Upset over the Institutes Insurance Ethics Course

[Lordoftimeywimey]

[/quote]
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! I didn't hear that a lot growing up, so you have no idea how much that means to me. 

This thread has taught me how important it is for us to share our academic struggles and not be concerned about receiving judgment for it.  I had a hard time finding anyone in this community who related to me on this course/exam, but this thread really seemed to encourage everyone to be more open about their own difficult experiences. There are other people out there that will find comfort knowing they aren't alone and they certainly aren't any less educated just because they had a less than popular experience. I'm really happy with all of us. 
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So true- all of this! Those of us on this site are working hard and accomplishing so much, just in different ways. I think there are a lot more "non- traditional learners" on this site. Not just in the sense of using sources other than brick and mortar college courses, but also that many of us thrive in other learning formats for various reasons, and are more inclined to thinking outside the box. I am glad this thread was helpful for you and that you found what you needed support wise:-) This site is a great place to find that, even though I am still struggling to get out of my typical lurker mode. I'm sorry you did not have that experience growing up, but you come across extremely mature and intuitive based on your posts/replies. Thank you for your honesty, and your last post which was very positive!

[Merlin]

Good morning everyone, I just wanted to update you guys and let you know that I passed the Insurance Ethics course late last night. I wasn't going to sleep until I passed haha. My best score was 78%, which I'm pleased with. Thank you to Merlin, TexasTink, douknowme40, Linda, bjcheung77, and dfrecore. The encouragement from you guys really helped me.

Congrats! Sticking with it is the best way to win. Glad I could help encourage you.

People have the same problem with Personal Finance. Most of the regulars here are more "established" and have been dealing with loans, mortgages and investments for years, so think it's easy. When a student fresh out of high school takes it, it's all new to them and a little confusing. There's also the phenom of math people thinking various math courses are easy, good writers thinking the courses that take lots of writing are easy, tech people thinking CIS courses are easy, etc... That's why I cringe a little when people ask for the "easiest" test or course. It's all relative to your existing knowledge and aptitudes.

Yeah, I hate it when people brag about how quickly they get through stuff, as it sets an unreasonable expectation for people who aren't necessarily as quick or don't have the baseline knowledge to more easily get through a course. It may also discourage people who are struggling from speaking out to ask for help in fear of being thought of as less.

In any case, even the easy courses aren't always easy. I'm one of the more "established" folks, and there were parts of the Personal Finance course that threw me for a loop. Yes, it was one of the courses I got through more quickly (which was nice since it was my first Study.com course and that was very encouraging) but it certainly wasn't a few hours or even a few days to finish it for me.

The math phenoms are usually the ones that get under my skin. Despite having a tech and software background, I suffer from dyscalculia, so I struggle with some fundamental elements of math. This makes learning higher forms of math brutal for me, particularly since I forget math almost as fast as I learn it if I'm not constantly reinforcing my knowledge by putting it to use. It takes me forever to get through any math course since every time I feel like I have to start over at the basics and work my way up. As such, I tend to budget a month for a single math course, just because I know it will be time-consuming for me. I'm currently going through the Khan Academy Statistics material, which luckily has a good amount of theory in addition to the math itself, so I'm feeling pretty good about getting through it well enough to pass a course somewhere later this month, but some of the math has been pretty hairy so far.

[mudball]

My husband took this class a few days ago because I suggested it as being easy per comments here. He spent several hours on the class, then an hour on the test. He got 66% the first time. He took it again, methodically researching each question. He was sure he passed. He got a 63%. I'm trying to encourage him to try again. I'm glad I saw this and can pass on others experiences with this class.

[katelynn]

Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! I didn't hear that a lot growing up, so you have no idea how much that means to me. 

This thread has taught me how important it is for us to share our academic struggles and not be concerned about receiving judgment for it.  I had a hard time finding anyone in this community who related to me on this course/exam, but this thread really seemed to encourage everyone to be more open about their own difficult experiences. There are other people out there that will find comfort knowing they aren't alone and they certainly aren't any less educated just because they had a less than popular experience. I'm really happy with all of us. 
[/quote]

So true- all of this! Those of us on this site are working hard and accomplishing so much, just in different ways. I think there are a lot more "non- traditional learners" on this site. Not just in the sense of using sources other than brick and mortar college courses, but also that many of us thrive in other learning formats for various reasons, and are more inclined to thinking outside the box. I am glad this thread was helpful for you and that you found what you needed support wise:-) This site is a great place to find that, even though I am still struggling to get out of my typical lurker mode. I'm sorry you did not have that experience growing up, but you come across extremely mature and intuitive based on your posts/replies. Thank you for your honesty, and your last post which was very positive!
[/quote]


I'm a lurker too! I only just recently started getting more comfortable posting on here. I felt pretty intimidated by everyone else's success and how far along they are with their degrees. Not to mention the fact that it seems the majority of folks on here are much older and wiser than I am. I guess I was afraid to be the newbie of the forum, but no one has treated me like one thus far. Everyone I've spoken to has been nothing but supportive, including you! I look forward to seeing you around the forum more often. 

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My husband took this class a few days ago because I suggested it as being easy per comments here. He spent several hours on the class, then an hour on the test. He got 66% the first time. He took it again, methodically researching each question. He was sure he passed. He got a 63%. I'm trying to encourage him to try again. I'm glad I saw this and can pass on others experiences with this class.

Hi mudball! Please reassure your husband that it most definitely is not easy for everyone. It appears that those who passed with flying colors already had a measure of insurance related knowledge prior to taking this course. I don't even have  insurance, so you can see my plight here. I knew nothing. I know a lot of people advise you to take a break and rest before trying again, but I think what worked for me was that I did it all back-to-back. That way, I didn't forget all the patterns I noticed or how that one particular question tried to trick me every time. Sometimes it's better not to stop the flow of things.

Also, maybe let him know about my question cycling theory. The test changes every single time, but there are two types of tests it will give you. One is the test with 50 easier questions, and the other one has the 50 more complex/tricky ones. Tell him to review his first test, the one with the 63% score, and read the type of questions it gave him that round. They were probably the much simpler ones. Once those questions come back around, that's the test he should spend the most time on, as his chances of passing it are higher. When it gives him the 50 tricky questions, he shouldn't invest too much time on that test because it's nearly impossible unless you have insurance experience. The tricky tests I only scored 54% on, but on the easier ones I got a 69% and a 78%. There's no way you can go from a 54% to a 78% unless my theory is true. Hopefully that makes sense.

[ISKBizz15]

I'm so thankful for this thread. If I hadn't read about all of your experiences I honestly would have gone into the Ethics course thinking that it was going to be quick and easy like most people on this forum who have taken it in the past in an hour or less with no study-time. I just spent the past 7 hours trying to get through the exam and passed with a 76% on my first attempt.

With all of the advice on here I made sure to really take my time to carefully read through each question, not move onto another question unless I was absolutely sure of my answer and kept another tab open with the review notes and extra information from the modules. It was nowhere near easy for me, I seriously hate taking any type of exams because I have a short-attention span, lack of focus and a constant need to be moving up and out of a chair. Whether it's your first, second, third or more attempt at any exam don't give up and stick with it.

[a2jc4life]

I see you've already passed, so this might be unnecessary input, but...it's also totally okay to NOT consider it a waste to pass something up just because it's "free" credit. Just because it doesn't cost money doesn't mean it doesn't cost time or effort (or sanity ). It's okay to decide a course is not worth one or more of those OTHER things to you, even if the trade-off doesn't make sense to anyone else.

---

Good morning everyone, I just wanted to update you guys and let you know that I passed the Insurance Ethics course late last night. I wasn't going to sleep until I passed haha. My best score was 78%, which I'm pleased with. Thank you to Merlin, TexasTink, douknowme40, Linda, bjcheung77, and dfrecore. The encouragement from you guys really helped me.

Congrats! Sticking with it is the best way to win. Glad I could help encourage you.

People have the same problem with Personal Finance. Most of the regulars here are more "established" and have been dealing with loans, mortgages and investments for years, so think it's easy. When a student fresh out of high school takes it, it's all new to them and a little confusing. There's also the phenom of math people thinking various math courses are easy, good writers thinking the courses that take lots of writing are easy, tech people thinking CIS courses are easy, etc... That's why I cringe a little when people ask for the "easiest" test or course. It's all relative to your existing knowledge and aptitudes.

Yeah, I hate it when people brag about how quickly they get through stuff, as it sets an unreasonable expectation for people who aren't necessarily as quick or don't have the baseline knowledge to more easily get through a course. It may also discourage people who are struggling from speaking out to ask for help in fear of being thought of as less.

In any case, even the easy courses aren't always easy. I'm one of the more "established" folks, and there were parts of the Personal Finance course that threw me for a loop. Yes, it was one of the courses I got through more quickly (which was nice since it was my first Study.com course and that was very encouraging) but it certainly wasn't a few hours or even a few days to finish it for me.

The math phenoms are usually the ones that get under my skin. Despite having a tech and software background, I suffer from dyscalculia, so I struggle with some fundamental elements of math. This makes learning higher forms of math brutal for me, particularly since I forget math almost as fast as I learn it if I'm not constantly reinforcing my knowledge by putting it to use. It takes me forever to get through any math course since every time I feel like I have to start over at the basics and work my way up. As such, I tend to budget a month for a single math course, just because I know it will be time-consuming for me. I'm currently going through the Khan Academy Statistics material, which luckily has a good amount of theory in addition to the math itself, so I'm feeling pretty good about getting through it well enough to pass a course somewhere later this month, but some of the math has been pretty hairy so far.

Man, I hear you on this.  Math is so not my thing.  On my ALEKS course, I didn't even have the mathematical foundations section down initially.  In fact, it took me at least three tries to master the basic graphing -- and keep it mastered -- that I'm 100% positive I already learned back in high school.  It just wouldn't "stick."   If you haven't finished the stats stuff, take a look at APStatsGuy's (@MrNystrom) stuff on YouTube, too.  He doesn't cover everything, but his videos are AMAZING (even better than Khan Academy).

[rlw74]

I remember taking the institutes ethics course and it being easy based on the fact that I was in insurance and banking for decades. I had to take a test exactly like this once a year for compliance. But I'll admit, it's dry material.

Now the free computer courses, those were a real struggle for me as it's not my background. As much as I love free, I passed the first course and decided not to keep going on the others because I had no background knowledge to draw upon and I had no interest in learning the material.

All these courses on here are only "easy" based on how much knowledge you bring into the course. There are techniques for going through some of these courses that work better for some but it's not always going to be the same for each person. Congrats on passing and don't feel bad if you don't pass something. There are plenty of people on here that can attest to not passing something no matter how much success they may have in other areas.

[Oulton1]

Hello.  I wanted to thank the poster who mentioned "just go with your gut"  when taking the Institute Insurance Ethics test.  My son took this test 7 times and was pretty discouraged that he just couldn't pass.  He was always so close but couldn't get past 68%.  He has no experience in Insurance so the topic was completely new to him. I searched on this forum for something to encourage him to keep going.  And found a member that mentioned that they didn't analyze the questions just went with their gut feelings. (Of course-- I can't find that individual or the post now.  )  My son did just that and passed with a 72 yesterday!  

I just thought it was important to post our appreciation.  We hope this might help someone else who is getting discouraged with that test.

[Supermind]

Is this a different ethics course offered by CPCU? Or the free course that many of us here have attempted. I am like many others here- I have close to zero understanding of this field. But I guess I managed to clear the test in a single attempt because it is an open book exam. I could refer to the notes.

[davewill]

Is this a different ethics course offered by CPCU? Or the free course that many of us here have attempted. I am like many others here- I have close to zero understanding of this field. But I guess I managed to clear the test in a single attempt because it is an open book exam. I could refer to the notes.

Same course. It's not offered by the CPUC, it's about CPUC material. The course is offered by the Instititutes.

https://www.theinstitutes.org/guide/onli...urses-free