Wish I hadn't given Straighterline my money

[Mab81]

Can anyone else attest to the fact that Straighterline has the worst customer service? I'd put money on it that they've hired a bunch of kids to assist their customers. Several of the representatives I've spoken to, speak like actual children who can't maintain the slightest sense of professionality. I've had consistent issues with this company, but their representatives defend themselves to the point where they won't accept that there's a problem needed to be fixed. I'm sure this wouldn't be an issue if I had taken any other course besides English Composition, since this one relies so heavily on cooperation between the student and whoever they've assigned to be your grader -- which also changes like the seasons. I wish I had put my money elsewhere, such as a Sophia Learning course; the Sophia team actually knows what they're doing. I'm so dismayed about having to finish the rest of this course. I feel that I can't even reach out to the support team when I inevitably run into another issue, as it seemed this last employee caught an attitude and signed out prematurely. I'm uncomfortable knowing that my overall grade is in their hands, and I'm sure this is why they have a no-refund policy.

I had such a bad experience with SL English that I dropped it. But I have found their customer service to be OK. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's bad... it depends who answers your email. If I don't get the answer I am hoping for, I just send in another ticket and usually get a different reply. It's definitely not consistent. Overall they have been pretty good, but I can't say I 'enjoyed' taking any of the classes and I am glad I am almost done!

[dfrecore]

If you don't want to take a course, you can always take the CLEP College Comp w/Essay for 6cr, the CLEP/DSST combo for 6cr, or my favorite, the TECEP's. I liked getting it done in a few hours, but you have to be a fairly proficient typist to be able to get through the test quickly enough. There are other options as well, but I've heard that SL's English Comp II is even worse than I if that helps decide the next go-round.

[katelynn]

If you don't want to take a course, you can always take the CLEP College Comp w/Essay for 6cr, the CLEP/DSST combo for 6cr, or my favorite, the TECEP's.  I liked getting it done in a few hours, but you have to be a fairly proficient typist to be able to get through the test quickly enough.  There are other options as well, but I've heard that SL's English Comp II is even worse than I if that helps decide the next go-round.

I don't feel confident in my typing abilities.   Any other self-paced Comp II courses you can think of that you've heard are decent?

[Merlin]

If you don't want to take a course, you can always take the CLEP College Comp w/Essay for 6cr, the CLEP/DSST combo for 6cr, or my favorite, the TECEP's.  I liked getting it done in a few hours, but you have to be a fairly proficient typist to be able to get through the test quickly enough.  There are other options as well, but I've heard that SL's English Comp II is even worse than I if that helps decide the next go-round.

I don't feel confident in my typing abilities.   Any other self-paced Comp II courses you can think of that you've heard are decent?

I'm in the same boat as you. While I'm a decent writer, when I'm writing academically, I tend to go a lot slower so I'd be concerned that I wouldn't be able to complete the written side quickly enough... or I'd have a hard time organizing my thoughts since my normal process for writing papers wouldn't work well in a proctored test environment. Of course, there are no open CLEP testing centers near me so I couldn't take the CLEP version without a 1-2 hour trip each way.

Most alternative course providers have their own versions of English Comp I and II. I think most here would recommend the Study.com version as it has fewer assignments. I'd also recommend SL English Comp II, but ONLY if you take the teacher-led option.

[cookderosa]

SL has served my family well. I completed my degree before they started, but my sons (3 of 4) have all taken many SL courses. My interaction with customer support has been fine, but it's their WEBSITE that is death. Seriously, I don't know anything about computers, but it takes FOREVER to get pages to load no matter what computer we are on. My son's computer times out 9 times out of 10 before a page EVER loads- so most of the time they use mine. Seriously, it's soooo bad.

[mudball]

This is copied from a post I made in May. I will most likely be taking Eng Comp ll through them also.
"I highly recommend Ed4credit for Eng comp II for anyone that struggles with writing. My son hates writing and did not hate this class. I think he actually learned more than he did in any in other writing classes because it was broken down into simple steps and so straightforward. If I recall correctly, there were 8 sections all consisting of a reading, quiz, and assignment. The assignments all led up to one final draft of a research paper (around 1500 words I think). They even had a recording of the reading assignments and he just listened and followed the text. The 9th section was the final exam."

[dfrecore]

This is copied from a post I made in May. I will most likely be taking Eng Comp ll through them also.
   "I highly recommend Ed4credit for Eng comp II for anyone that struggles with writing. My son hates writing and did not hate this class. I think he actually learned more than he did in any in other writing classes because it was broken down into simple steps and so straightforward. If I recall correctly, there were 8 sections all consisting of a reading, quiz, and assignment. The assignments all led up to one final draft of a research paper (around 1500 words I think). They even had a recording of the reading assignments and he just listened and followed the text. The 9th section was the final exam."

I think this sounds very doable, especially if you need more than a month to complete a course.  Some people do - SL/Study.com with their time limit isn't always a good option for everyone.

Their setup was pretty good too.  Easy to get through a course (I did Managerial Accounting), from the functionality side of things, unlike SL.

[MNomadic]

This is copied from a post I made in May. I will most likely be taking Eng Comp ll through them also.
   "I highly recommend Ed4credit for Eng comp II for anyone that struggles with writing. My son hates writing and did not hate this class. I think he actually learned more than he did in any in other writing classes because it was broken down into simple steps and so straightforward. If I recall correctly, there were 8 sections all consisting of a reading, quiz, and assignment. The assignments all led up to one final draft of a research paper (around 1500 words I think). They even had a recording of the reading assignments and he just listened and followed the text. The 9th section was the final exam."

I think this sounds very doable, especially if you need more than a month to complete a course.  Some people do - SL/Study.com with their time limit isn't always a good option for everyone.

Their setup was pretty good too.  Easy to get through a course (I did Managerial Accounting), from the functionality side of things, unlike SL.

Although, with SDC, you don't really have to complete the whole English course within a month, just the proctored final. If you plan on taking more than 1 months worth of classes at SDC you can submit the papers anytime just as long as you have an active college accelerator subscription. Example: I ran through the vids/quizzes within a week or so, took the final, did assignment 1 then worked on my second class for that month. The next month I did my next 2 classes, then submitted my final 2 papers by the end of the month.

[mudball]

With Ed4credit the course structure was definitely worth the little bit of extra cost and they often run discount codes. I think it took him about 2-3 weeks to finish. Eight assignments plus the final paper may seem like a lot, but all 8 assignments were straightforward, taken directly from what was explained in the readings, and rather simple. I think all, with the exception of the final paper, took less than an hour. The quizzes can each be done 3 times, but he only needed to do 2 or 3 of them twice.

[katelynn]

Ed4Credit's English Comp II sounds very similar to SL's Comp I as far as the number of assignments. 7-8 written assignments seems to be the standard, with the exception of Sophia's light work load of 4 written assignments.


With SL, I was writing a paper a day UNTIL my options dwindled down to research-type papers (not my strong suit). I've been sitting on this current assignment for three days now and all I have is the header & title.