Sophia Touchstones

[canuckian]

Does Sophia send an email notification when someone has completed grading your touchstone? What’s the current wait time for grading? I couldn’t find it on their official website (though it’s possible I just missed it). I expected the English Comp ones to take a while, but the touchstone I submitted was for Communications at Work, and it’s going on a full week tomorrow with still no word back.

[jch]

They do send an email when a touchstone is graded. Typically, the rubric and feedback are attached to the email.

You can ask support to check on the grading status.

[rachel83az]

The current wait time on grading depends on the course (and they don't publish it). For courses with short touchstones (Communication at Work, Taking Charge of Your Economic Future), turnaround time should typically be 1-2 business days. Business law is maybe 3-5 days. English Comp & Public Speaking can be 5-10 days per touchstone.

If you haven't heard anything about Communication at Work and it's been this long already, definitely contact support. You can email them but I would try to chat with live support on Monday.

[canuckian]

They do send an email when a touchstone is graded. Typically, the rubric and feedback are attached to the email.

You can ask support to check on the grading status.

Fab, thank you! I wasn't sure if we got emailed, so that's good to know!

The current wait time on grading depends on the course (and they don't publish it). For courses with short touchstones (Communication at Work, Taking Charge of Your Economic Future), turnaround time should typically be 1-2 business days. Business law is maybe 3-5 days. English Comp & Public Speaking can be 5-10 days per touchstone.

If you haven't heard anything about Communication at Work and it's been this long already, definitely contact support. You can email them but I would try to chat with live support on Monday.

Thank you for the wait time break down! I saw the 1-2 days as most people's general experience with Communications at Work, so I started to get a bit antsy when mine is still in progress quite a bit past that. The estimates for the others are super helpful, too! I had already planned on skipping most of the ones with touchstones, but I'm still probably going to take English Comp 1, so knowing how long each touchstone will take is fab.

I'll try live chat on Monday!

[Cofffeee]

The current wait time on grading depends on the course (and they don't publish it). For courses with short touchstones (Communication at Work, Taking Charge of Your Economic Future), turnaround time should typically be 1-2 business days. Business law is maybe 3-5 days. English Comp & Public Speaking can be 5-10 days per touchstone.

If you haven't heard anything about Communication at Work and it's been this long already, definitely contact support. You can email them but I would try to chat with live support on Monday.

With this data, does it mean that 1 month should be enough for ENG Com 1+2?

[rachel83az]

With this data, does it mean that 1 month should be enough for ENG Com 1+2?

For English Comp 1, probably. English Comp 2 tends to run on the longer side. There are a couple of people who took longer than the 60 days "allowed" by Sophia simply because their papers were not graded and returned in a timely manner.

Unlike English Comp 1, the different touchstones build on one another in English Comp 2. You're supposed to wait for each Touchstone to be graded and returned before submitting the next one. You can "cheat" by submitting Touchstones as soon as you have them written, but there is no guarantee that you'll be able to pass if you do that. Also, English Comp 2 has more inconsistent grading than 1. I remember ashkir, especially, had issues with English Comp 2. I think he just barely passed because the grader would mark him down for not doing XYZ on one paper and then mark him down on the next paper because he did do XYZ.

Because of how long it can take to do English Comp 2, I would say that the TECEP is probably a more affordable option - unless you are using your time to complete even more Sophia courses while you wait. For English Comp 1, it's not too bad but it's still a roll of the dice.

[Cofffeee]

Ok thank you for info - very helpful 

[ctcarl]

The current wait time on grading depends on the course (and they don't publish it). For courses with short touchstones (Communication at Work, Taking Charge of Your Economic Future), turnaround time should typically be 1-2 business days. Business law is maybe 3-5 days. English Comp & Public Speaking can be 5-10 days per touchstone.

If you haven't heard anything about Communication at Work and it's been this long already, definitely contact support. You can email them but I would try to chat with live support on Monday.

With this data, does it mean that 1 month should be enough for ENG Com 1+2?

To be clear, I've never taken Sophia's Eng Comp II.

With that said, I completed Eng Comp I, and I can tell you that prior to the March 2020, it was taking about a week, give or take, to get Touchstones graded.  During the free promotion last year when Sophia was absolutely slammed with new students, two to three weeks was more common.

I don't know how what their grading time is like today.  I do know that English Comp I has five touchstones, but one is really just a revision of another, so there are only four unique essays.  My assessment would be that four weeks would be a pretty aggressive goal for either English Comp I or II, and unmanageable for both, unless of course you work on both simultaneously.

[ss20ts]

With this data, does it mean that 1 month should be enough for ENG Com 1+2?

When I took Eng Comp 2 it took at least 7 days for most Touchstones to come back. One took 11 days. You couldn't do anything until that came back because your next assignment built on it and you had to make the changes they wanted in the next module. It took me 60 days and a 15 day extension to get to the 6th Touchstone. I gave up on it after that one because of the horrible grading. I took it at UMPI instead and completed it in 3 days. SO much less stress!

[canuckian]

When I took Eng Comp 2 it took at least 7 days for most Touchstones to come back. One took 11 days. You couldn't do anything until that came back because your next assignment built on it and you had to make the changes they wanted in the next module. It took me 60 days and a 15 day extension to get to the 6th Touchstone. I gave up on it after that one because of the horrible grading. I took it at UMPI instead and completed it in 3 days. SO much less stress!

Based on your experience with Eng Comp 1, would you recommend taking it with Sophia or UMPI? I have about 21-22 days left with Sophia. I was originally planning on doing 2 months of Sophia, but at my current pace with non-touchstone courses, I think I only need 1 month of it. $79 isn't make it or break it, but since I'll need to pay $199 for SDC in a few weeks, it would be nice if I don't have to double sub, especially if I can zip through Eng Comp 1 and 2 at UMPI?