Straighterline Course Questions

[smithmattyj1]

Hi there,

I have just started the straighterline courses and I have noticed that the exams for each course are not relevant to the information taught within the course. I am taking the business communication course right now. The course was talking about identifying your audience and their personality and the exam was questioning me on verbs and idioms.... there's not connection there what-so-ever.

My question is: is this what the straighterline exams all look like? If so, I'm just going to go the CLEP and DSST route.

Thanks,

- Matt

[Publius]

Did you get the textbook for the course?

Often times, when I went through SL, I'd see the exact phrases taken out of the book and asked. The book would read, "X always occurs when Y juggled pineapples while yodeling" and the question would be "What happens when Y juggles pineapples while yodeling?".

On that note, you can get a used previous edition (which works just fine) for under $5 on Amazon.

Sometimes SL will throw curveballs at you and you're like "WHAT?!" :ack: I never took Business Communications, so I'm not quite sure. The Accounting I and II weren't bad, and Macro and Micro just had a heck of a lot of tests (20+ exams, w/ 30 or 40 questions per exam).

[NatashaB]

Yup, i have often come up against topics outside of the online course content - you do need the textbook as well.

[rebel100]

Welcome to the wonderful world of SL!

Love em or hate em...stick with it cause you need the credits!

[chiquitacobbe]

Did you get the textbook for the course?

Often times, when I went through SL, I'd see the exact phrases taken out of the book and asked. The book would read, "X always occurs when Y juggled pineapples while yodeling" and the question would be "What happens when Y juggles pineapples while yodeling?".

On that note, you can get a used previous edition (which works just fine) for under $5 on Amazon.

Sometimes SL will throw curveballs at you and you're like "WHAT?!" :ack: I never took Business Communications, so I'm not quite sure. The Accounting I and II weren't bad, and Macro and Micro just had a heck of a lot of tests (20+ exams, w/ 30 or 40 questions per exam).

I didnt take this class but I did take Sociology. first test I took based on the presenetations/lessons...failed miserably. I rent the E-Book on amazon and then passed with flying colors. ALOT of the questions are right out of the text book. So it will be worth it to get it.

[AlbaTiVo]

I took business communication with them and I found it better to read the next chapter of the book before taking the test. i.e. before you take the chapter 1 test read chapter 1 and 2, then for the chapter 2 test you will already have read chapter 2, so just read chapter 3. This is a bit simplistic since I think the tests were over more than one chapter, but you get the idea - just stay one section of the book ahead. I found this worked the best for me.

[Merlin]

I took business communication with them and I found it better to read the next chapter of the book before taking the test. i.e. before you take the chapter 1 test read chapter 1 and 2, then for the chapter 2 test you will already have read chapter 2, so just read chapter 3. This is a bit simplistic since I think the tests were over more than one chapter, but you get the idea - just stay one section of the book ahead. I found this worked the best for me.

I also noticed that the quiz material often includes questions on material not covered until the the NEXT unit in the course. So if you're taking the quiz for unit 1, make sure you have already completed the readings for unit 2.

And as was mentioned above, make sure you get the textbook for the course, as many of the questions are verbatim from the examples in the textbook. Plus, being an open-book quiz, you can use that as a reference if you forget something.

[82richjohn]

I heard Straigherline offers ebooks for some of its courses. Where can you find which courses have ebooks and how do you get the ebook?

[Daithi]

I've found that the textbook is the key to these courses. I don't even bother with the online material. However, I think the edition of the textbook used to make the quizzes doesn't always match the edition they recommend for you to use. This was especially so in the Sociology course I took. I remember a couple questions that asked something like "In a study from 2001, Gardner and Jones found how many single mothers were part of the workforce?" but the text provided figures for 2004 and not 2001. This also explains why sometimes I'd get questions from a different chapter than I was expecting. I actually think you're better off with an older version of the textbook.

Ultimately, I found I didn't even need to read the textbook. The entire 2nd half of Sociology I just read the 2 or 3 page chapter summaries and then took the quizzes, including the final. Once you learn to use the index and skim it isn't too hard to pass the quizzes. Although, I don't think I'd try that with a course like Chemistry, Calculus, Physics, etc.

[jmichelle79]

Thanks for the feedback you have clarified some things for me. I plan on starting straighterline soon.