends a special gift coupon?

The only active discounts that I know of are the coupons that provide a discount off the first month. I've heard that there are some extended free trials as well, but those don't allow test taking.

As far as I know, the only recurring discounts that are still available are institutional discounts via business partners. Like if the company you work for is a Study.com partner and they offer their employees a discount rate.

Study.com used to offer discounts and coupons for longer term subscriptions, but as far I know, they are no longer offered.

Up until a few months ago, the homeschool buyers coop offered a group-buy Study.com discount via their institutional plan, but I guess they filled their quota on that since it's closed now.

You can always try reaching out to Study.com directly and ask about multi-month discounts. They may still offer the plans but not advertise them on the website or something.

Thank you. I will do that.

Let us know what you find out!

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Mab81]

I have yet to finish a single study.com course because I hate their format so much. I dread doing all the quizzes and I procrastinate. I decided to pay more for ed4credit and Sophia because at least I will make progress without feeling like I’m having teeth pulled.

[Supermind]

I have yet to finish a single study.com course because I hate their format so much. I dread doing all the quizzes and I procrastinate. I decided to pay more for ed4credit and Sophia because at least I will make progress without feeling like I’m having teeth pulled.

Haha! A very different outlook to the situation. Are you ok with proctored tests, but not with quizzes?

[jsh1138]

Sophia seems to be pretty similar to Study.com to me (i've done multiple classes on both). What did Study.com do differently that you hate so much, if you dont mind me asking?

[dfrecore]

Sophia seems to be pretty similar to Study.com to me (i've done multiple classes on both). What did Study.com do differently that you hate so much, if you dont mind me asking?

I think Sophia feels more like a combo of SL & Study.com.  Chapter exams like SL.  Videos like Study.com.

If you hate all the quizzes of Study.com, I can see it being difficult to get through.  But if you look at it as being able to do smaller pieces, and the ability to do it on the go through the app, then you may be able to get through it.

[Mab81]

Sophia seems to be pretty similar to Study.com to me (i've done multiple classes on both). What did Study.com do differently that you hate so much, if you dont mind me asking?

I think Sophia feels more like a combo of SL & Study.com.  Chapter exams like SL.  Videos like Study.com.

If you hate all the quizzes of Study.com, I can see it being difficult to get through.  But if you look at it as being able to do smaller pieces, and the ability to do it on the go through the app, then you may be able to get through it.

Sophia's site is optimized for mobile, and using it on my iphone, it feels like an actual app and works very well. I have done a lot of my Sophia course quizzes from my phone. 

The reason Study.com is so annoying for me, is that the writing is so dry on the transcript, and I can't concentrate on videos. So when I am reading the transcript it's so hard to stay focused and absorb the information. With Sophia, they have 2 options for reading, in addition to the video. One is the regular Sophia text (which is far more readable and engaging, in my opinion) and then they also have a professor transcript straight from the video where the professor explains the material more in their own words. So if I feel myself struggling to absorb the info, I switch over to the professor transcript for some 'lighter' more conversational language, and it helps tremendously. Then on other topics, i am just fine with the regular Sophia verbiage. It just depends on how i feel that day and the topic at hand.

One thing I dislike about Sophia's courses (so far i have taken 4) is that they don't seem to have good quality control so there are a ton of typos and a few wrong quiz answers which makes things frustrating sometimes. I wish they'd take the time to have a proofreader actually take the course and correct these issues. The other thing that isn't so great, is that for courses that have a lot of images such as photos or historical artwork, these are really bad quality/grainy. I am a web developer on the side and I believe this has to do with how the images are embedded in the website. On the quiz questions, which are in a sidebar, the artwork is always nice and clear. But in the course body, the images are awful quality. In Art History, I ended up using google images to look at every single piece of artwork because I wanted to see what it really looked like instead of a weird fuzzy version. And I did that course on my Macbook so i know it wasn't a phone issue.

I also like that they have a payment plan where you can pay for the courses in several installments instead of all at once, and you get 60 days to complete them. This works better for me personally than the format of Study and Straighterline where you are paying hundreds per month regardless of how much time you can devote. More than once I have gotten caught out paying another month's fee just because life got in the way. I haven't tried Ed4Credit yet, but I plan to do some of their courses soon because they also only charge for the course, without a monthly fee, AND you get even more time. I am gonna exhaust all other options before I try Study dot com again. Their format is just not great for me.

[dfrecore]

I also like that they have a payment plan where you can pay for the courses in several installments instead of all at once, and you get 60 days to complete them. This works better for me personally than the format of Study and Straighterline where you are paying hundreds per month regardless of how much time you can devote. More than once I have gotten caught out paying another month's fee just because life got in the way. I haven't tried Ed4Credit yet, but I plan to do some of their courses soon because they also only charge for the course, without a monthly fee, AND you get even more time. I am gonna exhaust all other options before I try Study dot com again. Their format is just not great for me.

I agree on the monthly thing, I hate that.  Both SL and Study.com, I had to pay for extra time for different reasons.

I used Sophia and Ed4Credit both, and needed that extra time and was glad I had it.

My husband may be doing some courses for credit, and his company won't pay for the membership-type plans, so he's forced to use everything else.  They will pay for tests (CLEP, DSST, UExcel), and courses (Sophia, Ed4Credit, etc.), but not membership fees.

[mysonx3]

I also like that they have a payment plan where you can pay for the courses in several installments instead of all at once, and you get 60 days to complete them. This works better for me personally than the format of Study and Straighterline where you are paying hundreds per month regardless of how much time you can devote. More than once I have gotten caught out paying another month's fee just because life got in the way. I haven't tried Ed4Credit yet, but I plan to do some of their courses soon because they also only charge for the course, without a monthly fee, AND you get even more time. I am gonna exhaust all other options before I try Study dot com again. Their format is just not great for me.

I agree on the monthly thing, I hate that.  Both SL and Study.com, I had to pay for extra time for different reasons.

This is the primary reason I haven't done courses at either of these providers yet. Want to be as efficient as possible so want those to be the only courses I'm doing during the time I have the membership.