Disputing a Graded Question

The good folks at Straighterline have worked hard to make us all nice, cheap, wonderful college courses (yes I’m a big fan, hehe).  And for the most part the courses are well put together and fun to go through.

That being said, every once and awhile a student comes across an exam question that slipped by the SL people and that is marked………wrong (*gasp*).  If you encounter one of those what do you do?

First, flag and save the question and then find the topic in your textbook.  Double-check to make sure you didn’t misunderstand it.

Second, if after checking your textbook you’re convinced it’s been marked wrong, open a ticket and select “Exam-Related” for the ticket topic.

Third, tell SL’s support staff the question number and what it was quizzing you on (this is why you save the question).  List all the options for an answer and the one you selected.  Quote directly from your textbook (include a page number too) as support for your choice.  Submit.

SL Support will forward it onto someone who’s responsible for checking up on things like this.  They will review the passage in the textbook (this is why you include the page number, to make it easy so you get an answer back quicker) and the question.  If it was wrongly marked they will go in manually and mark the question correct.  It generally takes them up to three business days to do this for you so be patient.

I’ve had about four or so questions that I’ve disputed with SL.  Three of them were graded wrong and they corrected them.  The fourth was technically correct and wasn’t regraded, however the textbook passage was so confusing SL had to reexplain it to me (and then I understood ding!).

Hope this helps any fellow students who come across a wrongly marked question!

BUS106 Review

Aaaaah…..philosophy.

Blurb About Course

This course introduces the ethics branch of philosophy to the world of business.  You will cover theories, great names in philosophy, discover with is really “ethical”, and examine various business issues in light of those discoveries.

Opinion of Course

After all those scandals at the turn of the century someone got the brilliant idea to make business majors take an ethics course and this is the result.  I have mixed feelings about this course, it did some things really well but the textbook was…..boring.  Really boring.  I dreaded opening it because all it did was numb my brain.  So just keep that in mind, this textbook is boring and you will hate it.

Now that being said, what did I like?  Well each chapter had some assigned readings that applied what you had just studied to real life situations.  I’m in a favor of short reading supplements to SL courses so I was pleased with this.  They were thought-provoking and well-done.  I also like the fact that such a cheap course is available to meet the Ethics requirement at TESC and COSC!  I was thrilled when I saw this course was available.

Each chapter also had questions.  Because the chapters were so mind-numbing I went through these in order to force myself to reexamine the material and make sure I got it (otherwise I’d just skim it to get it over with).

How To Get The Most Out Of The Course

Here’s what I recommend to both get an A in the course and learn the material:

Do the end-of-chapter readings and answer the end-of-chapter questions.  This will develop your thought process in this area.  Also get the textbook, although I would actually recommend the eBook.  The book has a poor index and the eBook is searchable (I’m told) and that will come in handy in the tests.

SL provides online homework to go through and I found that helpful as well.

For midterm and final:

Like I said, before: the eBook.  Get the eBook!  The final and midterm are open book so you can search and find the answers quicker (the index is just…..not well-done.  Yeah.).

A lot of the questions don’t make sense because they come straight out of the textbook so you WILL fail if you don’t get the book.  So….get the book.  Get the book.  Get the book!  Even though it’s boring, get the book.

Course Tips and Tricks

The eBook is searchable so why get the regular book when you can get the awesome, “this will really help when I take the final” one?  I believe it’s available from SL and possibly Chegg.

There are also additional practice questions online from McGraw-Hill, they’re for the 3rd edition of the book so some will be different (just fyi).  Link: 3rd Edition

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 4/5 – I am not counting the textbook and that is why the rating is so high.  They provide homework quizzes, it’s pretty easy to get through because there’s only six tests, I like including additional reading on the topics, and it’s nice to have a cheap course for college reqs.

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

Please change the textbook.  Just….please.

How Course Transfers

Transfers to COSC as “PHL485” and meets the “Ethical Decision Making” requirement for GE (I need to confirm with my Academic Counselor that it counts as UL credit).  Meets the TESC ‘Responsible Ethical Leadership” requirement for GE.

Update (June 2015): While COSC will list its transfer equivalent as PHL485, the course is not counted as UL credit.  My advisor told me I could appeal if I thought it should be but honestly?  I don’t.  But that option’s on the table if anyone feels otherwise.

Service After Your Subscription Expires

There are some things I really love about Straighterline (like cheap college courses, hehe) and there are some things I really hate and this is one of the latter.

Generally speaking, Straighterline has been great about getting back to me within a reasonable time frame (unless I’m asking them to relook at a disputed question, lol).  June 25th was when my subscription expired however.  I had a question about transferring some of my courses to one of their partner colleges and emailed after this date.

Whoa, suddenly no one is available!  My ticket was just closed with no reply listed and I got a vague email from a Student Advisor saying he was available to help me get started with Straighterline (Yo, I just finished).  I emailed him back asking the same question and…….wow, no response.

Take note, people.  Get all your questions in BEFORE your subscription expires cuz it seems Straighterline doesn’t feel like answering questions after you’re not subscribed anymore.  This is disappointing to be sure.

I’ll probably be taking a couple more courses with them though in a year or so, guess I’ll be saving up my questions ’til then.

MAT101 Review

Disclaimer: I wasn’t able to complete this course, I ended up going with ALEKS to first supplement the course and finally just switched completely over to them.

Blurb About Course

This is a college-level Algebra course, perfect for meeting college math requirements.  You will cover everything from basic Geometry to linear and quadratic equations to graphing.

Opinion of Course

Ugh, where do I even begin?  I really don’t think this course was a good fit for me.  I’m one of those people who needs detailed breakdowns and then a million problems to practice on until I know it by heart.

This course does not do that.  I tried both the presentations and the textbook (which is horrible and expensive), I went slow, I had a friend who’s a math major tutor me, I used SL’s tutoring, and I didn’t make it very far.

Bottom line is: I don’t think this course is geared towards people who learn math like me.

How to Get the Most Out of the Course

Since I didn’t finish it I can’t really help you much here except to say you will be slightly less lost with the textbook.  I looked through one of the tests right before my subscription expired and it seems to be a good reflection of the topics covered in the textbook, so if you can manage it learn the principles taught there and you should be okay (the tests are multi-choice, btw).

SL also has a MAT101 with an actual teacher (maybe I wasn’t the only one who struggled, hehe).  If my review’s making you freak out but you still like the idea of SL then check out that option.

Course Tips and Tricks

Can’t really comment on this.  Learn the principles covered in the textbook for the tests, I guess.

My Rating/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 1/5 – I was so so disappointed.

If you’re a high school student who did okay in high school math and have just finished up Algebra 2 then you can take a crack at this and probably do well.  If you’re someone who has had to keep their skills in algebraic math brushed up you will probably do well too.  I basically think this course is for those people who are already good at math or confident in themselves.

If you’re out of practice then you have several options.  You can choose the professor-led Algebra course.  You could also supplement with a better written textbook or ALEKS.  Or go with something entirely different, it’s up to you.

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

Change the textbook.  Seriously, even with SL’s ebook option it is waaaaay too expensive for a poorly written piece of trash.

Also maybe incorporating a homework generator, where problem types that will be on the quizzes can be practiced until you’ve mastered the concept.  That would make this course an option for people like me.

How Course Transfers

I have not personally experienced it but am told it meets the GE math requirement for Thomas Edison State College’s “Intellectual Skills”.  For Charter Oak State College it would most likely meet the GE “Mathematics” requirement.

FIN101 Review

If you’re looking for an easy 3-credit elective class with real world applications then this course is for you!  It doesn’t satisfy GE at either Thomas Edison State or Charter Oak State but I feel like a personal finance class SHOULD be a GE requirement, especially with all the student loan hoopla recently.

Blurb About Course

This is an introduction to the big, bad world of money!  You’ll cover everything from budgeting to credit cards to buying a home to retirement planning.  Each topic in this course gives you frank advice to help you make wise financial decisions.

Opinion of Course

Well, I loved it.  It was an eye-opener and educational.  I haven’t gotten to the point where I need to buy a car or a home yet but I feel when I do I’ll be much more confident than I would be without this course.

The course has a quiz for every topic which I liked because it spreads the grade points out a bit and lets me focus on one topic at a time.

How to Get the Most Out of the Course

You know the drill: buy the book and read it!  This course has homework quizzes which are somewhat helpful, although they don’t grade right so that’s annoying.

You don’t have to do it but SL also “assigns” you the after chapter worksheets, which basically help you with making a budget and stuff like that.  Perfect for immediate real-life application.

Course Tips and Tricks

This course’s final had several questions from previous tests on it so save those.  I took sticky notes and wrote the chapter titles on them so I could find them easily during the final.  The book’s pretty well organized but there’s a lot to cover.

The final also asked me one or two obscure questions that I couldn’t remember from the book.  Huh?

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 4/5 – excellent coverage of the topic, okay tools for final and midterm preparation available, applies the stuff to your life

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

First off, fix the homework quizzes so they give accurate feedback.  In the first couple I believe most of the rightly answered questions were marked “incorrect” and most of the incorrect ones were mark “correct.”  In the later ones everything was just marked “correct”.  That was annoying.

The health care topic needs to be updated now.  This’ll probably necessitate upgrading to a new, updated textbook.

How Course Transfers

This course transfers to Thomas Edison State College as BUE-101: Personal Finance.  It will not fulfill any of the GE requirements (so you can’t use it for an Associate’s in General Studies).

It transfers to Charter Oak State College as FIN110: Personal Finance.  It can be used as a free elective for any of the degrees.

BIO101L Book Review

This book was probably one of my favorite parts of this course.  Each chapter is comprehensive and easy to understand.  It provides questions at the end of each chapter that prep you for the quizzes and help you retain what you just read.  It has a thorough index, which greatly helps during the quizzes, and lots of colorful graphs and pictures!

Straighterline doesn’t use all the chapters in its course, which is kind of weird.  There’s a lot of information here though, so if you’re kinda geeky and have the time I recommend you read all the chapters.  You will learn so much!  In fact there’s probably enough to have a second biology course (hint hint, SL).

My only complaint is in the evolution chapters.  Maybe I’m remembering this wrong (very possible) but I’m pretty sure some of the ape-man skeletons they were referencing have been disproven because they were hoaxes.  Why are hoaxes being used to support something in my textbook…..?  This would’ve been back in the ’80’s, before I was born, so it isn’t because this is a recent discovery.

I originally rented it and then bought it used from Amazon for about 13 bucks.  If you pay only a few dollars more you can buy it new from a third-party seller (Amazon is charging about $150 for it, yikes!).  Here’s the link: Inquiry into Life (12th edition)

Overall I loved this textbook.  I was amazed at how well-written and well-put together it was.  If you have to take biology this is a good textbook to have.  Rating: 4.5/5 stars!

BIO101L Review

I debated whether or not to split this blog into two posts because Straighterline no longer allows you to take Intro to Biology and the Lab together, they’re separate classes now.  Since I took them together though I think it’s best I just relate my experience.  It won’t necessarily be fully applicable but still might help someone.

Note: when I took it the final was open-book.  It appears Straighterline has changed this and the exam is closed-book now. :,(

Blurb About Course

This is an introductory survey of biological topics.  You will study human anatomy, microorganisms, plant life and anatomy, taxonomy, and survey evolution in addition to many other topics.

For the labs you take pictures of the completed labs as well as fill out Word documents and upload those files and submit them to Straighterline.

Opinion of Course

I felt that the actual course was well put together.  I had to work hard but I learned a lot.  It was thorough and demanding but the course has good studying resources.  The book provides an end-of-chapter quiz for studying (I wish there had been homework tests on the SL website though) and because there are so many quizzes you have a good shot at a high grade for the course.

The lab part really sucked.  I was in email contact with a guy at SL who says he’s redoing the labs, which is good, but I’m still going to write my experience.  The instructions for the labs are not clear.  It was frustrating to follow them and I probably did some things really wrong because of the lack of clarity.  The labs are juvenile and seem to mostly be “busy” work.  I can see third graders doing these labs (pour beads onto colored paper and then count which one lands where, five times, write it down, etc) but college students?  I got through it because I needed a lab credit but that’s the only reason I stuck it out.

On one of the labs they seemed to want pictures of the molecule models I was making in a computer program but there wasn’t room to upload those and everything else required.  The quizzes were a fail.  On one of them they actually had questions from the Anatomy and Physiology course textbook!  They did not cover the material quizzed on anywhere in my textbook or the actual lab, it was in a textbook for a different course.  What was really annoying though was Straighterline’s patsy answer when I emailed them about it.  First they told me that they answers were available in the A&I textbook, I emailed them back and asked why I was being quizzed on material from a different class and why they hadn’t told me I needed that other textbook.  I then got a response telling me the material was in my textbook and gave me a page number (that did not have the information I was quizzed on).  To make a long story short: you are quizzed on some things that are not taught in this course.  This was about as ridiculous as taking Western Civ 1 and having your teacher make your grade contingent on Calculus questions (and not telling you beforehand).

Straighterline really bumbled their handling of my complaint (and I felt like they started to get annoyed at me, even though I took great pains to make sure my emails were not rude or anything along those lines) and they did let me retake that quiz but I was really annoyed by the lack of concern on this issue.

My final annoyance with the labs was that I ended up using only about a third of the material in the $98 lab kit they made me buy.  And also some of it didn’t work.  In one lab I had to change the color of the liquid with a leaf, except the liquid never changed color (again, confusing instructions).

So overall, I loved the actual class.  I loved the book and presentations and pretty much anything that wasn’t part of the labs.

How To Get The Most Out Of The Course

You need to read the chapters and study them, pay attention to how they group each topic and remember where it is during the quiz so you can turn there.  The end-of-chapter quizzes in the book are your friend, they prepare you for the topic quiz.  Watching the presentations allows you to get more out the material, they have interesting little tidbits (and corny jokes).  The presentations also have videos that demonstrate processes described in the book.  They’ll allow you to see things like your immune system and viruses in action, which can be helpful in quizzes.

Course Tips and Tricks

Read the chapter.  You will fail if you don’t.

At the end of each quiz copy the questions and save them in a Word document.  Since the final is now closed-book going over these saved quizzes before it should better your chances of acing the final.

The final is supposed to cover all the topics after the midterm but it also has questions from earlier chapter on things like cell biology as well as the organization of our bodies (cells, tissues, organs, organ systems).  Reviewing the first three or so chapters should help you with answering those questions.

Review the chapter on evolution.  You don’t actually study it as a topic but there were several questions from it on the final (which doesn’t make sense.  If you didn’t study that chapter why are they quizzing you on it?).

I put a sticky with the name of each chapter I’d studied (and therefore what it covered) at that chapter’s place in the book.  Although you can no longer use the book for the final it might help with the midterm.

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

3.25/5 (class was a 4.5, lab was a 2 (only because it gave me the lab credit I needed))

Either add an additional topic on evolution or leave those questions out of the final.  It’s unfair to quiz students on stuff they didn’t study.

Add practice homework quizzes.  Those are really handy and helpful, every SL class should have them.

It seems SL “grades” the lab work you submit, and while it doesn’t count for the course grade it would’ve been nice to see what SL thought of the lab work I submitted.  It just says it got “graded” (looked over to make sure I actually did it?) and that’s it.  No feedback.

Redo the labs so they’re not childish and mind-numbing, only quiz on stuff the student learns in this class, and compact the lab kit.  The stuff I used shouldn’t have cost me more than $40.

How Course Transfers

This course transfers to Thomas Edison State College as BIO-113: Biology 1 with Lab.  It fulfills the “Natural Science” requirement under “Human Cultures.”  Charter Oak State College transcribes it as BIO110: Introductory Biology with Lab and fulfills the “Natural Science with Lab” requirement under “Natural Science”.

SOC101 Textbook Review

The quality and organization of this textbook is impressive.  The first chapter builds a foundation for the rest of the book (probably why it’s first) and covers major historical figures in the Sociology discipline as well as several different sociological theories.  Pay attention to these, they come up over and over again in the course.

It has a total of 13 chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of Sociology and giving you a good overview.  I found the writing to be thought-provoking and the authors mention different views of the issues (there are several different views on the reasons for poverty, for example).

There is both a name and subject index in the back which is really helpful when your test is timed and you’re looking for an answer to a question.  I find it annoying when textbooks don’t have this or it’s poorly built so this is a plus.

Overall, this was a good choice for the Sociology course and I’m glad Straighterline picked it. Rating: 4.5/5

SOC101 Review

Blurb About Course

This course basically gives you a broad overview of sociology.  You’ll learn about the historical figures who contributed to it, its major theories, and how those theories apply to a wide range of topics including socialization, family, politics, and religion.

Opinion Of Course

I hadn’t taken a college course for over a year when I decided to enroll with Straighterline so obviously I wanted something that taught me a lot and got my feet wet but didn’t overwhelm me.  This course was perfect.

It has 14 units and 12 quizzes (including a final and midterm).  The questions are straight out of the textbook so I definitely recommend getting it.  The presentations didn’t contribute much quiz-wise but knowledge-wise I found them interesting so if you’re taking this course to get credit AND actually learn sociology you should watch the presentations.

For homework they have a video lecture on the roots of discrimination and a book on prejudice.  I read the first chapter but since it’s through Google Books and therefore just online I would’ve found it difficult to finish reading it (I don’t like reading long books online, that’s what Kindles are for).  I intend to find an ebook copy in the future and finish it.  I believe at the beginning of the course they also offer some book titles for more in-depth reading (and after the end of every presentation they do so too).

You also have homework quizzes (based on your textbook) that are excellent practice for the graded quizzes and end of chapter questions that encourage you to think through the chapter you just read (you complete those on your own).

It took me about three months to work my way through the course although I’ve heard of people completing it over a weekend.  There is a final that is proctored online, when I took it it was open book which was good because I needed that book!

Overall I was very satisfied with this course and would recommend it to anyone just starting out with Straighterline or who needs social science credit.  I believe you will find it to be an easy but very interesting course.

How To Get Most Out Of Course

Here’s what I recommend to both get an A in the course and learn the material:

First, watch the presentations and take notes because it gives you a basic overview of the chapter and prepares you for the topic you’re about to study. Second, read the assigned chapter and take notes.  Third, answer the end of chapter questions (these encourage you to think through what you just read which helps you retain the information for later). Fourth, complete homework quiz. Fifth, take the topic quiz AND when you’re done copy it and paste it into a word document. Sixth, if you find a subject in the course material that really interests you do some online research (I learned a lot about kids “raised by animals” by doing this).

For midterm and final:

I read each chapter again and noted where various topics were (saves time when flipping through the book to find the answer to a question).  Sticky notes marking each chapter with a brief summary help too.  Also, review the quizzes you’ve saved on your computer and practice answering them, some of the questions on the midterm and final will be the same so you can knock those out in the first couple of minutes and save time for the rest.

Course Tips and Tricks

Get the book, when I bought it it was cheapest on Amazon but check Abebooks in case they have a good deal. Sociology: The Core (8th edition)

Memorize which great sociology guy did what because you get quizzed on those and it’s also easier to follow along in the textbook if you remember that.

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 4.5/5 – excellent coverage of the topic, excellent tools for final and midterm preparation available, homework assignments are okay but need some work

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

Replace the prejudice reading book with an essay.  I think it was a little silly, personally, to assign such a large amount of reading on such a small topic.  I believe a better book reading assignment would be a biography on one of sociology’s founders, a book that goes more in depth on sociological theories, or a book that discusses how sociological imagination has led to scientific breakthroughs (with examples, etc).  Something like that would deepen comprehension of the course as a whole and benefit the student’s learning of sociology as a discipline.

On one of the presentation slides (I think the one having to do with socialization) the voice-over person makes a stereotypical (and offensive) comment about homeschoolers.  Since homeschooled students most likely make up a good chunk of Straighterline’s student body (I know of several taking their classes) I thought this was stupid.

This is less of a recommendation and more of an observation, in looking at other online sociology classes I can’t help but notice that there is a writing requirement.  While this class does have optional writing (end of chapter questions) I can’t help but wonder if it might be better to have one or two essay topics that the student has to submit for grading.  These would serve the purpose of practice in researching and writing, which are both skills that colleges are constantly reinforcing in comparable classes.

How Course Transfers

I can personally verify that it transfers to Thomas Edison State College as SOC101 and will meet the GE “Diversity or Global Literacy” requirement.

Straighterline lists course equivalencies with its partner colleges on its website and this seems to be a commonly accepted one (that will meet GE) but double-check before taking.

Got any questions about this course that I didn’t answer?  You can ask them below 😉

General Tips and Tricks for Straighterline

Here are some tips and tricks I have picked up over the course of my classes.  They have rung true for every class I’ve taken thus far.

1) When in doubt, ask.  I’ve had issues with questions marked wrong, wanting to change the credit card my subscription was being charged too, etc.  You can reach Straighterline by chat, email, or phone.  I personally prefer email, the chat advisors don’t seem to know anything other than scripts (although they’re very nice) and the phone people can take a long time to reach.  Straighterline’s always emailed me back in 24 hours or less and the email people seem to know what they’re doing.

2) Always get the book.  I know this can be a pain in the butt as a few of the classes have expensive textbooks.  However, a lot of the quiz questions come straight out of the book.  Just watching the presentations won’t help you one bit.  The info you need to pass is in the book. (Hint: I find Amazon and Abebooks to be the cheapest sites for buying, I hear Chegg is great for the eBooks but I haven’t tested that)

3) Watch the presentations.  Sometimes the book can be confusing (even though test material is taken from it) but thankfully you have slide presentations in the class that usually describe the material covered succinctly (thus helping you study the book).  If you’re more of an audio learner this can help too.

4) Do the extra assignments. I know, I know, answering long questions at the end of the chapter is no fun whatsoever but it is necessary.  Why?  Because it forces you to think about the material you just read, sometimes you even end up going back and citing a part of the chapter.  This will really help later in the tests when you’re being timed and need to flip around to find answers.

5) Have fun.  Seriously.  Maybe you’re doing this to get through a ton of GE so you can get on to the “good” stuff.  Maybe you’re taking a class you hate but need to graduate.  Whatever the reason, try and find the silver lining and enjoy studying the material.  It might be inconvenient but in the end you’ll be a better, more well-rounded person (and you won’t feel like you’re gonna die while you’re enrolled in the class).  And who knows, what you learn in your least favorite class might come in handy when you least expect it.

Those were the big ones I could come up with, they apply to almost every class.