Degree Completion Speed and Information Retention

[cookderosa]

I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but I'd like to know your opinions on it.

Do you find there's a correlation between completing a degree fast and not learning/retaining a lot of necessary information? I only ask because I'm looking into a bsba in accounting and I see tons of threads about people completing bsba's in <6 months etc...and here I am reading every word of each chapter in my accounting book, taking notes, reviewing, self quizing...etc.. I read their stories and it makes me feel so slow lol!! I spend a whole day on one chapter and they finish the class in around 3 days. I just don't think it would benefit me, for example, to finish accounting I & II on SL in a weeks time just to get the credit and move on and jeopardize the foundation of knowledge that is my degree/career focus. Now if one needs to complete a degree fast in order to check the box and progress at work because they've hit the glass ceiling, then by all means go as fast as you want. But for those who don't have a background or experience in the material they're learning, what are your opinions on speed and retention? I guess this is just a study break ramble and me spending too much time comparing myself lol...

With all that said, I'm in awe of the people who complete degrees fast.

speed is relative. It's distracting to read stories about other people who complete their degrees in 6 months. If you rewind to a time before you found this board, and we were talking about earning a BA in 3 years (vs 4) you'd be impressed too. It took me 18 months from scratch, and I finished in 2008. I'll spin it around and say that it's probably impossible to go through an ENTIRE degree of roughly 40 courses completed in any-way-shape-or-form and remember OR forget it all. Courses build on each other and the point of education is to become a learner-thinker-problem solver, not necessarily the best player in a game of trivial pursuit.