Sophia English Comp 1 Touchstone Issue

[ss20ts]

I'm going to throw out my 2 cents. if doing Sophia English courses, USE THE TUTOR tab. Having the tutor read my rough essay really helped me sort out a few kinks and they'll give advice similar to the graders which helps even more. I had a grader from hell on a paper. They gave me a 0 and I received no feed back. As it turns out, there was a glitch that caused my essay to be completely out of format and all over the place. The same glitch caused their feedback to be lost. I ended up have to contact support, tried to show them what I submitted was in fact formatted okay and sent them what my grader had sent me.....anyway, it ended up graded by someone else and I passed fine. On another essay, the grader didn't "agree" with my topic or stance on said topic. Their opinion of my topic affected how they graded my paper. Not kidding.  So, I contacted support and asked for it to be graded by someone that would follow their own rubric and not grade based on their dislike of my topic. It worked and I got good feed back. I really wanted the feedback as my intention was to actually learn from both courses. All said, I enjoyed both English courses . Advocate for yourself .

I had a feeling that my grader disliked my topic or didn't agree with it. She made weird comments. I wish I had contact Sophia and had them get me a different grader. I had the same person for 5 out of 6 papers. The one she didn't grade I got a high school on. Everything else she gave me really low scores. I still want to know how I got the same grader 5 times!

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Hello.
Reading uncapentin's last post makes me ask a question I that has been bugging me for quite some time. I have seen the suggestions that if we have not taken any English Composition classes before (like me) UMPI should be the best option. And I certainly believe it must be as I have read that some folks have done each class in less than a week. Now, let us look at it from a little different perspective - what if the goal, just like uncapentin mentioned, is to actually learn from the courses. Take me for an example - a non-native English speaker with close to no experience in writing papers or essays or anything that should contain a more academic language (which I probably will have to if I am to take 10+ classes in UMPI for example, right?). So, not to make this post too long - what would be the best English Composition 1 and 2 provider if the end goal is not speed and ease but LEARNING? Is UMPI sufficient in terms of feedback? What about ONU, does anyone have experience with their English classes? Or, is the clearly tough Sophia English the best option in such specific case? Can a 2 (or even 3?) months Sophia course be justified if the goal is to learn?
Thanks!

Honestly, if you want to really learn how to write a paper, then take an English writing course. One that's not part of a CBE program which is what UMPI is. Take it at a community college and spend 15 weeks on the course. 

There's not all that much to learn in Eng Comp for Americans because we did the same thing in high school. Even in other college courses you follow the same rules for writing papers. So you do the same thing over and over and over. 

I don't think anyone learns much at all from Sophia's Eng Comp course except frustration. There's not much to the course content. You can read it all in about 15-20 minutes. The papers is what takes the time. Which is true for pretty much every Eng Comp course.

[LevelUP]

Writing in the academic world is mostly about

1. Rehashing existing ideas
   
2. Follow the instructions and rubric
   
3. Don't make grammar and APA mistakes
   

Writing in the real world is mostly about

1. Rehashing existing ideas
   
2. Adding your unique perspective
   
3. GRABBING ATTENTION
   

If Sophia's graders are hard on you, it's best not to take it too seriously and adjust to get through it. Just remember all the drama you had to go through to get your college degree will make a great story one day. 

[arrakis]

Final grading done for the essay with feedback by the same grader who dunked me. Reasonable feedback reiterating several times that its good I redid the essay. That concludes this episode of Sophia & me.
Am really grateful to Sophia for being a major stepping stone in my education and career. Overall experience, in spite of this grading issue, is 10/10.

Again, thanks everyone for your helpful insights. You have an awesome community here.

[uncapentin]

Final grading done for the essay with feedback by the same grader who dunked me. Reasonable feedback reiterating several times that its good I redid the essay. That concludes this episode of Sophia & me.
Am really grateful to Sophia for being a major stepping stone in my education and career. Overall experience, in spite of this grading issue, is 10/10.

Again, thanks everyone for your helpful insights. You have an awesome community here.

Bravo, you made it through ! I feel the same about Sophia and will likely feel the same about Study . com......when I'm done with them. Hee hee. I agree  with your last sentence. I feel like I've found my peeps.

[suzycupcake]

Glad you got through this and that experience sounds really frustrating! I'm curious because my husband has to take Eng Comp and we were thinking of doing it at Sophia; how do you actually complete the touchstones? Do you attach Word documents or type in a box?

[MidLifeCrisis]

Do you attach Word documents or type in a box?

You upload word docs.

[suzycupcake]

Do you attach Word documents or type in a box?

You upload word docs.

Boom - thank you for replying so fast!

[Avidreader]

I am wishing to pull my hair and scream at my computer screen because I just failed the final Touchstone... again. Just 5 miserable points. It is literally driving me insane.

I have gotten perfect scores on two of my essays but they keep on insisting my final touchstone doesn't have a billion government stat numbers with a double blind peer reviewed meta analysis from a top 10 journal source.

Had I known I would suffer so much with this course that has taken me 1 month and it will be another 2 weeks at the speed essays are graded, I would have never signed up for it. Absolutely maddening

[ss20ts]

I am wishing to pull my hair and scream at my computer screen because I just failed the final Touchstone... again. Just 5 miserable points. It is literally driving me insane.

I have gotten perfect scores on two of my essays but they keep on insisting my final touchstone doesn't have a billion government stat numbers with a double blind peer reviewed meta analysis from a top 10 journal source.

Had I known I would suffer so much with this course that has taken me 1 month and it will be another 2 weeks at the speed essays are graded, I would have never signed up for it. Absolutely maddening

Which school are you taking the class for?

[LevelUP]

I am wishing to pull my hair and scream at my computer screen because I just failed the final Touchstone... again. Just 5 miserable points. It is literally driving me insane.

I have gotten perfect scores on two of my essays but they keep on insisting my final touchstone doesn't have a billion government stat numbers with a double blind peer reviewed meta analysis from a top 10 journal source.

Had I known I would suffer so much with this course that has taken me 1 month and it will be another 2 weeks at the speed essays are graded, I would have never signed up for it. Absolutely maddening