StraighterLine courses not transferred into my degree plan.

[askmo24]

Do you have the list that shows which courses are open/close book?

I have pretty much decided to just take my remaining electives as Straighterline courses that have open book finals. I know it might look a bit weird to have US History II only, but I also have half of the Social Sciences and History CLEP in my electives, and I think that could count as US History I since that is the lion's share of the history on that exam.

I just finished Organizational Behavior (which I started yesterday) and barely got a B-. I'm quite pleased with that considering the amount of effort I put in. I am wondering if getting lower grades on closed book finals would have a significant impact on my GPA. I'm guessing not since of the courses I'm considering, only two currently have closed-book finals, and I would only actually take one of them. However, I might just go the safe route and make sure all my remaining courses have open book finals. Also, all of these courses will be complete by a week from this Monday (January 20th) because I don't want any of them to go closed-book on me while I'm getting them done. Just FYI.

I was going to do FEMAs for my electives, but the thought of that bored me to tears--and also the difficulties others were having with having to redo the course finals two and three times. If I was going to go that route I'd never make it in time because I'd have 19 of them to get done by the end of this month (so I can hopefully start my Capstone next month). I don't have time to redo anything. It's do or die if you know what I mean.

[topdog98]

I was going to do FEMAs for my electives, but the thought of that bored me to tears--and also the difficulties others were having with having to redo the course finals two and three times. If I was going to go that route I'd never make it in time because I'd have 19 of them to get done by the end of this month (so I can hopefully start my Capstone next month). I don't have time to redo anything. It's do or die if you know what I mean.

I understand the "bored to tears" part, and if that is your main motivation, skip the FEMAs. But as far as having difficulties with the exams, I would be surprised if you had to redo many (if any) of the exams two or three times. I did 15 and never had this problem. I don't believe there would be an easier way to get 19 credits by the end of the month. If you haven't tried the FEMAs, maybe you should give it a try before ruling it out.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks for the input. However, I am currently working on my second Straighterline course for free electives (that I plan to finish tomorrow). That would mean I'd only have to take 11 FEMAs. However, I don't want to make that call until after I talk to a TESC adviser. Of course, since Monday is a holiday and they are closed that will have to wait until Tuesday. In the meantime I plan to knock out one more Straighterline course. I'm on a roll and although free FEMAs sound pretty good, it sounds like they would require more time because the exam timeframe is so short. I seem to be getting through the same amount of credits with Straighterline in roughly the same timeframe, and because I am familiar with the process it's quicker. If I start the FEMAs I'll have to figure out the process again--which will slow me down somewhat. I won't rule them out, but will wait until I speak with TESC on Tuesday to make that call.

Also, after all that I went over my course choices again. My goal is to get through these last remaining courses as quickly as possible, and some of the courses on my list required extra ungraded work, so I have revised my list again and US History I is now in--although from what I can gather Introduction to Nutrition sounds like an easier course, the book for that costs more than twice the book for the US History I course. I think I will just do as well as humanly possible on the quizzes to ensure I at least pass US History I. The rest of my courses should be open book from what I can tell now.

However, now I have heard a lot of things about how difficult the US History I Straighterline course is, and since the final is now closed book that changes things. I am now going back either to the Introduction to Nutrition (even though this one also has a closed book final, it sounds like it is generally an easier course), or possibly Criminal Justice since it is also supposed to be an easier course, has an open book final, and the book is cheaper. However, Introduction to Nutrition would be more in line with my personal goals. I will still consider the FEMAs but am leaning toward Straighterline because a) I know how it works, b) there is no learning curve like there will be if I try anything else different, and c) I just want to get through this as quickly as possible, but am enjoying the Straighterline courses (which I truly doubt would be the case with the FEMAs).

Also, did I mention that I have just received a refund for money I put towards a tutor? I was going to CLEP/DSST out of some exams that I ended up taking Straighterline courses for, and my tutor went AWOL for the last remaining exams (which is just as well because I really didn't need the tutoring I thought I would). Between getting the money back for the tutoring I didn't use and the study materials that I can return for the exams I didn't take, even if I take all of my remaining electives through Straighterline I still wouldn't be spending as much as I would have on the tutoring and extra study materials (even including the return shipping on all of them). Many thanks to everyone here for helping me sort this out. If you are interested please post and I will let you know what I finally decide after speaking with TESC on Tuesday.

I guess another reason I am considering Straighterline is because I had originally planned to take the Introductory Sociology CLEP, but there were a few days remaining on my first month's Straighterline membership, so I decided to take the Straighterline Sociology course. However, in that time someone on this forum posted that the Straighterline Sociology course wasn't accepted at TESC (where I just finally enrolled). As a result I put those plans on hold until I got confirmation from the registrar in writing that the course would be accepted. In the meantime my monthly term expired and in order to take that course I had to pay for another month (because by then if I decided to go the CLEP route I would be taking my Capstone course in March instead of next month). If I only took one Straighterline course it would be a very expensive one with the monthly fee, so that was another factor in my decision to take more Straighterline courses. At any rate, that is just more information about the situation in case it helps you understand my thought process better. Many thanks again for all the help.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Hi There,

I just wanted to give you an update. I have finished the Straighterline course I'd started when I answered to this thread. I'm done studying for today. I started another thread asking about the easiest FEMAs. Sorry, but life has been very difficult for me these days (see http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...-quit.html). I am done with difficult (especially if easy is an option to finish out the free electives). Since four FEMAs were posted here http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...ses-2.html I think I will go that route next. I originally had 19 free elective credits to plan. Since I have just finished 9 of those with Straighterline courses I have 10 credits left. My current plan is to start with the four FEMAs that are posted. I would really like to take the Science of Nutrition Straighterline course now that I have found a cheaper book for it, so that would leave three more credits. If no more easy FEMAs are posted I will take another Straighterline course to round that out. Many thanks for your input one and all.