(05-01-2020, 09:31 AM)ctcarl Wrote: Just wanted to update anyone who is interested;  I submitted my last English Comp Touchstone on 4-15 and I'm still waiting for that grade.  

As of Tuesday, I found this message while browsing my Dashboard:  "Due to increased Touchstone submissions, grading time can take up to 14 business days for each Touchstone assignment. If you have course completion deadline concerns, please contact the Sophia Learning Coach team."

So it appears I may have some time to wait yet.

Checking my bankcard statement resulted in a pleasant surprise:  The first course I had paid for and completed on 3-19-20 must have gone through just as they switching over to the free promo.  They issued me a refund, completely unasked.  Amazing!

(04-16-2020, 11:02 AM)ctcarl Wrote:

(04-15-2020, 07:57 PM)Not_a_robot_101 Wrote: I like Sophia, but I am getting very frustrated with the turn around time on getting my assignments graded for English Comp I & II. I have yet to receive a single grade back from English Comp I despite submitting my first paper over 25 days ago. I understand that it is free, but thats a very long delay because some of the courses require graded papers to be returned before you can submit the assignments. In turn, this creates roadblocks for future submissions. For instance, in English Comp II, I was able to submit the first three assignments, but I could not submit my fourth, until the third paper was graded. To me this makes no sense because assignment three does not correlate to assignment four in any way.

I have contacted Sophia several times through chat or messaging and yet get any real information. Despite the course being free, I am starting to wish I had just went with Straighterline for these two classes.

I've taken every single course Sophia offers, except for Eng Comp II, and I definitely have an inking of what you're talking about.

Prior to the free promotion, I took Foundations of English Comp.  I was spoiled by the fact that I could complete a Sophia course, click "submit", and see "Congratulations!" along with my final score, instantly.  This may not be unique today but it is rare.

But it took about ten days to get my Foundations coursework scored, and it seemed like a lot longer!

Since I discovered the free courses, I've taken two out of the only other three Sophia courses with Touchstones (assignments), English Comp I and Public Speaking.  So far, the soonest I've gotten anything back has been about two weeks.  Like you, I can't complete my final assignments until all the others are graded, because in my case, one assignment in each course is to revise a previous assignment.

It's especially frustrating for me, because I'm confident that I've completed most of my Gen Ed and Elective requirements and have just UL courses left to work on, but I can't be certain of that until EC has reviewed my official transcripts. 

With that said, I'm trying not to lose sight of the fact that this has been an amazing opportunity for me to finish my LL coursework at zero cost, without leaving my home.  Too, I have to consider that Sophia staff, even if they're working at 100% efficiency despite the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused many other institutions to grind to a halt, must surely be overwhelmed by the response to this promotion.  So I'm keeping my mouth shut and thinking, "they'll get to it when they get to it".

In your situation though, I would say that you have options.  I've found Sophia's customer service to be reasonably responsive and accommodating.  What I'd suggest is that you consider emailing them and asking to drop your English Comp courses.  Then you could take them through Straighterline.

Just for comparison, I took a quick look at the SL Eng Comp I syllabus here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/StraighterLine/Syllabus-Revised/EnglishCompositionI.pdf and it looks like you may be able to submit much of the coursework you prepared for the Sophia course, although you could check with SL to be sure this isn't a violation of the Student Code.  Then you could just consider the free Sophia course as a study aid for the SL one, you should be able to speed through the SL quizzes and submit the papers.  You'd only be out your time, but at least it was time well spent, studying relevant material and writing papers you will likely still be able to use.

(05-01-2020, 09:14 PM)JWells247 Wrote: Is anyone racking up credits like crazy on Sophia? I have completed 3 classes this past week. And they are all free. I will keep going!!!*...the statistics course looks nice*

(05-02-2020, 02:54 AM)rachel83az Wrote: Definitely working on it! Popped out two easy ones (religion and US History I) and am now working on Eng. Comp I and Algebra (which isn't so nice). I plan to complete the whole shebang.

(05-02-2020, 07:08 AM)LevelUP Wrote: The English Composition courses are pure hell no matter what platform you use.  I haven't heard of anyone on here that has completed those 2 courses in less than 40 hours of hard work.  The CLEP, on the other hand, is very easy and only 1 hour of writing and you're done.  Mainly people that fail the CLEP run out of time.  One person by accident clicked wrong and turned in a blank essay and still passed!

That Sophia US history I like the content but MAN that course is like 3x harder than visual communications.  All those questions that had multiple answers, was a real pain in the butt.  

Visual communication is about designing and little marketing as well.  Has nothing to do with speaking or doing presentations.  I really liked that course fit right in with my major and career.

(05-02-2020, 08:37 AM)raycathode Wrote: I did US History I and II, Art History I and II, Greek Philosophers, Visual Communications, Conflict Resolution, Environmental Science, Algebra and Religions. It was very doable because I already know a hell of a lot about art, history, ancient Greek history, religions, and I work in visual communications.

I'm going to knock out intro to psych and at least one other.
I already have a BSBA, but half my credits were through Shmoop, which almost nobody accepts anymore. So I'm trying to rack these up while they're free in anticipation of eventually getting a second Bachelor's.

(05-02-2020, 02:54 AM)rachel83az Wrote:

(05-01-2020, 09:14 PM)JWells247 Wrote: Is anyone racking up credits like crazy on Sophia? I have completed 3 classes this past week. And they are all free. I will keep going!!!*...the statistics course looks nice*

Definitely working on it! Popped out two easy ones (religion and US History I) and am now working on Eng. Comp I and Algebra (which isn't so nice). I plan to complete the whole shebang.

(05-02-2020, 07:08 AM)LevelUP Wrote:

(05-02-2020, 02:54 AM)rachel83az Wrote: Definitely working on it! Popped out two easy ones (religion and US History I) and am now working on Eng. Comp I and Algebra (which isn't so nice). I plan to complete the whole shebang.

Sophia does seem like the best learning platform for people new to online courses to start.  The 1 credit classes don't take long at all.  

The English Composition courses are pure hell no matter what platform you use.  I haven't heard of anyone on here that has completed those 2 courses in less than 40 hours of hard work.  The CLEP, on the other hand, is very easy and only 1 hour of writing and you're done.  Mainly people that fail the CLEP run out of time.  One person by accident clicked wrong and turned in a blank essay and still passed!

That Sophia US history I like the content but MAN that course is like 3x harder than visual communications.  All those questions that had multiple answers, was a real pain in the butt.  

Visual communication is about designing and little marketing as well.  Has nothing to do with speaking or doing presentations.  I really liked that course fit right in with my major and career.