Speed/Ease of completion - SL vs SDC vs Penn Foster

[vpassenheim]

This one's fresh for me so I'll share my experience. I have experience with SDC, SL, Davar, and Saylor. Saylor is, of course, the cheapest. SDC/SL/Davar are different price structures, but almost boil down to the same. My preferred format is SDC for ease of knocking out courses. At least, for the LL courses. I've had a bumpy experience, to say the least, with their UL courses as I've found that the assignment requirements and rubrics play a game with students and it can be very frustrating to spend a lot of time researching, preparing, and writing a research paper only to find AFTER the fact that you didn't curtsy quite like they like.

I've had A product papers be graded B- and C+. Now, just so that we're clear, I got an A+ in my Cornerstone Seminar online course with COSC, and I've had As with all my Davar papers, as well. The problem lies in SDC's structural inability to properly and adequately communicate all requirements for these papers with the student. Feedback is vital BEFORE you write the paper, not after. Yes, they offer an "Instant Answer" feature for students with subject matter questions, but what they don't tell you is that you really need to be very proactive in using it BEFORE you engage in any of these assignments, because you will be surprised to find that the assignment requirements and rubric DON'T actually cover everything their looking for and will grade you on. It's up to you to be very creative and inquisitive about the myriad of possibilities that they might consider "important" content on the final assignment product - they won't tell you this, so I'm telling you (*if anybody's interested I can share my detailed response complaining to SDC on this matter).

I've already registered my complaint (lol) with SDC support and via response to my graded assignment. Of course, I'm not very optimistic it means anything to them, so I decided to "vent" here (lol), because at least here I might be able to save somebody from the heartache I've gone through (lol). Trust me, you wouldn't be laughing either if after all that hard work you submit what to your estimation is an A+ product, but end up getting a B- for your effort. I have resigned myself to getting Bs with both of my SDC UL courses: Business 303 and Marketing 303. I have As in all the other LL courses.

So, in summary, I recommend:
SDC for LL courses
Davar for UL courses (Davar gives you the study guides for their courses, which are very helpful, and you also get pretty good feedback from them and I've had no problems with the research papers/assignments I've had to write for them - all As.)

[Merlin]

Keep in mind that you are able to revise your Study.com papers as much as you like (at least 3 times anyway) based on feedback from the grader, so getting an A (93% or better) on every paper is easy if you keep revising until you get to the grade you want.

I completed 20 courses with SDC and earned an average of 97% in those classes; most of my papers came in at 95% or higher. I had trouble with some of the first courses I took with SDC (writing courses) and found that I needed to resubmit them after feedback to score well. I felt like the graders were being inconsistent and not following what was asked. However, that was not the case.

Basically, the graders are looking at the rubric as the only measure of what good looks like, so if you follow the rubric exactly, you will usually score high. Early on I was using my own interpretation of what good looks like, but this resulted in a lower score. Once I started following the rubric to the letter and learning how the graders did their thing, I found more consistency with the grading and a higher overall score on each paper.

That is my experience anyway.

[ryanaryn]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I completed my BSAST (Nuc Eng Tech) at TESC (I mean, "TESU") waaaaaay back in 2004. I mostly followed the old bain4weeks.com plan that was accurate at the time. I took over a dozen CLEP/DANTES exams, and transferred in copious credits from my military training. A few graduate courses at a brick and mortar state university closed some gaps, and voila, I had a degree. 

Fast forward 15 years, and I'm looking to tack on a bunch of credits to my existing TESU transcript via credit banking so that I can qualify to sit for the CPA exam. I met the experience requirement to become a CPA about a decade ago. I work only in tax, via an IRS-issued credential (Enrolled Agent). I don't do income tax preparation, but rather work on higher level, complex business tax matters. I have zero desire to ever work in audit or any other accounting arena.

The desire for a CPA license is purely for personal satisfaction, not professional. In fact, I don't even care about the CPA license itself, I just want to prove to myself that I can pass all four parts of the exam. But in order to sit for the exam, I need to meet the education requirement.

Most of the required business courses I can complete via additional CLEP/DSST exams. I'm fairly confident that I can pass the federal income taxation TECEP and the CSU Global SSA/CBE exam for federal business taxation with almost no study. But this leaves me with 15 semester hours of Upper Level accounting courses that my state will still require.

Based on other threads I've read through here on DegreeForum, some combination of Straighterline, Study.com, and Penn Foster courses will get me across the goal line.

Of the three, which provides the courses that can be completed the fastest?

I am looking at this regardless of cost, and regardless of whether I actually learn anything. I realize this latter statement may be grossly offensive to a lot of people, but given that my objective is merely to qualify to take the CPA exam rather than practice, I believe it to be a reasonable position to take.

Thank you!

If you are looking for pure speed, SDC can't be beat.  You can fly through the quizzes without needing to watch the videos because the answers are provided to all the quizzes.  That is especially helpful when you already know the content, as you clearly do.  Writing the essays for the UL courses is easy enough too.  You don't need a high grade to pass, just make sure you follow the grading rubric and you'll easily get the 57% you need.  It doesn't sound like you need to study, you just need to pass the class.  So for your situation SDC is great.  I completed 8 classes in one month, averaging a B for each one and that included writing several essays.  It's hard work, but once you find your rhythm it's pretty easy.

[sanantone]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I completed my BSAST (Nuc Eng Tech) at TESC (I mean, "TESU") waaaaaay back in 2004. I mostly followed the old bain4weeks.com plan that was accurate at the time. I took over a dozen CLEP/DANTES exams, and transferred in copious credits from my military training. A few graduate courses at a brick and mortar state university closed some gaps, and voila, I had a degree. 

Fast forward 15 years, and I'm looking to tack on a bunch of credits to my existing TESU transcript via credit banking so that I can qualify to sit for the CPA exam. I met the experience requirement to become a CPA about a decade ago. I work only in tax, via an IRS-issued credential (Enrolled Agent). I don't do income tax preparation, but rather work on higher level, complex business tax matters. I have zero desire to ever work in audit or any other accounting arena.

The desire for a CPA license is purely for personal satisfaction, not professional. In fact, I don't even care about the CPA license itself, I just want to prove to myself that I can pass all four parts of the exam. But in order to sit for the exam, I need to meet the education requirement.

Most of the required business courses I can complete via additional CLEP/DSST exams. I'm fairly confident that I can pass the federal income taxation TECEP and the CSU Global SSA/CBE exam for federal business taxation with almost no study. But this leaves me with 15 semester hours of Upper Level accounting courses that my state will still require.

Based on other threads I've read through here on DegreeForum, some combination of Straighterline, Study.com, and Penn Foster courses will get me across the goal line.

Of the three, which provides the courses that can be completed the fastest?

I am looking at this regardless of cost, and regardless of whether I actually learn anything. I realize this latter statement may be grossly offensive to a lot of people, but given that my objective is merely to qualify to take the CPA exam rather than practice, I believe it to be a reasonable position to take.

Thank you!

If you are looking for pure speed, SDC can't be beat.  You can fly through the quizzes without needing to watch the videos because the answers are provided to all the quizzes.  That is especially helpful when you already know the content, as you clearly do.  Writing the essays for the UL courses is easy enough too.  You don't need a high grade to pass, just make sure you follow the grading rubric and you'll easily get the 57% you need.  It doesn't sound like you need to study, you just need to pass the class.  So for your situation SDC is great.  I completed 8 classes in one month, averaging a B for each one and that included writing several essays.  It's hard work, but once you find your rhythm it's pretty easy.

I don't see how taking 100 quizzes is faster than taking one test. Davar and CSU Global require one test. I only spent a couple of hours studying for the Davar exams.

Edit: I forgot that CSU Global now requires a handful of quizzes, and they moved the essay from the exam to a separate assignment. It's still a lot less than SDC.

[dfrecore]

If you are looking for pure speed, SDC can't be beat.  You can fly through the quizzes without needing to watch the videos because the answers are provided to all the quizzes.  That is especially helpful when you already know the content, as you clearly do.  Writing the essays for the UL courses is easy enough too.  You don't need a high grade to pass, just make sure you follow the grading rubric and you'll easily get the 57% you need.  It doesn't sound like you need to study, you just need to pass the class.  So for your situation SDC is great.  I completed 8 classes in one month, averaging a B for each one and that included writing several essays.  It's hard work, but once you find your rhythm it's pretty easy.

I don't see how taking 100 quizzes is faster than taking one test. Davar and CSU Global require one test. I only spent a couple of hours studying for the Davar exams.

Edit: I forgot that CSU Global now requires a handful of quizzes, and they moved the essay from the exam to a separate assignment. It's still a lot less than SDC.

I agree - a single test is ALWAYS going to be faster than a course (any course).  Now, studying for the test may take a certain amount of time, at which point no one can tell you which would be faster.

But if you know the material and just need to brush up, then a test is the way to go.  This is especially true with an UL exam, which would take 1-3 papers/projects through Study.com.

Not saying that Study.com isn't a good option, but it's certainly not the fastest option in many scenarios.  Anyone who tells you that hasn't taken a test.

[TopHatWombat]

I hope it's not bad form in these parts to resurrect my own zombie thread.

After 13 full moons (or has it been 14? I haven't taken Astronomy yet), I have returned to finally begin the golden quest.

I signed up yesterday for Study.com, and am staring at Lesson 1 of Accounting 101.

My purpose has slightly changed from the OP. I'm going to take the time to actually learn the material, not just fly through it for the sake of flying through it. I think I may also return to TESU for a 2nd BS, as it appears I will only be a few classes short of that anyway.

I know that there is a thread for providing individual SDC courses, and I will post there as appropriate, but also want to keep this as a personal progress journal, of sort.

OK, let's do this...