The official guide to courses by Straighterline, Study, et al: We want YOUR input!

[jsh1138]

Provider: Study.com
Course: Business 101: Principles of Management
Course content: Standard Study.com quizzes and lectures.
Final exam format: 100 multiple choice questions
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: it's the same
Time taken on course: a couple of weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: I have taken other business courses before and I run a small business
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is the basic Intro to Management course. To me the most difficult thing about it is matching various theorists with the steps in their management theories. Each guy has a 3 point plan, or a 5 point plan, or a 9 point plan, etc. It gets confusing. Other than that it's a breeze.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3

[khwaja1924]

Provider: Study.com
Course: Business 108: Business Ethics
Course content: All content is on video with transcripts included
Final exam format: 100 Questions Multiple Choice (120 minutes)
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Studying the Flashcards is very helpful for the final exam; overall, the final matches the course content; the quizzes can be completed using the transcript from the videos
Time taken on course: About 2 full days (15 hours) to complete the quizzes (you must get an 80% to pass the quiz - 3 attempts); this was my first course, so I started very slowly and was taking too much time; final exam is 2 hours but I completed it in about 40 minutes
Familiarity with subject before course: If you have worked in a corporate environment, then you will be familiar with some of the concepts. I may have received a 40-50% on the final without any preparation (final grade was 82%); however, this course requires you to complete all of the quizzes before attempting the final exam
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There is a lot of course content; the fact that multiple instructors have created the course content means that concepts can get confusing and blurry, as similar terms are used in differing contexts by each instructor; the quizzes take an awfully long time to complete; study the flash cards for the final exam
1-10 Difficulty level: 6 (this was my first course and exam; so, I may come back and edit the difficulty level)

[Mitmike2019]

Provider: Coopersmith
Course: Foundations of Stress Management (UL at TESU, Comes in as SOS-320)
Course content: There are 2 variations of materials - a 770+ page document and a "crash course" powerpoint deck. As with other Coopersmith courses I've taken, you do not need to purchase any addtl materials.
Final exam format: 50 questions, all multiple choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Everything single question was answered in the powerpoint deck. 
Time taken on course: Couple days casually looking over powerpoint but spent about 3 hours today hard core on it 
Familiarity with subject before course: Medium familiarity with materials.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I finished all 50 questions in 4 minutes because I studied the slides. 
1-10 Difficulty level: Based on what I noted above about having all info in slides, I'd say a 1 because it's being handed to you.

Was the final proctored?

[suzycupcake]

Yes, they all are proctored at Coopersmith.

[BrighterFuture88]

Provider: Study.com
Course:Communications 120: Presentation Skills in the Workplace
Course content: It's mainly videos ranging from 5-11 minutes long, but there are around 5 or so lessons without video and only have text. There are short 5-question quizzes after each lesson.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice-only/70 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: SDC did a great job with using material learned from the entire course for the final exam.
Time taken on course: 1 day, since I tested out of a lot of it.
Familiarity with subject before course: Never heard of it before taking the course, Low, medium, high, I do this every day. How would you have scored on the final with no preparation?
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: It's an incredibly easy course and won't hit you with any curve balls.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1

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Provider: Study.com
Course: History 108: History of the Vietnam War
Course content: Majority is of videos that are 5-11 minutes long, with a few courses that are text-only.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice/100 Questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all accurate and does a great job of sticking to what they have taught.
Time taken on course: A day & a half.
Familiarity with subject before course: Never heard of it before taking the course, Low, medium, high, I do this every day. How would you have scored on the final with no preparation? I have always loved learning about the Vietnam War, so this drew my interest right away.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course hits you with A LOT of information -- especially the names of famous military and political figures, cities and such, which can be overwhelming since Vietnamese names aren't easy to remember. Not only that, there were so many different US military campaigns with all kinds of similar-ish names that can easily cause confusion and trip you up on the final exam.
1-10 Difficulty level: 5 due to the immense amount of names you have to memorize.

[BTURNER593]

You must’ve read the book. I didn’t. Just took the tests and was done in a day.

That's what I did.  I wish SL had upper level courses. I dont like how the other options (study.com or TESU) base the class on just the final score ???

[suzycupcake]

You must’ve read the book. I didn’t. Just took the tests and was done in a day.

That's what I did.  I wish SL had upper level courses. I dont like how the other options (study.com or TESU) base the class on just the final score ???

They are not based on just the final. They’re cumulative. Everything adds up to your final grade. CLEP, TECEP, DSST and Coopersmith are all based on one test but the others, you gain credit as you move along.

[tkonotopka]

I have a question relative to Straighter Line grading. I read somewhere that you do not have to pass the final in order to pass the course. So I have to have 700 points and I am sitting at 655.63. So I would have to get at least 44.37 on the final to get a passing grade correct? Can someone explain this to me.

[lacussucceed]

I have a question relative to Straighter Line grading. I read somewhere that you do not have to pass the final in order to pass the course. So I have to have 700 points and I am sitting at 655.63. So I would have to get at least 44.37 on the final to get a passing grade correct? Can someone explain this to me.

Which course?
In general most courses are cumulative 1000 points, you need 70% to pass. That means if you already have 600/1000, and only the final of 300 left, you can indeed pass with just 100/300 on your final (33,3%). There is no need to achieve a passing grade on the final, you do need to take the final and overall achieve the 70%. You can check the syllabus for information on the exams.

[cwendy111]

Provider: Study.com
Course:Communications 120: Presentation Skills in the Workplace
Course content: It's mainly videos ranging from 5-11 minutes long, but there are around 5 or so lessons without video and only have text.  There are short 5-question quizzes after each lesson.  
Final exam format: Multiple Choice-only/70 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: SDC did a great job with using material learned from the entire course for the final exam.  
Time taken on course: 1 day, since I tested out of a lot of it.
Familiarity with subject before course: Never heard of it before taking the course, Low, medium, high, I do this every day. How would you have scored on the final with no preparation?
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: It's an incredibly easy course and won't hit you with any curve balls.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1

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Provider: Study.com
Course: History 108: History of the Vietnam War
Course content: Majority is of videos that are 5-11 minutes long, with a few courses that are text-only.  
Final exam format: Multiple Choice/100 Questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all accurate and does a great job of sticking to what they have taught.
Time taken on course: A day & a half.
Familiarity with subject before course: Never heard of it before taking the course, Low, medium, high, I do this every day. How would you have scored on the final with no preparation? I have always loved learning about the Vietnam War, so this drew my interest right away.  
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course hits you with A LOT of information -- especially the names of famous military and political figures, cities and such, which can be overwhelming since Vietnamese names aren't easy to remember.  Not only that, there were so many different US military campaigns with all kinds of similar-ish names that can easily cause confusion and trip you up on the final exam.
1-10 Difficulty level: 5 due to the immense amount of names you have to memorize.

What did the Communications course transfer as? I need a public speaking course for TESU