Free All-Inclusive ACE-approved Online College Courses at Sophia Learning until 7-31-20

https://www.sophia.org/free-online-courses

From their website: "Sophia is committed to helping students achieve college success during these challenging and uncertain times. To help students continue their education we are offering free college-level courses in a fresh and fun online learning environment. Now until July 31, register for any of our 30 ACE®-recommended courses like Introduction to Business, Accounting, and Project Management. Courses may be transferred for college credit at many institutions, helping to lower the cost of your degree."

This is a website that provides self-paced online college courses which normally range from $199 to $329 (most are $329). There are also a couple of free 1-credit courses, which is how I got started with them. But until July 31, all courses are completely free.

The courses include all study materials including videos and excellent study guides, both available without leaving the course itself. They also have tutors available via email and chat, and in my experience, they're pretty prompt and helpful. Once you're ready, you progress through online quizzes called "Challenges", and once you've gone through all of those, there are tests called "Milestones". At the end of each course, there's a "Final Milestone".

Their English Comp and Public Speaking courses have assignments called "Touchstones", but thankfully for those of us that dislike essays and assignments, the majority of courses are exclusively multiple choice tests.

The scoring system is very interesting. You are given multiple attempts to answer each Challenge question correctly, and both Challenges and Milestones are open book. You need a score of 50% or better on the Final Milestone to complete the course, but it's not factored into your overall grade.

Sophia's proctoring tech is unique. They don't require RPNow, ProctorU or any other third-party service. They use biometric analysis to verify your identity, so there's no proctoring fee, no waiting for a time slot, no software to install, no privacy concerns, and no sterile testing enviornment necessary. You get your final score instantly (except the four courses that require graded touchstones), and there's no fee to send a transcript. You simply create an ACENet account and add that course to your credit bank, and within a day or two, they verify and approve the credit.

Most college testing centers are closed, so if your (current or prospective) school accepts ACE credit, this is a remarkable opportunity to pick up some courses at no cost, especially if you're idled as a result of recent events. As you can see on their homepage, Sophia also has course equivalence agreements with a number of schools, including the online "Big Three"; Excelsior, Charter Oak, and Thomas Edison. Their English Comp I course may even satisfy your school's Written English requirement, which is a big plus. If you take every one of their courses like I did, you can pick up an amazing 84 credits completely free, without leaving home.

Sophia's customer service is pretty decent, but if anyone has any general questions, post them and I'll do my best to answer.

Good luck!