originalamyj Journey to BA in English from TESU

[originalamyj]

The deal with Shmoop is that you are supposed to keep all the tabs open. I wind up with like 20 tabs open, can't find the information I'm supposed to or forget where it is. Or worst case I leave my computer and someone (kids!) closes out my browser so now I have to start over opening all those tabs.

I wish they would just present the information clearly with fewer rabbit trails, and then test on the information presented. I just don't get it. But as an English major I don't think I have any choice. I can't pay $$$ for each upper level course I need so I have to give Shmoop a good shot. I hope I can pass these courses, if not I don't know what I will do...

Worst case scenario - you switch to a BALS degree, and take Psych or History courses instead.  It's not the worst thing in the world - if I was looking for a tutor for my kid, I'd want someone who was good at that, rather than someone with the "right" degree.  Word of mouth is much more important than degree for what you want to do (IMHO).

True. The thing is, I LIKE literature. So the process of obtaining the degree by taking these kinds of courses (since AOS is just about all I have left to take) is exciting to me. 

I'm not giving up on Shmoop yet! I'm only in the middle of Bible and it's ok so far (but I do have a basis of knowledge). It just feels like my basis of knowledge isn't as helpful as I assumed it would be because of their way of presenting and testing. So it's shaken my confidence a little.

 I think I will learn a lot about their method by the time I'm done and will hopefully be successful in more courses. I'm giving it a month and will reassess after that.  

[Ideas]

And yet I need help passing it. This forum has been great in steering me. I earned 2 associates degrees One from Excelsior, One from Colorado Technical University, and am now in my final term of my bachelors program. I have tried Shmoop, and could not pass any of their courses. I found the exams convaluted with information, and much unneccesary material was included.

Sorry to hear that. I have used the word convoluted a few times in my previous posts about Shmoop. I also find that even if you read the material three times, the answer can be unclear. But I felt that Bible as Lit was much better than the others and someone else agreed.

[Doodlebabe]

Thank you! I was hoping you’d chime in.

I didn’t know A&I was down to 3 cr, that’s why I thought I could split it up.

I planned American Lit CLEP since it needs to be a survey of I and II so is that one also only 3 cr?

Are you saying I can’t use Engl Lit in my AOS because it’s a 2 cr course?

---

A&I Lit CLEP is still 6 until next year...

https://www.tesu.edu/academics/catalog/C...rogram.cfm

Ok so that’s pretty clear those 2 are still 6 cr. But is it correct that I can’t split A&I between Gen Ed and AOS?

Ah, I didn't realize that you were splitting the credits (and that it's still 6cr), I thought it was 3 and you were trying to "double dip."  My way is better anyway, if you put Religion at Info Lit, and Sociology at Diversity, and move A&I Lit to the AOS (all 6cr), then you actually don't need the extra Shmoop course you were going to take.

You're right, you should take the Am Lit CLEP since you need 6cr.

And yes, English Lit being 2cr messes up the AOS, so it's just easier to move it.  You'd end up having to take another 3cr course to make up for the single missing credit, so they'd end up moving it out anyway.  Better for you to ask them to move it where you want right up front.

Hijacking for a quick question: are you allowed to split the credits? I'm debating whether to use my last course on my study scholarship for world religions to fulfill my Info Lit or a psych course since my other psych courses have already tested me out of a quarter of the course. I was planning on taking the A&I CLEP and having the credits be split so I could take the psych course, as I'm REALLY burned out on quizzes at this point and having a good chunk of a course already done is appealing. But if splitting isn't a thing...siiiiigh.

[Ideas]

True. The thing is, I LIKE literature. So the process of obtaining the degree by taking these kinds of courses (since AOS is just about all I have left to take) is exciting to me. 

I'm not giving up on Shmoop yet! I'm only in the middle of Bible and it's ok so far (but I do have a basis of knowledge). It just feels like my basis of knowledge isn't as helpful as I assumed it would be because of their way of presenting and testing. So it's shaken my confidence a little.

 I think I will learn a lot about their method by the time I'm done and will hopefully be successful in more courses. I'm giving it a month and will reassess after that.  

Good luck! I will probably practice with a couple more LL courses before I do a UL course.

BALS is a good backup if there's a problem doing Shmoop, because it would be a good deal cheaper.

[dfrecore]

Hijacking for a quick question: are you allowed to split the credits? I'm debating whether to use my last course on my study scholarship for world religions to fulfill my Info Lit or a psych course since my other psych courses have already tested me out of a quarter of the course. I was planning on taking the A&I CLEP and having the credits be split so I could take the psych course, as I'm REALLY burned out on quizzes at this point and having a good chunk of a course already done is appealing. But if splitting isn't a thing...siiiiigh.

If you take a 6cr CLEP exam, then they bring it in like it's 2 courses, and can put them in 2 different places (i.e. for A&I Lit, it will come in as LIT-291 and LIT-292, and each can be used in a number of places.

What I was mostly referring to in my confusion, was COSC letting you "double-dip."  Letting you take a course that could then be applied to more than one area (although you only get credit for the course once, it can fulfill more than 1 requirement).  TESU doesn't let you do that, and that's what I thought was going on.

[Ideas]

What I was mostly referring to in my confusion, was COSC letting you "double-dip."  Letting you take a course that could then be applied to more than one area (although you only get credit for the course once, it can fulfill more than 1 requirement).  TESU doesn't let you do that, and that's what I thought was going on.

Interesting about COSC!

[originalamyj]

Made it through Bible as Lit from Shmoop. It wasn't too bad. Took me about 5 days but that was over Thanksgiving week so I had a lot of other stuff going on. I definitely found some crazy questions that I don't remember reading about at all during the course. My final had about 4 questions on the Gnostic gospels and I don't remember that being part of the course at all, but perhaps I missed it. Here's an example of a crazy question that was likely buried in some link:

What cultural influence might some of the Gnostic gospels reflect, hypothetically?
a. They might reflect the influence of the ancient Druids, who built Stonehenge.
b. They might reflect the influence of native Russian spirituality from the pre-Christian era.
c. They might reflect the influence of Buddhist or Hindu traditions of the near East.
d. They might reflect the influence of Norsemen from Scandinavia who had just begun trading with Rome.

Now that I think more about it, I kinda get where they were going with this. The questions goes beyond "what is gnosticism?" I think because they believed that they material world is all evil and the spirit world is good, and there is a divine spark in all of us, perhaps the question is best answered with "C"? What say you? I'm just curious...

On to Shakespeare's Plays!

[originalamyj]

Thought I might update my journey thread with some new developments:

Since I last posted I have completed from Shmoop Shakespeare's Plays, Women in Lit, and Modernist Lit. All came in on my eval as we thought - NO DOWNGRADING! 
Shakespeare's Plays = LIT 320
Women in Lit = LIT 323
Modernist Lit = LIT 399

I am moving on to complete Holocaust next and I predict it will also come in as we all have been thinking ENG 301. I will have to make sure the Non-Western that I take is UL, and along with the Capstone, will complete my UL requirements.

I had an advising appointment today. She confirmed that all the 2 credits I thought I had earned from a quarter school are in fact 3 credits. She said they represented equivalent learning according to her database, which I take to mean because it's a RA school that confers a degree at 120 credit hours, it's basically equivalent to a semester school. THIS IS BIG NEWS because it means I am WAY closer than I thought.

Everything is complete except the following and they are kind of biggies for me:

• 1 A&I Lit - I wish I had thought this through and taken it from study when I had the chance. I don't need more study courses besides this one and I really don't want to take the CLEP. It might be worth paying the little extra to take it from study because I enjoy that format.
  
• 1 UL Shmoop course (Holocaust by the end of this month)
  
• 1 TECEP (Technical Writing by the end of this month)
  
• 1 CLEP (I plan to take American Lit to satisfy the survey courses)
  
• 1 Non-Western Lit - I told her about the BYU Chinese Lit in Translation course but she couldn't find it. I will send her an email to make sure it's approved before I take that one. Otherwise I might be on the hunt for this elusive course again.
  
• 1 Capstone (I hope to register for this for the June term)
  

My biggest obstacle at this point is finances. Non-Western Lit, the Capstone and the Residency Waiver fee are killers. My goal is to go ahead and register for the capstone in May so that I will get the discount, then I will have no choice but to pay whatever the Residency Waiver is after that. Oh well.

Onward and upward!!

[dfrecore]

I think the CLEP is your best option, especially if you're going to go and take Am Lit anyway. With all of the testing/courses you've been doing, you should have a fairly easy time of it. If you need additional studying, take the ModernCourses course for it.

[Ideas]

Do you really need the TECEP? Maybe just put a LL Shmoop?

I don't think the A&I CLEP would be hard for someone who can do UL Lit at Shmoop.

I plan to get a loan for the Capstone (and 1-2 CS courses), to spread out the financial cost.