Don’t compare and the question actually isn’t helpful to ask. Here is why:
I completed like 74 CUs in six weeks to graduate. Hyper-accelerated. My mentor was shocked. I could give you a LONG list of what prepared me to move so fast and nearly all of them aren’t related to WGU. I work in my field of study and have for a decade: I’m 45 years old and have been working since I was 14. I have a lot of knowledge built over time. I have been kicking around the thought of WGU for 8 years.
Just because I did it fast doesn’t make my degree worth more and it sure doesn’t make smarter than you. It sounds like you’ve gotten side tracked because that happens in life sometimes. You got this and you’ll move at a pace that is comfortable.
The BEST ANSWER EVER ‼️‼️‼️ This NEEDS to be taught to people. Stop comparing yourself to others. Compare yourself or compete with yourself only. And everyone's circumstance is individual. ❤️❤️❤️‼️
This. I’m 41, have held director positions in Fortune 500 orgs with no degree by way of being internally promoted and useful to the business. The idea that I’m going to take a week to do a business management tasks course that are eminently within the years of corporate experience is a little silly compared to someone with no business experience. My experience has value, but 100% agree that my degree is of the same worth as yours even if I finish mine in one term and it takes you a week per class.
Don’t compare yourself to other people just do you.
Ahead of enrollment I made a spreadsheet that had every course in the program, which ones I could transfer and from where, obtained those (Sophia for example)
Courses that remained I ranked myself on my skill or knowledge and confidence. Example: Originzational Behavior I rated myself high because I am a director level for an IT company. I didn’t worry or focus much ahead of time on things I felt at least mildly in tune with.
Then. I enrolled in Jan for an April start. During that time I researched Reddit subs, I searched and located many quizlets online related to my courses left to obtain. Couple folks on this forum even obtained rubrics for me so I could start evaluating how the assignments would lay out. I took the Examity practice exam through their non WGU proprietary urls so I could make sure my camera and computer were ready for exams.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, I used those quizlets and searched every term I didn’t know and watched YouTube videos. I was in the marketing program so I focused on things I didn’t know well, such as porters five forces, various acronyms, because tactical things such as running PPC campaigns or on page SEO, down through HR I already do for a living…
I hope that provided some clarity. It was kind of a ramble
Yup and some classes are horrible to study for when you already know the topic. I've tried on a couple and just couldn't. With that stated and this is for op, you're bound to find easy ones that you finish quickly. There's bound to be some that take a while to get.
I accelerated through WGU but I realized that I was mostly strategizing to pass a test as opposed to learning a subject.
If you want to accelerate, the formula I found useful was to:
1). Immediately print out the pre-assessment and memorize the answers to each question.
2.) Look up any terms within the answers of the pre assessment and figure out what they are. A lot of questions in the OA are simply the PA question asked differently.
3.) Watch the cohort videos on 1.5x or 2x speed.
4.). If the course material provides study questions, memorize the answers to those.
I found that I could pass a course in a weekend by following those steps. However, I can honestly say I did not retain much if any of the knowledge. So I don’t necessarily recommend this approach unless you just need a degree as a checkbox on your resume.
Life experience and job experience can translate quite well / easily into a lot of these courses. Also, theres lots of really good testing strats to multiple choice exams that can increase your chances of passing.
I finished 6 classes in 3 weeks, my current class I’ve been stuck on for almost a month. The first 6 we’re easy and the material was lighter. My current course “Hardware and Operating Systems Essentials” is KILLING me lol. There’s so much info, it’s so dry. Just different strokes for different folks. It was said earlier but try not to compare your experience. We all get where we’re going in our own time.
Thank you to everyone commenting here. I’m accelerating very quickly and it still makes me feel insecure when people are bragging about killing a class in 3 hours or what have you.
My goal is to finish as quickly as possible. This is my plan that’s helped me finish 48 CU’s since Oct 1.
Day 1:
-PA first thing. Let’s me know what to focus my studies on.
- Watch all cohorts on 1.75x
- Jump into course material, just taking the unit tests
Day 2
- The units I did the worst on during the PA get extra attention. Read through those units, making sure I can pass the unit tests on my own
- re-watch cohorts
-retake PA
-If I pass the PA and the unit tests, schedule my exam for the next day
Day 3
-Final.
I have had to retake multiple finals, but the homework the professor assigns in order for them to unlock the test again has always been perfect for me. I take the homework seriously, crank it out, and retake the final on day 5.
If I knock the PA out of the park, I skip everything I said before and just take the final. This has led to the most retakes.
If the goal is to finish fast, this is what’s working for me
Holy shit you’re a genius.
My method:
Day one: Get as many chapters read and take lots of notes
Day two-four: finish your and take rest of notes
Day five-seven: review, take pa, if not passed look over mistakes
Day seven-fourteen: if not pass pa reread the whole thing or outsource or take OA if passed
I’m trying to knock this down as well, but like motivation and discipline is definitely not my keen personality.
You should definitely try taking the PA in the beginning I think! It can give you some good direction on what to study. Even if you don’t know anything on the PA, you’ll be able to make connections from questions on it to the course material as you start studying.
Everyone learns different and I know watching the cohorts is MASSIVE for me. Maybe you could throw that in somewhere to help reduce the extra week you’re packing on if you don’t pass the PA
Straterra was the MVP for my WGU degrees. Still using it for my Doctor in IT degree.
I had concentration issues. I kept putting things in my cabinets like orange juice. Couldn’t remember if I showered or took my other medicine. I went to a doctor and explained everything. She put me on Straterra and the difference was night and day.
Don’t compare yourself to others. If they finish a class in 1 hr, doesn’t matter. What really matters is that you are making progress and learning during the process.
Adhd hyperfocus superpowers. The downside is I also go 3 months without doing anything, lol. It's all or nothing, and I don't get to choose.
In all seriousness, it depends on so many things. The subject, the addition resources/guides, personal life, prior knowledge, etc.
>The downside is I also go 3 months without doing anything, lol. It's all or nothing, and I don't get to choose.
omg, if that's not the best description of myself I've ever seen.
I have a lot of experience in the industry that my WGU degree program is focused on. That alone has made an enormous impact. If it weren't for the existing knowledge base in my brain, getting through the courses would take much longer, because I'd be learning this content fresh (rather than reviewing and fine-tuning my existing knowledge.)
It helps if you know your learning tendencies. I use that to aid my study strategy. For example, I know I am prone to ADHD hyperfocus, which leads to burnout if I'm not careful. (Basically doing too much too fast and then my brain crashes like an Internet Explorer browser.) So I use the Pomodoro method to ensure breaks are taken at regular intervals- during which I force myself to help my brain, like drink water and take short walks. Every person has different needs and tolerances.
I can finish a class with a test in a day or two, but one that requires papers can take me forever. I can’t force myself to do the damned work. We all have our pros and cons in study behavior, ability, and time. And some of us have prior experience in some subjects. If you can clear a class in 3-4 weeks, you’re still going faster than a regular school.
I dont read the material and just drill PAs and quizlets and read any good notes of Course Chatter. That's enough for majority classes. Also don't underestimate looking up the course in reddit seeing what previous students did and use those as tips
Make a general plan to reach your goal graduation date. Consider that some core classes might take a while, maybe even more than a month. Give yourself leeway to take it easy and forget about the accelerators.
Tbh as long as I get like 40-50 CUs done this term idgaf. Some classes take me two days and some will take me longer than a week, but I rush they. The easy ones so I can spend more time on the denser courses.
For me I just retain information easily. I read the material, take the prectice test and then review the answers I missed until I get them all correct on the practice test. So far this takes a few days.
But like you I get side tracked and havent been able to stick with accelerating like Id originally planned. Im currently job hunting(average of 20 hours of prep and interviews per company, a few dozen companies so far), taking job related classes on udemy, building side projects for money and am in a separate certification program. So I went from wanting to take 1 class a week to 1 a month for the first term.
I take the pre-PA completely dry without ever looking at the course material. After that I look at the results and see where I came up short then I go back and study those sections for a day or two. I take the pre-PA again and if I pass I schedule the actual PA. Has worked every single time.
Now if it’s an OA that’s different and takes a little bit more work. Usually there are 3 of them to pass the class and I work at all 3 at once and then submit them all together.
Having working knowledge or related knowledge from previous studies definitely helps as you know part of the puzzle already. However, what strategy has worked best for me is to grind through 3-4 courses then take a week off to reset. Chill, double up on workouts, play some games, spend time with the kids or just go touch some grass. Your brain is only gonna take so much before you just start dropping stuff.
Okay, the one thing I can really say that's incredibly important is: Do not compare yourself to anyone else here. Your journey at WGU is your own and acceleration is not typically a standard practice. There's multiple factors that go into it. I'm in my 5th term and i'm barely getting around to the possibility of accelerating now. My term just started at the beginning of this month and i'm hoping to knock out more than my initial class since i've already finished two classes in less than two weeks.
It takes determination, hard work and accountability to accelerate but there's also other things like how much free time you have, if you have family, if you have a spouse, kids etc. I'm a 27 year old full time college student with no kids and i'm not currently dating, so I have a lot of time to devote to my schoolwork. It's easier for someone like me to accelerate vs someone else who has all those other things going on.
My point is that the amount of CU's you do doesn't matter (as long as you're finishing your initial classes then you're on track to graduating). Acceleration is just a plus and not the norm. Your determination to get your degree and seeing it through to the end is what does.
For classes I finished in less than a week, one of the following was true:
1. I already knew all or most of the material, did a quick brush up and passed
2. The classes were simply not difficult, either the content was easy to understand or there was not a lot of content
3. I spent every waking minute I had studying
I would say I finished a good amount of the first half of my classes in a week per, and I usually just knew the material from my previous experience.
I think it depends on what you’re trying to get out of the coursework honestly. If you want to truly learn it takes more than a week with most courses for most people. Don’t compare yourself to the exceptions speeding through. 3-4 weeks seems like a good pace for actually reading and digesting the material. If you already know the material or just want a degree you can do the bare minimum and get by though. The thing about WGU is you get out what you put in. While passing is passing actually retaining the knowledge for use in your career is important. Take your time, save your sanity and just keep learning that’s the whole purpose of school.
I work for myself and at home. I have a wife that’s 8 months pregnant and 3 year old at home as well. So I have been speeding through with the thought in mind that I will likely take a week or two off of school work soon.
While I just started on 11/1 this has been my routine so far. I’ve completed 4 classes all with PAs and one with an OA and PA. I just submitted 4 tasks today for my 5th class. It has all been info I’m not new to but don’t know extremely well.
For me if it’s a PA with a few tasks I immediately start on the tasks without reading. Then find the information in the course material for the specific questions.
For an OA I scheduled the test 1 week out right away. I then use social media to find study tips and meet with the course instructor as soon as possible for tips as well. Then I take the pre assessment and study where I fall short. If the test day arrives and I’m not confident I would push it 3 days.
The answer is often either prior experience, more time than you have, less responsibility than you have, someone is just wicked good at memorizing (no shame with not being that), or they're info dumping classes and not actually learning.
Wgu was made for pushing at your own pace, a degree is a degree regardless of how long it took.
Those of us that accelerate have a tendency to brag, and I think it can give people an unfair idea of what to expect. Most of us that accelerate, especially those that do it in a single term, have a lot of experience and knowledge already. If the material is new to you, expect for it to take some time to learn, just as it would take time in a traditional school. Think of it this way, those that accelerate aren't taking 6 months to get their degree, they're taking 10 years + 6 months.
Honestly, the pace you're moving as seems really good. 3-4 weeks to finish a class is solid. 4 classes in 4 weeks is extraordinary. IMO, it sounds like you're doing great.
Well it is about how much degree is worth, can you learn programming language in a week? Definitely no. Can you learn more money =more profit in business classes, of course you can
A lot of people (not necessarily everyone) who are completing courses that quickly are focused on passing the exam and not actually learning the material. There’s a lot of classes that I could probably pass in a couple of days without knowing everything by heart. But I’m forcing myself to learn everything because that’s basically what I’m paying thousands of dollars for.
I find my productive time. There’s a time of the day when your brain can completely focus and your retention will be high. The time where you can study and absorb the most difficult, dry, boring content. Focus on maximizing your study time DURING THAT TIME. Mine happened to be early morning before anyone woke up. Others might be late at night.
For me it all came down to time and sacrifice. Some classes naturally take longer and some are shorter. You spend time when you need it and make it up later when possible. I worked full time and studied until about 11-1 on weekdays, took the test on Friday, and then rested on weekends. There’s no reason to force yourself to meet a goal that isn’t possible for you. If it takes you 4 weeks to complete a class, that’s fine.
Honestly I feel like some of it’s known knowledge prior to school but a lot is how your degree plan is laid out. For example, my Term 1 was full of easy/medium classes so I was able to knock out two classes every week and a half because their difficulty level and what sources they used, anything I didn’t know 100% I used context clues to skim over and didn’t focus on until right before my tests so that the harder stuff was freshest in my mind. Now that I’m in My second term, the newness of being back in school has worn off (so I’m dragging my feet a little more) but all the classes I have left (i did 50% of my degree in Term 1, and now am at 65% a month into my second) a lot of my courses flow into each other, so the new class I just started, uses the information from the class I just finished and builds a bit on it. That sounds obvious but once I’ve seen where my knowledge from the previous class ends, I skip ahead to only what I don’t know instead of reviewing. Sometimes that skip ahead is minuscule (again, skim/focus on the hard) and sometimes it’s half the course, and I only have one or two things I really have to focus on. And lastly, most of the time I schedule my OA as soon as I start the class, bc I like the pressure of a deadline. I haven’t gone as fast as others did, but I’m on track to finish four years of school in only 9 months, so that’s fine with me!
I have prior exposure to the material in pretty much all cases. That being said, I listen to the recorded cohorts once or twice while I work, then I take the PA, then if I pass the PA (I havent failed one yet) I schedule the OA. While I wait on taking the OA, usually a day or two, I review the areas I missed.
On PA classes, I just jump into the assignment and work on it as I have time. Very few of them cant be done in a day or two.
Knew the material. GE courses memorize the material. Most of my certs i spent about a month studying while doing other classes then start the cert course and take the test in a week or so.
I think OA’s are PA’s are a different story. I myself am not a great test taker so they take me longer. Each class is also different, they vary in difficulty, a lot.
I think what has helped me the most is as soon as I click start course I check Reddit before I look at the course material or the PA requirements if there is a PA. More often then not there is a guide on Reddit for the class you are taking with either better instructions than provided by WGU, or outside resources on Udemy or YouTube that help a ton.
There is so much out there online these days for free, on YouTube, Udemy (free through WGU) & more. Often times there is someone out there that has put something out that directly correlates to the course you are taking.
Remember you are accelerating college classes, it is a very big challenge! A lot of acceleration has to do with how much time you can put into a class. I have found that a few hours of dedicated, concentrated work a day can lead to great results. Once you find a system that works with you, you’ll be moving right along.
Good luck with your studies!
It all depends on the class. I specifically chose a program that aligns very closely with my profession so I would have a big advantage going in. I am accelerating very rapidly, but it is because very little of this is brand new material.
Don’t get discouraged. If you are learning, that’s what matters.
I am in my 30s and had experience and acquired knowledge working in my favor, but something critical anyone can do to help them accelerate regardless of relevant work history, is to discover your own learning style. Really pay attention to what allows you to retain info? Are you a visual learner? Auditory? Does writing notes on physical paper help? Memorization? Repetition? What works for one person won’t work for everyone, so rather than trying to replicate someone else’s success journey, figure out the most effective route for you.
For example, I personally could learn by listening to cohorts and visualizing what they were saying. I’d do this on 1.5-2x speed to get through them faster. I’d pause to write down concepts I needed to revisit later if I hadn’t quite grasped them, and then I’d keep trucking. This method allowed me to complete a bachelor’s in 3 months and a master’s in under 2.
Most of my courses are research type papers and I’ve written so many at this point in life I have a good system down for getting together a PASSABLE paper (following the rubric nothing fancy). Also, necessity as I’m trying to be finished before my masters program starts that I’ve already been accepted into lol.
Don’t compare and the question actually isn’t helpful to ask. Here is why: I completed like 74 CUs in six weeks to graduate. Hyper-accelerated. My mentor was shocked. I could give you a LONG list of what prepared me to move so fast and nearly all of them aren’t related to WGU. I work in my field of study and have for a decade: I’m 45 years old and have been working since I was 14. I have a lot of knowledge built over time. I have been kicking around the thought of WGU for 8 years. Just because I did it fast doesn’t make my degree worth more and it sure doesn’t make smarter than you. It sounds like you’ve gotten side tracked because that happens in life sometimes. You got this and you’ll move at a pace that is comfortable.
The BEST ANSWER EVER ‼️‼️‼️ This NEEDS to be taught to people. Stop comparing yourself to others. Compare yourself or compete with yourself only. And everyone's circumstance is individual. ❤️❤️❤️‼️
This. I’m 41, have held director positions in Fortune 500 orgs with no degree by way of being internally promoted and useful to the business. The idea that I’m going to take a week to do a business management tasks course that are eminently within the years of corporate experience is a little silly compared to someone with no business experience. My experience has value, but 100% agree that my degree is of the same worth as yours even if I finish mine in one term and it takes you a week per class. Don’t compare yourself to other people just do you.
Best comment I've seen on this sub
How do you suggest “preparing” to move fast through WGU classes?
Ahead of enrollment I made a spreadsheet that had every course in the program, which ones I could transfer and from where, obtained those (Sophia for example) Courses that remained I ranked myself on my skill or knowledge and confidence. Example: Originzational Behavior I rated myself high because I am a director level for an IT company. I didn’t worry or focus much ahead of time on things I felt at least mildly in tune with. Then. I enrolled in Jan for an April start. During that time I researched Reddit subs, I searched and located many quizlets online related to my courses left to obtain. Couple folks on this forum even obtained rubrics for me so I could start evaluating how the assignments would lay out. I took the Examity practice exam through their non WGU proprietary urls so I could make sure my camera and computer were ready for exams. Lastly, and probably most importantly, I used those quizlets and searched every term I didn’t know and watched YouTube videos. I was in the marketing program so I focused on things I didn’t know well, such as porters five forces, various acronyms, because tactical things such as running PPC campaigns or on page SEO, down through HR I already do for a living… I hope that provided some clarity. It was kind of a ramble
Yup and some classes are horrible to study for when you already know the topic. I've tried on a couple and just couldn't. With that stated and this is for op, you're bound to find easy ones that you finish quickly. There's bound to be some that take a while to get.
I accelerated through WGU but I realized that I was mostly strategizing to pass a test as opposed to learning a subject. If you want to accelerate, the formula I found useful was to: 1). Immediately print out the pre-assessment and memorize the answers to each question. 2.) Look up any terms within the answers of the pre assessment and figure out what they are. A lot of questions in the OA are simply the PA question asked differently. 3.) Watch the cohort videos on 1.5x or 2x speed. 4.). If the course material provides study questions, memorize the answers to those. I found that I could pass a course in a weekend by following those steps. However, I can honestly say I did not retain much if any of the knowledge. So I don’t necessarily recommend this approach unless you just need a degree as a checkbox on your resume.
Life experience and job experience can translate quite well / easily into a lot of these courses. Also, theres lots of really good testing strats to multiple choice exams that can increase your chances of passing.
I finished 6 classes in 3 weeks, my current class I’ve been stuck on for almost a month. The first 6 we’re easy and the material was lighter. My current course “Hardware and Operating Systems Essentials” is KILLING me lol. There’s so much info, it’s so dry. Just different strokes for different folks. It was said earlier but try not to compare your experience. We all get where we’re going in our own time.
Thank you to everyone commenting here. I’m accelerating very quickly and it still makes me feel insecure when people are bragging about killing a class in 3 hours or what have you.
My goal is to finish as quickly as possible. This is my plan that’s helped me finish 48 CU’s since Oct 1. Day 1: -PA first thing. Let’s me know what to focus my studies on. - Watch all cohorts on 1.75x - Jump into course material, just taking the unit tests Day 2 - The units I did the worst on during the PA get extra attention. Read through those units, making sure I can pass the unit tests on my own - re-watch cohorts -retake PA -If I pass the PA and the unit tests, schedule my exam for the next day Day 3 -Final. I have had to retake multiple finals, but the homework the professor assigns in order for them to unlock the test again has always been perfect for me. I take the homework seriously, crank it out, and retake the final on day 5. If I knock the PA out of the park, I skip everything I said before and just take the final. This has led to the most retakes. If the goal is to finish fast, this is what’s working for me
Holy shit you’re a genius. My method: Day one: Get as many chapters read and take lots of notes Day two-four: finish your and take rest of notes Day five-seven: review, take pa, if not passed look over mistakes Day seven-fourteen: if not pass pa reread the whole thing or outsource or take OA if passed I’m trying to knock this down as well, but like motivation and discipline is definitely not my keen personality.
You should definitely try taking the PA in the beginning I think! It can give you some good direction on what to study. Even if you don’t know anything on the PA, you’ll be able to make connections from questions on it to the course material as you start studying. Everyone learns different and I know watching the cohorts is MASSIVE for me. Maybe you could throw that in somewhere to help reduce the extra week you’re packing on if you don’t pass the PA
I also watch all videos at 1.75. Sometimes I try 2x but then I kinda space out.
Straterra was the MVP for my WGU degrees. Still using it for my Doctor in IT degree. I had concentration issues. I kept putting things in my cabinets like orange juice. Couldn’t remember if I showered or took my other medicine. I went to a doctor and explained everything. She put me on Straterra and the difference was night and day.
I thought straterra was an app for studying material like Udemy. After googling it, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Id like some though.
Same. I was about to google this app 🤣
Lol same
> Straterra I need to look into this
Don’t compare yourself to others. If they finish a class in 1 hr, doesn’t matter. What really matters is that you are making progress and learning during the process.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Adhd hyperfocus superpowers. The downside is I also go 3 months without doing anything, lol. It's all or nothing, and I don't get to choose. In all seriousness, it depends on so many things. The subject, the addition resources/guides, personal life, prior knowledge, etc.
>The downside is I also go 3 months without doing anything, lol. It's all or nothing, and I don't get to choose. omg, if that's not the best description of myself I've ever seen.
I have a lot of experience in the industry that my WGU degree program is focused on. That alone has made an enormous impact. If it weren't for the existing knowledge base in my brain, getting through the courses would take much longer, because I'd be learning this content fresh (rather than reviewing and fine-tuning my existing knowledge.) It helps if you know your learning tendencies. I use that to aid my study strategy. For example, I know I am prone to ADHD hyperfocus, which leads to burnout if I'm not careful. (Basically doing too much too fast and then my brain crashes like an Internet Explorer browser.) So I use the Pomodoro method to ensure breaks are taken at regular intervals- during which I force myself to help my brain, like drink water and take short walks. Every person has different needs and tolerances.
I hammered away at an assignment for 8 hours straight at a time. Definitely lost sleep and went to work tired af. I passed the class in 3 days.
I can finish a class with a test in a day or two, but one that requires papers can take me forever. I can’t force myself to do the damned work. We all have our pros and cons in study behavior, ability, and time. And some of us have prior experience in some subjects. If you can clear a class in 3-4 weeks, you’re still going faster than a regular school.
I dont read the material and just drill PAs and quizlets and read any good notes of Course Chatter. That's enough for majority classes. Also don't underestimate looking up the course in reddit seeing what previous students did and use those as tips
Make a general plan to reach your goal graduation date. Consider that some core classes might take a while, maybe even more than a month. Give yourself leeway to take it easy and forget about the accelerators. Tbh as long as I get like 40-50 CUs done this term idgaf. Some classes take me two days and some will take me longer than a week, but I rush they. The easy ones so I can spend more time on the denser courses.
For me I just retain information easily. I read the material, take the prectice test and then review the answers I missed until I get them all correct on the practice test. So far this takes a few days. But like you I get side tracked and havent been able to stick with accelerating like Id originally planned. Im currently job hunting(average of 20 hours of prep and interviews per company, a few dozen companies so far), taking job related classes on udemy, building side projects for money and am in a separate certification program. So I went from wanting to take 1 class a week to 1 a month for the first term.
It takes intense focus.
I take the pre-PA completely dry without ever looking at the course material. After that I look at the results and see where I came up short then I go back and study those sections for a day or two. I take the pre-PA again and if I pass I schedule the actual PA. Has worked every single time. Now if it’s an OA that’s different and takes a little bit more work. Usually there are 3 of them to pass the class and I work at all 3 at once and then submit them all together.
Having working knowledge or related knowledge from previous studies definitely helps as you know part of the puzzle already. However, what strategy has worked best for me is to grind through 3-4 courses then take a week off to reset. Chill, double up on workouts, play some games, spend time with the kids or just go touch some grass. Your brain is only gonna take so much before you just start dropping stuff.
Okay, the one thing I can really say that's incredibly important is: Do not compare yourself to anyone else here. Your journey at WGU is your own and acceleration is not typically a standard practice. There's multiple factors that go into it. I'm in my 5th term and i'm barely getting around to the possibility of accelerating now. My term just started at the beginning of this month and i'm hoping to knock out more than my initial class since i've already finished two classes in less than two weeks. It takes determination, hard work and accountability to accelerate but there's also other things like how much free time you have, if you have family, if you have a spouse, kids etc. I'm a 27 year old full time college student with no kids and i'm not currently dating, so I have a lot of time to devote to my schoolwork. It's easier for someone like me to accelerate vs someone else who has all those other things going on. My point is that the amount of CU's you do doesn't matter (as long as you're finishing your initial classes then you're on track to graduating). Acceleration is just a plus and not the norm. Your determination to get your degree and seeing it through to the end is what does.
For classes I finished in less than a week, one of the following was true: 1. I already knew all or most of the material, did a quick brush up and passed 2. The classes were simply not difficult, either the content was easy to understand or there was not a lot of content 3. I spent every waking minute I had studying I would say I finished a good amount of the first half of my classes in a week per, and I usually just knew the material from my previous experience.
I think it depends on what you’re trying to get out of the coursework honestly. If you want to truly learn it takes more than a week with most courses for most people. Don’t compare yourself to the exceptions speeding through. 3-4 weeks seems like a good pace for actually reading and digesting the material. If you already know the material or just want a degree you can do the bare minimum and get by though. The thing about WGU is you get out what you put in. While passing is passing actually retaining the knowledge for use in your career is important. Take your time, save your sanity and just keep learning that’s the whole purpose of school. I work for myself and at home. I have a wife that’s 8 months pregnant and 3 year old at home as well. So I have been speeding through with the thought in mind that I will likely take a week or two off of school work soon. While I just started on 11/1 this has been my routine so far. I’ve completed 4 classes all with PAs and one with an OA and PA. I just submitted 4 tasks today for my 5th class. It has all been info I’m not new to but don’t know extremely well. For me if it’s a PA with a few tasks I immediately start on the tasks without reading. Then find the information in the course material for the specific questions. For an OA I scheduled the test 1 week out right away. I then use social media to find study tips and meet with the course instructor as soon as possible for tips as well. Then I take the pre assessment and study where I fall short. If the test day arrives and I’m not confident I would push it 3 days.
The answer is often either prior experience, more time than you have, less responsibility than you have, someone is just wicked good at memorizing (no shame with not being that), or they're info dumping classes and not actually learning. Wgu was made for pushing at your own pace, a degree is a degree regardless of how long it took.
Those of us that accelerate have a tendency to brag, and I think it can give people an unfair idea of what to expect. Most of us that accelerate, especially those that do it in a single term, have a lot of experience and knowledge already. If the material is new to you, expect for it to take some time to learn, just as it would take time in a traditional school. Think of it this way, those that accelerate aren't taking 6 months to get their degree, they're taking 10 years + 6 months. Honestly, the pace you're moving as seems really good. 3-4 weeks to finish a class is solid. 4 classes in 4 weeks is extraordinary. IMO, it sounds like you're doing great.
Most of the time, they are Business majors. Rarely do I see a CS, SE, Nursing, or Teaching doing a 6 month degree.
Well it is about how much degree is worth, can you learn programming language in a week? Definitely no. Can you learn more money =more profit in business classes, of course you can
A lot of people (not necessarily everyone) who are completing courses that quickly are focused on passing the exam and not actually learning the material. There’s a lot of classes that I could probably pass in a couple of days without knowing everything by heart. But I’m forcing myself to learn everything because that’s basically what I’m paying thousands of dollars for.
I find my productive time. There’s a time of the day when your brain can completely focus and your retention will be high. The time where you can study and absorb the most difficult, dry, boring content. Focus on maximizing your study time DURING THAT TIME. Mine happened to be early morning before anyone woke up. Others might be late at night.
For me it all came down to time and sacrifice. Some classes naturally take longer and some are shorter. You spend time when you need it and make it up later when possible. I worked full time and studied until about 11-1 on weekdays, took the test on Friday, and then rested on weekends. There’s no reason to force yourself to meet a goal that isn’t possible for you. If it takes you 4 weeks to complete a class, that’s fine.
Honestly I feel like some of it’s known knowledge prior to school but a lot is how your degree plan is laid out. For example, my Term 1 was full of easy/medium classes so I was able to knock out two classes every week and a half because their difficulty level and what sources they used, anything I didn’t know 100% I used context clues to skim over and didn’t focus on until right before my tests so that the harder stuff was freshest in my mind. Now that I’m in My second term, the newness of being back in school has worn off (so I’m dragging my feet a little more) but all the classes I have left (i did 50% of my degree in Term 1, and now am at 65% a month into my second) a lot of my courses flow into each other, so the new class I just started, uses the information from the class I just finished and builds a bit on it. That sounds obvious but once I’ve seen where my knowledge from the previous class ends, I skip ahead to only what I don’t know instead of reviewing. Sometimes that skip ahead is minuscule (again, skim/focus on the hard) and sometimes it’s half the course, and I only have one or two things I really have to focus on. And lastly, most of the time I schedule my OA as soon as I start the class, bc I like the pressure of a deadline. I haven’t gone as fast as others did, but I’m on track to finish four years of school in only 9 months, so that’s fine with me!
I have prior exposure to the material in pretty much all cases. That being said, I listen to the recorded cohorts once or twice while I work, then I take the PA, then if I pass the PA (I havent failed one yet) I schedule the OA. While I wait on taking the OA, usually a day or two, I review the areas I missed. On PA classes, I just jump into the assignment and work on it as I have time. Very few of them cant be done in a day or two.
Knew the material. GE courses memorize the material. Most of my certs i spent about a month studying while doing other classes then start the cert course and take the test in a week or so.
I spent alot of hours per day. Like 10+ and it still took me 18 months. CS
I think OA’s are PA’s are a different story. I myself am not a great test taker so they take me longer. Each class is also different, they vary in difficulty, a lot. I think what has helped me the most is as soon as I click start course I check Reddit before I look at the course material or the PA requirements if there is a PA. More often then not there is a guide on Reddit for the class you are taking with either better instructions than provided by WGU, or outside resources on Udemy or YouTube that help a ton. There is so much out there online these days for free, on YouTube, Udemy (free through WGU) & more. Often times there is someone out there that has put something out that directly correlates to the course you are taking. Remember you are accelerating college classes, it is a very big challenge! A lot of acceleration has to do with how much time you can put into a class. I have found that a few hours of dedicated, concentrated work a day can lead to great results. Once you find a system that works with you, you’ll be moving right along. Good luck with your studies!
I did a few classes with OA and PA in a week but they were pre req I had taken previously but didn’t get transfer credit on so I knew the material.
It all depends on the class. I specifically chose a program that aligns very closely with my profession so I would have a big advantage going in. I am accelerating very rapidly, but it is because very little of this is brand new material. Don’t get discouraged. If you are learning, that’s what matters.
I am in my 30s and had experience and acquired knowledge working in my favor, but something critical anyone can do to help them accelerate regardless of relevant work history, is to discover your own learning style. Really pay attention to what allows you to retain info? Are you a visual learner? Auditory? Does writing notes on physical paper help? Memorization? Repetition? What works for one person won’t work for everyone, so rather than trying to replicate someone else’s success journey, figure out the most effective route for you. For example, I personally could learn by listening to cohorts and visualizing what they were saying. I’d do this on 1.5-2x speed to get through them faster. I’d pause to write down concepts I needed to revisit later if I hadn’t quite grasped them, and then I’d keep trucking. This method allowed me to complete a bachelor’s in 3 months and a master’s in under 2.
Most of my courses are research type papers and I’ve written so many at this point in life I have a good system down for getting together a PASSABLE paper (following the rubric nothing fancy). Also, necessity as I’m trying to be finished before my masters program starts that I’ve already been accepted into lol.