How are people getting done so fast?

[indigoshuffle]

I am 2 weeks in at UMPI, and I have to say I'm blown away when I read about how some people on here are just plowing thru these classes at the speed of light. I am doing Creative Writing and Project Management right now. I am almost done with Creative Writing and it's one of the most un-fun classes I have ever taken in my life, lol. Project Management is very interesting but it's still by no means something I can absorb and get through in a week. I read a post on here from someone who said "most people finish their degrees in 1 session" at UMPI. How on earth?! I have to do 10 classes thru them and at this rate it's going to take me months. I do have plenty of time to study but I can't just force feed and absorb all that info at that volume and pump out the milestone papers immediately. Am I just slow or are there others who have to go at a slower pace? Every time I read this forum I start wondering if there is something wrong with me, lol... 

First off, try not to compare yourself to others. It's a big no-no when it comes to learning and just life in general. Everyone's got their own pace, and that's cool (hence the name YOURPACE). I think Abraham Lincoln once said that if he had six hours to chop down a tree, he'd spend four of them sharpening his ax. That's roughly 70% of his time on planning and prep! That’s the part folks don’t see; the part that’s beneath the surface of these success story posts. The folks you see reporting success usually start prepping from day one.

And by the way, when you see those posts about people accelerating through their degrees, it's not about impressing you; it's about expressing to you what's possible with some good foundational work. For example, did you know that you can create PK (prior knowledge)? If I knew I had to (or wanted to) take program management, I would have taken it for free at Saylor (or at the very least read through the course material over a few days); this way when/if I sign up at UMPI it would feel like running downhill and I wouldn't feel overwhelmed. It’s probably what I would have done if I knew I had budget constraints too.

Not everyone's aiming for a one-term completion and not everyone has budget constraints, that’s obvious – it doesn't fit every degree, like say, the biology degree I want. But for a lot of people, tight budgets push them to do more planning and accelerate.

If all of this is too much, at least read the syllabus, and follow the rubric. In my humble opinion, you should start there before you overwhelm yourself with the course content.

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Everyone learns differently, you're looking at one poster and their experience, it's not every single person who is getting this done, I've seen someone take 4 sessions and still haven't finished the degree, that's because they've not followed through with the recommendations of transferring in the max credits first, then take the appropriate Your Pace classes to finish. Various variables are at play, different for everyone...

It's great you're asking questions like you did on your initial previous thread here, but as I mentioned in that thread, it's best to provide more details on your situation by filling in the addendum and template, this way we can see a better picture of your scenario and provide advice to help you streamline everything so you can complete it in a timely fashion: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Credly-ACE

^this