Business 421 capstone | TESU | Tips from our members

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I do have Grammarly but it is far more updated in 2024 than when the OP posted. Now, Grammarly features include AI, so I would not at all recommend using it to correct writing style because it may be flagged in an AI detector.

You can turn off those AI features. 

Online discussions (15%) – Not sure if this depends on the mentor or not, but my mentor posted guidelines and was very clear that the posts needed to be substantive and needed to integrate and cite concepts from the textbook. He didn’t freely give out 100s like some courses. I got at least four 95s (no feedback, so no clue why). I’ve taken five courses with TESU and this is the first one where I didn’t get 100 on every discussion forum post. These generally weren’t an easy “jot down a paragraph” type of assignment. They required research, sometimes extensive. I recall there were at least two posts that required you to research 9-10 specific companies or industries. These posts were more work than I expected. However, the OP mentioned that the mentor asks follow-up questions – mine did not. I finished the course with a 98 in this section.

That's why it's good to use student feedback on DF or RateMyProfessors to find professors who are known to give out easy A's.

Each professor's expectations may be different, and if they don't include their expectations clearly in the welcome forum, then you should pm them to find out their expectations for the case studies and forum posts. 

Time – Previous mentions of about 10 hours per week are pretty accurate UNTIL the final two weeks. I spent a couple of entire weekends working on my final paper and even took a day off work so I could spend the whole day on it. I did my best to work ahead, but the workload still caught up to me. Each module requires reading of 1-2 chapters (with the final week having 3 chapters to read). Don’t forget that to complete the case study assignment, you also must read the case study itself. Yup, more reading! I would estimate that each module had around 50-75 pages of reading. Some modules are shorter than others and all the activities must be done in a week, whereas some others you may have 2-3 weeks to complete.

• Reading textbook chapters (1-2 per module, 15-40 pages per chapter, 12 chapters in all)
  
• Reviewing the chapter PowerPoint (anywhere from 39-105 slides, average 65)
  
• Taking notes
  
• Writing a discussion forum post (this usually entails answering a couple of questions or performing an activity such as identifying the strategy used by a list of companies)
  
• Responding to two classmate’s forum posts
  
• Reading a case study (10-45 pages)
  
• Doing independent research on the case study company
  
• Writing 1,000-1,100 words analyzing the case study\
  

Case studies (35%) – I agree with OP that the first one is the hardest, not knowing the expectations. I did quite poorly on my first one and only got a 75. I emailed the mentor because I was so upset. I’m glad I did. He gave me valuable feedback and actually regraded my paper to an 85. I did much better on all the rest of my case studies and I don’t think I would have if I hadn’t reached out to ask questions. Probably the biggest problem with my first paper is that I didn’t cite concepts from the textbook. I did reference them, I just didn’t cite them. Also important, is to cite facts from the case study separately from concepts in the text. The case studies are sometimes written by people other than the textbook authors, so they need their own citations. The textbook used is from 2016, so you are expected to not only read and analyze the case study but to add your own research on the company’s current state. So, the case study assignment is not just reading a 15-page study and slapping together 1,000 words about it. I finished the course with a 95 in this section.

Final project (20%) – Man this was a lot of work. I probably spent upwards of 60 hours writing this paper. I started the outline in the first few weeks of the course. I started to research and flesh things out after the midterm. Be sure to incorporate concepts and tools from the textbook. I got a 100 on the final project.

I usually tell people that the total time it takes to complete this course is around 80 hours, give or take 20 hours. However, some students may require up to 120 hours. 

A lot of it depends on how quickly you can write once you start. Personally, I averaged 500 words per hour, so each case study took me around 2 hours, and the final project took 10 hours.  Keep in mind, I know Tesla, Panera, TOMS, Southwest, Amazon, Google, and Costco like the back of my hand, so I could almost write all these papers without researching them.

Midterm (25%) – I’m not sure how the OP knew they got 100% on the essay questions, but not on the multiple choice. I wasn’t able to find any such feedback about my grade. I’m not a great test taker, so I didn’t do very well on the midterm despite using all the recommended resources for studying. I actually did feel pretty confident when answering the essay questions, so I was surprised when I only got a 72. Oh well.

I suggest reading chapters 1-6 before the course begins to get a jump on the material. This will put you six weeks ahead and include everything you need for the midterm exam, which is crucial. The other chapters won't significantly impact your grade, so you can breeze through those readings. (80/20 rule) I scored in the low 80s on the exam largely because I only studied for 7 hours; I needed 12 hours. I recommend allocating 10-20 hours to study for the mid-term exam.