Straighterline Proctored and Closed Book

[NatashaB]

It's definitely true for most SL courses that you can knock through the exams just by using the textbook. I would tread carefully with the Business Ethics one, though - that was one of the tougher ones and there are a lot of questions in each exam (I can't remember how many but I think you have only 90 seconds to answer each question as an average) and the textbook index/glossary for BE is not the best. In retrospect, I probably should have used the e-book version rather than the paper one so I could use CTRL+F to search the text.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks. That's good to know. I appreciate your help. I do have another question though. Are the quizzes timed, or just the final? Many thanks in advance.

[hoffdeb]

Here is the course list along with Final exam instructions: Exam Proctoring Details by Course | StraighterLine
Be sure and check with your student advisor. Open/closed Finals depend on your enrollment date. I was told they are always updating.

[Daithi]

I took three finals today. Western Civilization I & II and Business Communication. I didn't have any problems with the first two, but when I went to take the Bus. Comm. course the proctor said it was closed book. First I argued, then I had to log on to the StraighterLine site, navigate to the course, and show the proctor that it was open book.

While doing that I noticed that if I finished the quiz portion early I could use the left over time on the written portion. So, after arguing with the proctor, I didn't bother with the book. I just read the questions and answered them as quickly as I could to give myself as much time as possible to write the Short Report.

I passed the two Western Civilization courses and think I passed Business Communication. I got 85% on the Bus. Comm. final quiz without using the book, and now I'm just waiting on getting grades on all the written reports I turned in.

[hoffdeb]

I know for a few of my exams the proctor said they were closed book exams, and I was like 'the hell it is'. Then they verified it, and it was open book, and they apologized saying they were looking at the wrong window. It turns out ProctorU is monitoring 8 people at a given time. They also told me, they are not watching the whole time, and not even recorded. They only start recording if you get up and leave unexpectedlly or doing something strange.

But as far as straighterline is concerned, I don't know if this is a new requirement. Like Potatoloco, I make it my goal to reach 70 before I go into the exams.

Help me understand this part of his quote, "Like Potatoloco, I make it my goal to reach 70 before I go into the exams." If you have 70% going into the exam and then choose not to take the exam (meaning you score 0%), doesn't that give you a much lower average overall, certainly lower than the needed 70% to gain credit? Please explain this for me! Thanks.

[NatashaB]

No, the average is cumulative. So, you complete your first test or assignment, you will have a course score of, say, 5%. Then you do another test, your course score goes up to 10%. So if you have a 70% score before you go into the final exam, the worst that can happen is you score 0 and your score remains at 70% - you still passed.

[jaweber08]

No, the overall grade factors in the percentage values of each test. ie. Lets say you have seven tests, a midterm, and a final and the smaller tests are worth 10% and both the midterm and final are worth both 15.

You make exactly 85% on every test and the midterm before taking the final. Each test would yield you 8.5 points towards your overall grade and the midterm would yield you 12.75 points. In total this would come out to be 72.25% or (8.5*7) + 12.75 = 72.25%.

If you made a zero on the exam, then you would get zero points added to your final score giving you an overall grade of 72.25%.

If you clicked through the exam keeping the same answer throughout the entire exam based on four possible answers, statistics say you should be near 25% and it is mandatory to take the final. Therefore, if you made a 25% on the final that would yield 3.75points towards your overall grade giving you a 76% as an overall grade.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Having never taken a Straighterline course, how soon after the final do you find out if you passed the course or not? I'm guessing you get your score for the final on completion of it (like CLEP and DSST exams). Is that correct? If that is how it is done, then do they also give you your course score right after the final as well? Many thanks.

[deucess]

It's all computed. The minute you hit submit you get your score, and it's added to the previous score. All of the scores combined need to equal 70% or (700 points out of 1000) to pass class.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks bunches. I appreciate your help. I am in the process of highlighting and hope to get all the quizzes for the Business Ethics course done tomorrow. Then I will schedule the final. Wish me luck!