Saylor Legacy Exams vs Current Exams

[retro]

My experience with Saylor's course materials can best be described as uneven. Most notably, I found one of their political science courses to be "not ready for prime time."

I'm considering making another attempt at a Saylor course. I was Googling around for study guides that might be useful when I found their "Legacy Courses" posted to GitHub, directly by Salyor itself. I presume the tests must have changed and this content is "fair game" as a legit study guide.

For those of you who have used Saylor in the past, Is there a ton of drift between this material and current equivalents on the finals? Before I integrate it into my study routine, I want to make sure it's not completely useless material.

[tjguitar85]

Their current courses are completely free, so why not just use them? You only pay to take the proctored final.

[ivythrowaway]

My experience with Saylor's course materials can best be described as uneven. Most notably, I found one of their political science courses to be "not ready for prime time."

I'm considering making another attempt at a Saylor course. I was Googling around for study guides that might be useful when I found their "Legacy Courses" posted to GitHub, directly by Salyor itself. I presume the tests must have changed and this content is "fair game" as a legit study guide.

For those of you who have used Saylor in the past, Is there a ton of drift between this material and current equivalents on the finals? Before I integrate it into my study routine, I want to make sure it's not completely useless material.

Saylor is awesome despite the strange hate here which is in fairness largely attributable to what you mentioned. I'd say it varies on the course you take though. The courses I've taken have matched the course content very well. Some of them that are under 40 hours have a "Study Guide" before the exams posted, they say you shouldn't use them in place of the course content but I have and passed a two exams without issue. Personally, I'd choose Saylor in most cases over other ACE approved courses because of the one exam requirement. A good way to test yourself is to go through the quiz's and the even the non-credit certificate exams. If you do well, you should be able to pass and get the ACE credit.

[dfrecore]

My experience with Saylor's course materials can best be described as uneven. Most notably, I found one of their political science courses to be "not ready for prime time."

Saylor is awesome despite the strange hate here which is in fairness largely attributable to what you mentioned. I'd say it varies on the course you take though.

Is it really strange to hate a course that is overly long, has tons of broken links, and either has an exam that doesn't match the course content, or one that has incorrect answers on it?

My husband took one of the computer exams a while ago, and he didn't pass even after 20+ years of experience in IT, with dozens of certification exams passed over the years, including the CISSP which is very difficult.  He currently has an AWS cert, and easily passed the MIS and Cybersecurity DSST exams.  He said the info on the exam was just plain wrong, and could show that they had the correct info in the course but when he answered the question with that, it was marked incorrect.  This happened multiple times.  The course was bad, and the exam was worse.

Many people have come on and complained about some of the computer courses as well.  So this wasn't a one-time thing.

So, for many people or many courses/exams, Saylor deserves the hate.  That being said, I still recommend them for some people, since the price is low enough that if you don't pass the exam, you haven't lost much.

[quigongene]

My husband took one of the computer exams a while ago, and he didn't pass even after 20+ years of experience in IT, with dozens of certification exams passed over the years, including the CISSP which is very difficult.  He currently has an AWS cert, and easily passed the MIS and Cybersecurity DSST exams.  He said the info on the exam was just plain wrong, and could show that they had the correct info in the course but when he answered the question with that, it was marked incorrect.  This happened multiple times.  The course was bad, and the exam was worse.

As someone who is in a similar boat as your husband, that Networking exam was a trainwreck. It definitely soured me to Saylor.

[dfrecore]

My husband took one of the computer exams a while ago, and he didn't pass even after 20+ years of experience in IT, with dozens of certification exams passed over the years, including the CISSP which is very difficult.  He currently has an AWS cert, and easily passed the MIS and Cybersecurity DSST exams.  He said the info on the exam was just plain wrong, and could show that they had the correct info in the course but when he answered the question with that, it was marked incorrect.  This happened multiple times.  The course was bad, and the exam was worse.

As someone who is in a similar boat as your husband, that Networking exam was a trainwreck.  It definitely soured me to Saylor.

He absolutely refused to take another Saylor course or exam after that, and said that our kids shouldn't be taking them either, as they will get wrong information into their heads.

Train wreck is a very good way of putting it. 

[terryd5150]

Their current courses are completely free, so why not just use them? You only pay to take the proctored final.

Very true; however, if you browse through the Legacy course listings you'll see some extremely impressive courses - many of which are inquired about on this forum somewhat routinely (in ACE/NCCRS form).

Is Saylor a "one-man band"?

It's a shame that Saylor's not looking to breathe life into this vast array of course content and get ACE/NCCRS credit for these titles.

A quick once-over and you'll see an extremely impressive selection of Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Mechanical Engineering courses - among others - that have no ACE/NCCRS equivalents.

Such a waste of potential....

[bjcheung77]

The Saylor courses, many of them have an ACE recommendation up until 2021 and 2022. But a handful of them have expired in 2019 and some expiring soon, sometime in 2020.... I would assume those who would like to get some cheap credits, to do so quickly with Saylor. They should be renewing the current courses within the next few months.

[wow]

My experience with Saylor's course materials can best be described as uneven. Most notably, I found one of their political science courses to be "not ready for prime time."

Saylor is awesome despite the strange hate here which is in fairness largely attributable to what you mentioned. I'd say it varies on the course you take though.

Is it really strange to hate a course that is overly long, has tons of broken links, and either has an exam that doesn't match the course content, or one that has incorrect answers on it?

My husband took one of the computer exams a while ago, and he didn't pass even after 20+ years of experience in IT, with dozens of certification exams passed over the years, including the CISSP which is very difficult.  He currently has an AWS cert, and easily passed the MIS and Cybersecurity DSST exams.  He said the info on the exam was just plain wrong, and could show that they had the correct info in the course but when he answered the question with that, it was marked incorrect.  This happened multiple times.  The course was bad, and the exam was worse.

Many people have come on and complained about some of the computer courses as well.  So this wasn't a one-time thing.

So, for many people or many courses/exams, Saylor deserves the hate.  That being said, I still recommend them for some people, since the price is low enough that if you don't pass the exam, you haven't lost much.

I agree that it must vary depending on the course. I haven't taken any of the computer courses, and from the description, those sound pretty frustrating. The classes I have taken are mostly natural sciences & liberal arts. I occasionally come across errors, and when I've contacted them, they have been quick to look into it and fix it. Maybe it depends on the topic (since different staff are probably involved in designing/maintaining different subjects).

That said, Saylor doesn't seem to be a good fit for many on this forum. If you are just trying to finish your degree, the Saylor courses can be frustrating in that they are paced more like a regular college course. For people who have the time or want to take a deeper dive, I think Saylor has a lot to offer, at least with its non-computer courses.

[Library2HospitalChaplain]

Thank you for this! As my signature shows, I like learning and covering some of these topics from another viewpoint would help me quite a bit.