It is absolutely necessary to read whole text book for SL course??

[cecilgambe7]

So far I have not used SL yet, but i will soon, so before paying the membership i want to be sure i can at least finish two courses in one month.

Most of courses gives you a text book to study, but sometimes it is 400+ pagas ebook, and im not sure im able to finish this kind of large books in just one month.

So my question is: It is absolutely necessary to read whole text book for SL course?? or the ebook is just an accessory?

[eriehiker]

It all depends on what you know. This entire industry/corner of education is based on the idea that a person can prove knowledge of a subject by taking a test. For years, students took CLEP tests and AP tests and these were generally accepted as evidence of knowledge in the subject area. Most of the alternative credit providers use this general methodology. If a student can achieve 70% on a test, then he/she knows the subject and gets the credits. If you know a subject well, you don't need the book. If you don't know a subject well, you need the book. I have had courses in which I have needed the book and many in which I have not.

[cecilgambe7]

It all depends on what you know.  This entire industry/corner of education is based on the idea that a person can prove knowledge of a subject by taking a test.  For years, students took CLEP tests and AP tests and these were generally accepted as evidence of knowledge in the subject area.  Most of the alternative credit providers use this general methodology.  If a student can achieve 70% on a test, then he/she knows the subject and gets the credits.  If you know a subject well, you don't need the book.  If you don't know a subject well, you need the book.  I have had courses in which I have needed the book and many in which I have not.

But SL only offers the book? Or also some lessons as study.com??

[Merlin]

It all depends on what you know.  This entire industry/corner of education is based on the idea that a person can prove knowledge of a subject by taking a test.  For years, students took CLEP tests and AP tests and these were generally accepted as evidence of knowledge in the subject area.  Most of the alternative credit providers use this general methodology.  If a student can achieve 70% on a test, then he/she knows the subject and gets the credits.  If you know a subject well, you don't need the book.  If you don't know a subject well, you need the book.  I have had courses in which I have needed the book and many in which I have not.

In addition to the above, it also depends on the course. Some of the courses have exams that cover specific sections of the book. Like there will be a midterm that covers the first half, and a final exam that covers the last half. In other cases, it will just be a final exam where you don't know what is being covered.

Personally, for the courses I took at SL, I read each of the books. Or at least, I used academic skimming and scanning techniques to try to absorb the crux of every section that was relevant to my test. For areas that I felt would be covered in more detail in the test, I used engaged reading to focus on those areas. If you're not familiar with skimming and scanning from a college textbook perspective, I suggest that you watch a few youtube videos on the subject, or google it for more details. It will save you a ton of time and keep you far more focused. It works very well in combination with proper college-style note-taking techniques as well.

Of course, many of the StraighterLine courses are open book and open notes, so if you've skimmed/scanned the book (and taken good notes) well enough to know where to find information quickly, you can use the online textbook during the exam to help you answer questions. You won't have time to look everything up, so while some recommend just using search and trying to avoid reading, in practice it doesn't work well. But using the textbook in coordination with a good understanding of the major topics will be a huge benefit.

That said, SL doesn't really offer much in the way of courses that you can't get from Study.com, and I found that Study.com provides a much better learning environment. They pare down the massive textbooks to the meat of each topic so you're not stuck reading through all the fluff that textbook authors add to increase the page count in order to justify the cost of the textbooks. Plus you get the benefit of both video and text lessons, which I find much preferred. So unless you're in danger of taking too many credits via Study.com, I recommend ignoring SL and just focusing your efforts on Study.com if you can.

That's my perspective at least.

[cecilgambe7]

It all depends on what you know.  This entire industry/corner of education is based on the idea that a person can prove knowledge of a subject by taking a test.  For years, students took CLEP tests and AP tests and these were generally accepted as evidence of knowledge in the subject area.  Most of the alternative credit providers use this general methodology.  If a student can achieve 70% on a test, then he/she knows the subject and gets the credits.  If you know a subject well, you don't need the book.  If you don't know a subject well, you need the book.  I have had courses in which I have needed the book and many in which I have not.

In addition to the above, it also depends on the course. Some of the courses have exams that cover specific sections of the book. Like there will be a midterm that covers the first half, and a final exam that covers the last half. In other cases, it will just be a final exam where you don't know what is being covered.

Personally, for the courses I took at SL, I read each of the books. Or at least, I used academic skimming and scanning techniques to try to absorb the crux of every section that was relevant to my test. For areas that I felt would be covered in more detail in the test, I used engaged reading to focus on those areas. If you're not familiar with skimming and scanning from a college textbook perspective, I suggest that you watch a few youtube videos on the subject, or google it for more details. It will save you a ton of time and keep you far more focused. It works very well in combination with proper college-style note-taking techniques as well.

Of course, many of the StraighterLine courses are open book and open notes, so if you've skimmed/scanned the book (and taken good notes) well enough to know where to find information quickly, you can use the online textbook during the exam to help you answer questions. You won't have time to look everything up, so while some recommend just using search and trying to avoid reading, in practice it doesn't work well. But using the textbook in coordination with a good understanding of the major topics will be a huge benefit.

That said, SL doesn't really offer much in the way of courses that you can't get from Study.com, and I found that Study.com provides a much better learning environment. They pare down the massive textbooks to the meat of each topic so you're not stuck reading through all the fluff that textbook authors add to increase the page count in order to justify the cost of the textbooks. Plus you get the benefit of both video and text lessons, which I find much preferred. So unless you're in danger of taking too many credits via Study.com, I recommend ignoring SL and just focusing your efforts on Study.com if you can.

That's my perspective at least.

Thank you so much for your feedback.

The main issue is the budget, study,com is more expensive that SL, SL will be cheaper if you are able to do a lot of courses per month.

But with study the experience will be better you say.

[SweetsugarNL]

Im not sure if Straighterline is cheaper. I think we read slower so we can less knock out in a month.

[cecilgambe7]

Im not sure if Straighterline is cheaper. I think we read slower so we can less knock out in a month.

Totally agree, i can read a full 300 pages book in spanish in one week, but in english the process will be slower because english is my second language.

I think i will need to do some SL courses in my quest for the diploma, but those courses are gonna be the most expensive ones because i will be able to do just one in a month so i will pay for the 100 usd month membership and the 59 to 79 for the course fee... maybe i can get cheaper if i am lucky and get some discount coupon...

[SweetsugarNL]

I read simpele books like chikclits pretty fast right now. But academic text is more difficult.

[Merlin]

Thank you so much for your feedback.

The main issue is the budget, study,com is more expensive that SL, SL will be cheaper if you are able to do a lot of courses per month.

But with study the experience will be better you say.

They break down to be pretty close to the same cost per credit if you're looking at doing 5 courses per month. Or at least it is close enough not to worry about.

It also depends on which courses you're doing with SL since they vary in price from $59 to $129 each, plus the $99/mo subscription. WIth Study.com, you're effectively paying $99 each for the first two courses and then $70 each after that.

I took courses from both, and they each have their pro's and con's, but overall I prefer Study.com. I found their courses to be more streamlined and the material easier to absorb since it was more focused and I didn't have to read a huge textbook. I'd think this would be even more of an advantage for a non-native English language speaker/reader.

[cecilgambe7]

Thank you so much for your feedback.

The main issue is the budget, study,com is more expensive that SL, SL will be cheaper if you are able to do a lot of courses per month.

But with study the experience will be better you say.

They break down to be pretty close to the same cost per credit if you're looking at doing 5 courses per month. Or at least it is close enough not to worry about.

It also depends on which courses you're doing with SL since they vary in price from $59 to $129 each, plus the $99/mo subscription. WIth Study.com, you're effectively paying $99 each for the first two courses and then $70 each after that.

I took courses from both, and they each have their pro's and con's, but overall I prefer Study.com. I found their courses to be more streamlined and the material easier to absorb since it was more focused and I didn't have to read a huge textbook. I'd think this would be even more of an advantage for a non-native English language speaker/reader.

Thank you for your feedback.

I think i will need SL only for "Business Statistics" course and then i could cover every other (main) course with Study.com