Seeking feedback about Patten University

[CM1999]

I tried Patten -I think it's a great program but it wasnt the best for me. In terms of how hard or easy: I would say middle of the road.

Here is why it wasnt the best for me:
I tend to struggle with multiple choice exams IF there is no study guide to help me know what I need to know (and their exams are all multiple choice, no essay) - I also tend to do well when there is more of a 'hunt' to it....so things like CLEP where I can hunt around to find the best textbook or online program to help me study and use various ways to study really work for me, as opposed to one teacher-assigned text to just read. (my husband excels at multiple choice, I excel at essay questions, so I think it's just a matter of what kind of test taker you are). I wanted to just challenge all of the classes - not do all of the work, just do the final project and exam, but, by not doing the work and having no interaction with the teacher, I couldnt gauge what I needed to know for the exams. ---now, the lowest grade I got was a B+ so it wasnt bad but I had previously been a 4.0 student so it was a little blow to my ego I simply found that the things I was focusing on in the reading were not the same things that showed up on the exams. ---with programs like TESC/COSC and CLEP, etc there is enough feedback from forums to get a good idea of what content knowledge I need to pass exams...with Patten I felt far more 'in the dark'.....

As an example: I did a Film class for art credit. I was dreading it because I'm absolutely not into film/movies/television...but then I found the class to be fascinating because of the info about how the film makers use the camera in different ways to evoke emotion in the viewers...and how music is used to bring up various emotions. I was utterly fascinated by the mechanics of it once I knew what when into it and how those things evolved the industry. Perhaps it was because of my background (I'm a drug and alcohol counselor and majoring in psych) but, unfortunately, I spent too much time focusing on those things and the exam had a lot more questions about the people involved in changing the industry and I needed to know more about the specific names of people and when certain things in the industry happened --so I felt like it was more about the history of the industry and I was really only absorbing the psychology behind it. again, I got a B+....so, not bad, but I think I could have done better if I had been able to look in a forum and know more of what would be on the test OR if there was some feedback (meaning from assignments throughout the class) from the instructor.

The other thing that didnt work for me was that you are given your list of classes and you work on them in the order they give them to you. I was able to delay a math class but I felt like I had to beg to make the order of the classes change each time --and do a lot of explaining. I have a job that is very busy during certain times and very slow during certain times. I wanted more freedom (without having to ask/explain) to pick psych classes during my busy times and things like math/science during my slow times.

overall, I think their program is GREAT ---especially if you can read textbooks and do well on multiple choice exams that dont have study guides.