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+--- Thread: Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course (/Thread-Review-of-Straighterline-s-Microbiology-Course)
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - sanantone - 04-08-2016
This is the first Straighterline course I've taken along with Introduction to Communication. As you all know, the quizzes are open book. I was able to flip through the book to find answers and do pretty well on the quizzes. If you have an ebook, which is more expensive, then finding the answers should be easier. I did so well on the quizzes that I could have gotten a zero on the closed book final and still passed. While I prefer taking tests, SL was faster for me in this case. I would have had to read a whole textbook for the Uexcel, and it still wouldn't have been a guaranteed pass. Microbiology is not the easiest subject.
Considering how much I hated Sophia's boring videos, I don't think I could have made it through the Study.com course without pulling my eyelashes out. You have to sit through those boring videos or read the boring transcripts in order to pass. I could only see myself using Study.com for a course that didn't have another affordable option, but I might test it out for pathophysiology and genetics since those would cost me $145 each through Uexcel. Plus, the closest Pearson testing center is kind of far.
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - jsd - 04-08-2016
sanantone Wrote:pulling my eyelashes out
I actually shuddered while reading this, haha
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - TrailRunr - 04-08-2016
sanantone Wrote:This is the first Straighterline course I've taken along with Introduction to Communication. As you all know, the quizzes are open book. I was able to flip through the book to find answers and do pretty well on the quizzes. If you have an ebook, which is more expensive, then finding the answers should be easier. I did so well on the quizzes that I could have gotten a zero on the closed book final and still passed. While I prefer taking tests, SL was faster for me in this case. I would have had to read a whole textbook for the Uexcel, and it still wouldn't have been a guaranteed pass. Microbiology is not the easiest subject.
Considering how much I hated Sophia's boring videos, I don't think I could have made it through the Study.com course without pulling my eyelashes out. You have to sit through those boring videos or read the boring transcripts in order to pass. I could only see myself using Study.com for a course that didn't have another affordable option, but I might test it out for pathophysiology and genetics since those would cost me $145 each through Uexcel. Plus, the closest Pearson testing center is kind of far.
This is the most useful type of post on this forum for me. It's this type of post that tells me whether to hand over my credit card number or to look for another source of credit. Thank you!
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - cookderosa - 04-08-2016
as much as I loved my microbiology lab course (I did it distance learning via Ocean) I'm all about open book quizzes. (I feel icky saying it, but it would be nice to have a list of open book exam classes.....)
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - Mamasaphire - 04-08-2016
cookderosa Wrote:as much as I loved my microbiology lab course (I did it distance learning via Ocean) I'm all about open book quizzes. (I feel icky saying it, but it would be nice to have a list of open book exam classes.....)
My dual enrollment kids are having plenty of open book exams at their CC (mainly for classes like chem and accounting this semester at least). I was surprised at first.
The way I look at it now that I've gotten used to it is that a student will still have to study to know where to look in the textbook for answers. And not everyone is a good test taker even if they know the topic well, right?
So I wouldn't feel too strange about a list like that. Sounds like a good idea actually.
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - dfrecore - 04-08-2016
I took a course at my CC last summer and it was open book, and I was surprised. But if you hadn't have studied, there is NO WAY you would have been able to pass the exam just because it was open book. Since I had read the book, it was very easy to look up a question here or there to check and see if I was right, but if I hadn't (and you could tell who hadn't), the 2 hours was definitely not enough time to look up even 50% of the questions. I was flipping through the different chapters (4-5 per exam) constantly, knowing sort of where to look since I was familiar with the material.
I got a 98% in the class on the exams, and probably would have gotten around a 94% if I didn't have open book.
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - AJ_Atlanta - 04-09-2016
Funny thing is life is mostly open book. I never once went to an employee working for me and asked them do something without external resources or told them they couldn't use a calculator
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - sanantone - 04-09-2016
dfrecore Wrote:I took a course at my CC last summer and it was open book, and I was surprised. But if you hadn't have studied, there is NO WAY you would have been able to pass the exam just because it was open book. Since I had read the book, it was very easy to look up a question here or there to check and see if I was right, but if I hadn't (and you could tell who hadn't), the 2 hours was definitely not enough time to look up even 50% of the questions. I was flipping through the different chapters (4-5 per exam) constantly, knowing sort of where to look since I was familiar with the material.
I got a 98% in the class on the exams, and probably would have gotten around a 94% if I didn't have open book.
This might not work for every course, but I was able to use the index to pinpoint the location of topics. Occasionally, I was able to find some answers in the glossary. If you're using an ebook, finding the answer should be pretty fast.
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - TrailRunr - 04-09-2016
I dreaded open book exams during my first BA.
If there was an open book exam in a class that's curved, it's guaranteed that the test will be hard. With a curve, there needs to be a wide distribution of scores. If it was possible to look up everything and get 100%, then the scores would all cluster around 100%. What really happened was that we had to apply something we learned in the textbook, and the problem would be very hard. If I got 50% on that test, I probably got a B. If I got 75%, I got an A. Even if you knew the exact page of the 1000 page textbook to look for xyz, it wouldn't help very much. I would always struggle, but I don't know if I aced it or failed it. Usually it was somewhere in the middle. To me, this is what real life is like too.
Thankfully, none of this is remotely relevant to SL.
Review of Straighterline's Microbiology Course - cookderosa - 04-10-2016
Mamasaphire Wrote:My dual enrollment kids are having plenty of open book exams at their CC (mainly for classes like chem and accounting this semester at least). I was surprised at first.
The way I look at it now that I've gotten used to it is that a student will still have to study to know where to look in the textbook for answers. And not everyone is a good test taker even if they know the topic well, right?
So I wouldn't feel too strange about a list like that. Sounds like a good idea actually.
My grad classes were mostly open book- that said, they kicked my butt. I can only imagine that they intentionally used different books than we had. :ack: Even open book, I frequently *just barely* passed most of my tests. I'm a pretty miserable test taker, which is why testing out appealed to me (pass fail/no grades).