What the H Straighterline?

[deucess]

Ok, here's another hate of my love-hate relationship with Straighterline. I finally got around to take my Psych final. I had scheduled a few times, but life got in the way. So tonight, I paid my $5 and took the exam. The whole time I was dozing off and yawning. I went into the final with 63.7% (637 points), so all I needed was 63 points, or 13 questions to reach 70 because the final is 300 points, 60 questions. I took about 25 minutes to complete it. I got 130 out of 300. Someone who does not know might think this is bad, but straighterline works on accumulation not on final score. Or so I thought. Then, I got this after I submitted my final:

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Unfortunately you did not successfully pass this Final Examination.

You are entitled to retake the exam once. You may schedule your retake through advisor@straighterline.com.

After a second unsuccessful attempt, you may repurchase the course if you wish to continue. [/COLOR]
This is the course requirement: RequiredYour course completion is based on 1. completing all required assignments and 2. achieving a 70% in the course and that is what I agreed to when they accepted my money.

Seriously? Now my total score for the class is 74%. My membership is set to renew on the 19. I don't want to pay $100 dollar fee just to retake an exam. When did this policy came up? Have you guys seen it before? Has it been there all time, and maybe I just wasn't paying attention?

Aimee

[kotomi]

I feel your pain. I discovered one of my papers didn't meet the minimum requirements of the assignment for English Composition II after my membership expired. So, I didn't pass the course. I had over 70%, but I can't get credit for the course. So that was a waste of money.

[Saharapost]

Are you guys saying Straighterline' pass mark is now over 70%?? When I took all SL courses in my signature, 70% was the pass mark.

[bs13]

Ok, here's another hate of my love-hate relationship with Straighterline. I finally got around to take my Psych final. I had scheduled a few times, but life got in the way. So tonight, I paid my $5 and took the exam. The whole time I was dozing off and yawning. I went into the final with 63.7% (637 points), so all I needed was 63 points, or 13 questions to reach 70 because the final is 300 points, 60 questions. I took about 25 minutes to complete it. I got 130 out of 300. Someone who does not know might think this is bad, but straighterline works on accumulation not on final score. Or so I thought. Then, I got this after I submitted my final:

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Unfortunately you did not successfully pass this Final Examination.

You are entitled to retake the exam once. You may schedule your retake through advisor@straighterline.com.

After a second unsuccessful attempt, you may repurchase the course if you wish to continue. [/COLOR]
This is the course requirement: RequiredYour course completion is based on 1. completing all required assignments and 2. achieving a 70% in the course and that is what I agreed to when they accepted my money.

Seriously? Now my total score for the class is 74%. My membership is set to renew on the 19. I don't want to pay $100 dollar fee just to retake an exam. When did this policy came up? Have you guys seen it before? Has it been there all time, and maybe I just wasn't paying attention?

Aimee

I had taken this course from SL. After my final proctored exam, my score was 69.84%. I submitted a ticket to SL support requesting to round off my score to 70. It was back in Nov 2013. I am not sure if anything has changes since then. I don't remember i have got any message stating that i haven't completed successfully. You can open a ticket and see what SL is saying.

Message from SL
Thank you for reaching out to us! All of the grades in your course at StraighterLine get rounded up. So since you received a 69.84%, your grade is a 70%! Congratulations!

[Devanna]

Ok, here's another hate of my love-hate relationship with Straighterline. I finally got around to take my Psych final. I had scheduled a few times, but life got in the way. So tonight, I paid my $5 and took the exam. The whole time I was dozing off and yawning. I went into the final with 63.7% (637 points), so all I needed was 63 points, or 13 questions to reach 70 because the final is 300 points, 60 questions. I took about 25 minutes to complete it. I got 130 out of 300. Someone who does not know might think this is bad, but straighterline works on accumulation not on final score. Or so I thought. Then, I got this after I submitted my final:

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Unfortunately you did not successfully pass this Final Examination.

You are entitled to retake the exam once. You may schedule your retake through advisor@straighterline.com.

After a second unsuccessful attempt, you may repurchase the course if you wish to continue. [/COLOR]
This is the course requirement: RequiredYour course completion is based on 1. completing all required assignments and 2. achieving a 70% in the course and that is what I agreed to when they accepted my money.

Seriously? Now my total score for the class is 74%. My membership is set to renew on the 19. I don't want to pay $100 dollar fee just to retake an exam. When did this policy came up? Have you guys seen it before? Has it been there all time, and maybe I just wasn't paying attention?

Aimee

I'm as confused as you are, I've never seen this. I think you should open a ticket and ask. Remind them of the course requirement and ask why, when you have a 74%, you're being told you need to retake the final.

[deucess]

No, what I am saying is that Straighterline now requires a 70% on your Psychology final in order to pass the class. So if you’ve accumulated 70 on all previous exams and/or your final brings you to/or over the 70, you still must score 70 or above in the actual final in order to receive credit. I've looked at all the other classes’ syllabi, and so far it's only for psychology. Funny thing is, the Instructor led class does not have that requirement.

I've called them this morning and they said, obviously something I figured they gritty face will say, if I want the credit, they'll reset the final; I will need to contact ProctorU to schedule it, pay ProctorU last minute fee to take it today prior to 11:45 because at midnight I will be charge the $99 recurring fee.

I don’t have a problem retaking it. My dilemma is the money I will have to pay, plus I don’t have a book to review because I used the 7-day ebook from Chegg to complete the prior exams and have since returned the book. To make matter worse, the psych class does not have a midterm; meaning the final covers all the chapters not like the other courses. And after last night attempt, the final exam only had about a handful of repeated questions from the 4 prior exams. So now I have to see how I can get a free copy online to review.

The New Syllabus requirement for self-paced states:
StraighterLine does not apply letter grades. Students earn a score as a percentage of 100% calculated out of total course points. The course is eligible for a transcript with a passing score in the course and 70% on the Final Exam

While the old syllabus and all of the other courses and including the instructor led course for psychology states: StraighterLine does not apply letter grades. Students earn a score as a percentage of 100%. A passing percentage is 70% or higher.

I attached the syllabus in case they decide to change it while I am complaining.


  Less than 1 minute ago">InstructorLed-Introduction+to+Psychology.pdf (Size: 116.48 KB / Downloads: 0)

  Less than 1 minute ago">Self-paced-IntroductiontoPsychology-V3.pdf (Size: 118.15 KB / Downloads: 0)

[defscarlett]

I seem to remember a thread not too long ago that was talking about just clicking through the final on straighterline courses. If this is the new standard then wow.

[UptonSinclair]

I just finished several courses where I was able to fail the final and pass the course. After finishing the course, I thought is was a weakness of the Straighterline format. Combine a course with open book courses with the ability to fail the final and still pass the course and there is a potential for abuse.

I sympathize with the anger of a change during the course. These changes shouldn't apply to someone who is currently enrolled under the old syllabus.

[cookderosa]

I just finished several courses where I was able to fail the final and pass the course. After finishing the course, I thought is was a weakness of the Straighterline format. Combine a course with open book courses with the ability to fail the final and still pass the course and there is a potential for abuse.

I sympathize with the anger of a change during the course. These changes shouldn't apply to someone who is currently enrolled under the old syllabus.

>

This. Check the syllabus in effect when you registered for the course- wayyyy back whenever that was, even if that wasn't when you started. Fight for this, if the syllabus changed mid-course I'd raise heck.

[deucess]

One can imagine I didn't sleep Thursday night, I think the most I slept that night was when I was dozing while testing. Anyway, I spent all day Friday on the phone and email with Straighterline, which now just dawns on me that I should have tweeted the president of Straigherline. Oh, well, I will have to go that route on next time and I am hoping there won't be a next time. Back to my story, on Friday night I submitted to have my transcript sent to both TESC and ACE because in a few hours my membership will have renewed. Lo and behold, as of today Psychology is officially on my ACE transcript, although I am still waiting on my TESC notice and I didn't have to retake the exam nor pay additional fees.

@ UptonSinclair, this class is the first final I received a low score from Straighterline. All my exams I passed them with 70 or above. I can prove that too because I kept all my exams. When I embarked on my Straigherline's journey, it was my goal to always score at a minimum 80 on all classes because I was told Excelsior assigning letter grades (that has sinced changed). It really is frustrating when you think you're done and then wham!

Did I forget to mention that my proctor that night was so cute; I was so embarrased when they system displayed 'you failed' in bold red letters. I should sue them for punitive damages because that I can't take another ProctorU finale because I am afraid he will be my proctor. yeah, I am exaggerating.