BS in Psychology - Cheap and Fast (and dirty)

[Merlin]

Merlin, thanks so much again. I was mainly just wanting something concise versus a meandering 8 page thread. Eventually my goal is to consolidate this into something helpful to others.

I have some more questions. What is the difference between an exam and a course? A course is going to require a certain amount of time to watch videos and read and the like?

And an exam is basically just a one shot deal where it’s on you to study for it?

Not exactly. With some of the courses (Saylor.org, Davar) your entire grade is based on one final exam, however the amount of time spent studying is mostly up to you. However, others (Study.com, SL) have graded quizzes, papers or projects in addition to a final exam. Depends on the provider and the individual course.

To me, any credits earned where your final grade is based solely on the results of a single exam and the prep is done by you with your own resources is what I consider exam-based credit. This can include Sayor and Davar (though they also provide their own learning materials), but is usually in reference to CLEP / DSST / TECEP / UExcel / CSU-Global CBE's.

I consider course-based credit to be earned through a combination of a final exam and applied learning (i.e., quizzes, midterms, projects, papers, etc.) along with guided instruction in the way of textual and audio/video content. So that would include Study.com, Straighterline, Online Degree, Sophia, Shmoop, etc. In course-based credit, your final grade is often weighed higher on the applied learning part and less on the final exam scores.

But that is just my perspective.

That is my view. Davar doesn't really offer courses. They give you slides to study. At Saylor, the coursework is not required.

I've used "test-out" in the past to refer to alternative credit in general, but i agree that the above description is more accurate. I like "alternative credit" as a better blanket statement though, because I think an SL or SdC (etc) "course" has more in common with a Saylor or TECEP (etc) test than either have in common with a traditional online or B&M course.

Yes, I use alternative (or alternate) credit as well to refer to exam or course-based credit. Generally everything we talk about here in this forum.