20 Years Since Last Exam - Bombed It

[schoolstuffnthings]

This may be the wrong forum, and if so, please feel free to pack this thread up and ship it out.

Really, the title says it all.

Needing to finally get my education squared away, I was excited to find this website and other online sources of information about piecing my own degree together at a reduced cost. 

I quickly signed up for the Straighterline class 'US History 1' thinking back to high school with great fondness and memories of just breezing through classes and tests.

Well, I just took the first graded exam and bombed it with a score of only 60%.  I know there's a retake available for the first exam and that I must wait 24 hours but what a kick in the gut!  Looking at it from a more, shall we say, weathered, viewpoint of an adult with work and family responsibilities, I'm not having any issue putting it into context, but still not excited about my miserable performance.

I am now looking forward to finding a better way to study and take notes - ways more conducive for me recall the information I'm gathering.

Fingers crossed, off to review my wrong answers I go.

[eriehiker]

This may be the wrong forum, and if so, please feel free to pack this thread up and ship it out.

Really, the title says it all.

Needing to finally get my education squared away, I was excited to find this website and other online sources of information about piecing my own degree together at a reduced cost. 

I quickly signed up for the Straighterline class 'US History 1' thinking back to high school with great fondness and memories of just breezing through classes and tests.

Well, I just took the first graded exam and bombed it with a score of only 60%.  I know there's a retake available for the first exam and that I must wait 24 hours but what a kick in the gut!  Looking at it from a more, shall we say, weathered, viewpoint of an adult with work and family responsibilities, I'm not having any issue putting it into context, but still not excited about my miserable performance.

I am now looking forward to finding a better way to study and take notes - ways more conducive for me recall the information I'm gathering.

Fingers crossed, off to review my wrong answers I go.

I would go to quizlet and type in the name of the class and unit.  Study the card sets.  The failed exam is an opportunity.  You can take that first one again and again and again.  Just get used to the process and timing of the exam.  Every time, you will get less nervous and better.  Also, read the first exam about ten times.  You will get better.  BTW, 60% means you were very close to passing the first exam you have taken in 20 years.  That is a good thing and in most cases, these classes are pass/fail and effort beyond 70% is in most cases inefficient use of time.

[cookderosa]

Straighterline's first test in every class allows multiple retakes- keep taking it until you get 100. It's open book.

Your other tests get 1 attempt but are also open book, use that feature to be sure you get as many questions right for sure as possible.

Doing this will take you into your final with a very solid score and will give you plenty of grace when you take the final (closed book). Good luck!!

[mudball]

Don't get too discouraged. It takes a while to get used to each provider. I had a lot of trouble with StraighterLine at first. You will get used to it and learn how it works better as you go. Use the search option in the textbook.

[jsh1138]

I started back last year after 18 years off, so i feel your pain there

I personally do not like SL's format and have had more luck with Sophia and Study.com. Study.com has an app, that helps alot. But you're allowed to retake the test, as other's have said, so just take a look at what you missed and give it another pass. You'll get back into the swing of things soon.

[a2jc4life]

For what it's worth, I've been back in school for the past three years. I've gotten straight A's in all of my "real" classes, and done fairly well at most of my "just want to pass to be done" classes through SL, etc. But I took a history class through SL and it sucked, and I had a much harder time with it. That's meant to be encouraging -- it might not be you, it might be the way the course is written. And you may do considerably better in other classes.