04-10-2014, 04:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2014, 04:55 PM by HorseManiac.)
I just finished my first Penn Foster class, so I thought I'd start a thread where I can post my review about the courses so that it's all contained in one place. I plan on taking 5 Penn Foster classes total.
ACC 112 - Managerial Accounting
Final Grade - 96 (A)
>> The time requirement for this course is a maximum of 3 months. When I was on the phone signing up, they said it doesn't take that long with most people completing their courses within several weeks. I took about 5 weeks to complete, mostly because I was waiting on my textbooks and then my final exam grade.
>> Signing up is a fairly simple process. Call 1-800-238-9554 and tell them you want to sign up for one of their individual courses. It's helpful to have the course number handy to make sure they're signing you up for the right class. The cost for the first class s $235 ($70/credit ($210), $15 for materials, and $10 transcript fee) and every class after that is only $225 since they don't charge you the transcript fee every time. I just paid over the phone, so I don't know if they offer any other types of payment or not, but they did ask me if I wanted to pay in full or make payments.
>> Once you sign up, you should get an email with information about logging into the student portal. If not, just call and have them send it again (that's what I had to do). You'll have to create a username and password. Once you've signed in, you can access your courses, exams, and study guides. They also have videos in the Help Center on the common questions people have.
>> The textbook that you need is included with your course. They ship it out within 24 hours from when you sign up. It took about 4 days for the book to get here (OH), but I didn't sign up till a Friday so it was delayed over the weekend.
>> There are online/pdf study guides that you will access through the student portal. These study guides summarize the chapters and give you the textbook page numbers to read. They also spell out which practice problems and exercises to complete. Each chapter also has a Self-Check (with answers) at the end which is included in the study guide. The study guides are basically your plan for completing the course.
>> There are 4 lessons in this course. The first 3 lessons are 4 chapters each and the last lesson is 6 chapters. You will complete the entire textbook during this course.
>> There are 4 exams - one at the end of each lesson. They are 20 questions, essentially untimed, and multiple choice. They tell you that you are allowed 60 minutes PER question. The nice thing is you can preview a pdf version of the test so you can solve the problems and then input all your answers at once. The exams are all open book.
>> The final exam is also 20 questions with each question worth 5 points. It is also untimed and it is NOT multiple choice. You access the pdf version of the exam and work out the problems, but you have to create a word-processing document with your answers and work. This document is what you submit (upload) for the final exam. An instructor will grade it and then give you a grade. It took about 6 days for my exam grade to come back and I got an 88 on the final.
>> You are allowed one retake per exam. After your lesson exams, they will show you which problems you got wrong. You then have one chance to take it again. When I was taking my exams, I wrote down my answers to all the questions and then when I was doing the retake I didn't have to solve all the problems again. You are also allowed one retake on the final exam, but they will not give you your graded exam back for review before you attempt the retake.
>> The exams were not too difficult. They had several knowledge problems (things you read in the textbook), several application problems where you solve a given problem, and several questions where you had to apply what you read (a principle) to a problem. I did notice several self-check questions ended up on the exams.
>> Be sure to use Microsoft Word when submitting your final exam. I had used a different word processor and they sent back my exam saying they couldn't open it. :o
>> Once you've completed the course and got your final grade back, you need to be sure to add it to your ACE transcript, especially if you're sending it to one of the Big 3.
>> You can sign up for your next course before you are finished with the course you're working on. Just an FYI!
>> They have a contact button in your student portal where you can email the instructor. They were very quick to respond to my questions and pretty helpful!
>> As far as the actual course, I didn't find it too hard. It combined stuff I had learned from studying for the Prin. of Financial Accounting CLEP and the Principles of Finance DSST, so if you need those courses, you may want to take them first. Besides, the recommended pre-req for this course is Financial Accounting. There is quite a bit of reading. Each chapter is ~30-50 pages in length.
Well, I can't think of much else. If I think of anything, I'll add it. Let me know if you have questions or post them here.
ACC 112 - Managerial Accounting
Final Grade - 96 (A)
>> The time requirement for this course is a maximum of 3 months. When I was on the phone signing up, they said it doesn't take that long with most people completing their courses within several weeks. I took about 5 weeks to complete, mostly because I was waiting on my textbooks and then my final exam grade.
>> Signing up is a fairly simple process. Call 1-800-238-9554 and tell them you want to sign up for one of their individual courses. It's helpful to have the course number handy to make sure they're signing you up for the right class. The cost for the first class s $235 ($70/credit ($210), $15 for materials, and $10 transcript fee) and every class after that is only $225 since they don't charge you the transcript fee every time. I just paid over the phone, so I don't know if they offer any other types of payment or not, but they did ask me if I wanted to pay in full or make payments.
>> Once you sign up, you should get an email with information about logging into the student portal. If not, just call and have them send it again (that's what I had to do). You'll have to create a username and password. Once you've signed in, you can access your courses, exams, and study guides. They also have videos in the Help Center on the common questions people have.
>> The textbook that you need is included with your course. They ship it out within 24 hours from when you sign up. It took about 4 days for the book to get here (OH), but I didn't sign up till a Friday so it was delayed over the weekend.
>> There are online/pdf study guides that you will access through the student portal. These study guides summarize the chapters and give you the textbook page numbers to read. They also spell out which practice problems and exercises to complete. Each chapter also has a Self-Check (with answers) at the end which is included in the study guide. The study guides are basically your plan for completing the course.
>> There are 4 lessons in this course. The first 3 lessons are 4 chapters each and the last lesson is 6 chapters. You will complete the entire textbook during this course.
>> There are 4 exams - one at the end of each lesson. They are 20 questions, essentially untimed, and multiple choice. They tell you that you are allowed 60 minutes PER question. The nice thing is you can preview a pdf version of the test so you can solve the problems and then input all your answers at once. The exams are all open book.
>> The final exam is also 20 questions with each question worth 5 points. It is also untimed and it is NOT multiple choice. You access the pdf version of the exam and work out the problems, but you have to create a word-processing document with your answers and work. This document is what you submit (upload) for the final exam. An instructor will grade it and then give you a grade. It took about 6 days for my exam grade to come back and I got an 88 on the final.
>> You are allowed one retake per exam. After your lesson exams, they will show you which problems you got wrong. You then have one chance to take it again. When I was taking my exams, I wrote down my answers to all the questions and then when I was doing the retake I didn't have to solve all the problems again. You are also allowed one retake on the final exam, but they will not give you your graded exam back for review before you attempt the retake.
>> The exams were not too difficult. They had several knowledge problems (things you read in the textbook), several application problems where you solve a given problem, and several questions where you had to apply what you read (a principle) to a problem. I did notice several self-check questions ended up on the exams.
>> Be sure to use Microsoft Word when submitting your final exam. I had used a different word processor and they sent back my exam saying they couldn't open it. :o
>> Once you've completed the course and got your final grade back, you need to be sure to add it to your ACE transcript, especially if you're sending it to one of the Big 3.
>> You can sign up for your next course before you are finished with the course you're working on. Just an FYI!
>> They have a contact button in your student portal where you can email the instructor. They were very quick to respond to my questions and pretty helpful!
>> As far as the actual course, I didn't find it too hard. It combined stuff I had learned from studying for the Prin. of Financial Accounting CLEP and the Principles of Finance DSST, so if you need those courses, you may want to take them first. Besides, the recommended pre-req for this course is Financial Accounting. There is quite a bit of reading. Each chapter is ~30-50 pages in length.
Well, I can't think of much else. If I think of anything, I'll add it. Let me know if you have questions or post them here.
CLEP:
West. Civ I - 65, A&I Lit - 66, Biology - 65, Chemistry - 55, Nat. Sciences - 64, US Hist I - 68, Am. Lit - 61, US Hist II - 62, Am. Gov. - 67, Macroecon. - 63, Microecon. - 75, College Comp. - 66, Prin. of Marketing - 68, Prin. of Mngt - 71
DSST:
Civil War and Reconst. - 70, Prin. of Supervision - 443, Intro to World Rel - 477, Intro to Bus - 443, HR Mgmt - 64, Intro to Computing - 458, Prin. of Fin. Acct - 80
, Bus Ethics & Society - 447, Prin. of Finance - 437
ALEKS:
Int. Algebra, College Algebra, Precalc, Intro to Stats., Business Stats.
SAYLOR:
Corp. Comm - 78%, Bus Law and Ethics - 76%
PENN FOSTER:
Manag. Acct. - 96, Int. Acct. 1 - 98, Int. Acct. 2 - 87, Cost Acct. - 94, Strategic Bus. Mngt. - 95
ADAMS STATE:
Auditing - 89
LSU:
Adv. Acct. - B
TECEP:
Fed Income Taxation
BSBA Accounting
West. Civ I - 65, A&I Lit - 66, Biology - 65, Chemistry - 55, Nat. Sciences - 64, US Hist I - 68, Am. Lit - 61, US Hist II - 62, Am. Gov. - 67, Macroecon. - 63, Microecon. - 75, College Comp. - 66, Prin. of Marketing - 68, Prin. of Mngt - 71
DSST:
Civil War and Reconst. - 70, Prin. of Supervision - 443, Intro to World Rel - 477, Intro to Bus - 443, HR Mgmt - 64, Intro to Computing - 458, Prin. of Fin. Acct - 80
, Bus Ethics & Society - 447, Prin. of Finance - 437ALEKS:
Int. Algebra, College Algebra, Precalc, Intro to Stats., Business Stats.
SAYLOR:
Corp. Comm - 78%, Bus Law and Ethics - 76%
PENN FOSTER:
Manag. Acct. - 96, Int. Acct. 1 - 98, Int. Acct. 2 - 87, Cost Acct. - 94, Strategic Bus. Mngt. - 95
ADAMS STATE:
Auditing - 89
LSU:
Adv. Acct. - B
TECEP:
Fed Income Taxation
BSBA Accounting
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