I wanted to take some time to talk through my acceleration journey here for the Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, Management degree program. I completed the degree program in just over two months, starting August 1st and finishing in early October. My official graduation date is 10/18, so call it 2.5 months.

A few notes first:

• I am 40 and have been working steadily for 20 years, bringing about 10 years of relevant business experience to the table.
• I transferred in 56 credit units from an AAS degree as well as CLEP exams. I did not do coursework online anywhere prior to starting.
• I did not use any 3rd party sites to earn credit prior to starting. While I appreciate that those sites exist, it did not seem necessary to me, given that ~half of my coursework was already covered by the credits I transferred in.
• Most of what I'm saying here is really targeted towards people like myself who have some experience and knowledge already. Formal coursework is not necessary, but if you're a working "business professional," this may resonate more with you more than with someone who, for example, is 19 and looking to start college for the first time with little or no business experience.

General Approach:

• Where possible, take the pre-assessment (the PA) first. It doesn't matter if you think you know the material or not, just take it. You'll likely find that in each PA you're some combination of pretty good in some places, okay in other places, and bad in one or two places. This should be a good foundation for how to approach the material.
  • For example, if a course is made up of 5 components and you're pretty good or exemplary in 3 of them, focus on the other 2.
  • The PA will also show you the breakdown of what is on the OA- not the specific questions, but the percentage breakdown of what you'll be tested on. So if you're taking a test on Desserts, it'll say "20% is on Cake," "30% is on Pie" "50% is on ice cream."
  • This is also helpful because you'll then know that if you can nail the ice cream section, it can subsidize the cake and the pie sections a little bit.
  • While the goal should be to pass all areas comfortably, you can strategize a bit by devoting the bulk of your attention to the sections which make up the highest percentage of the exam.
  • For example, most every OA has at least one section which makes up 20-30% of the total. Definitely focus on that.
• Once you've taken the PA, focus on your weak areas. The PA gives you a really good idea which areas you're lacking in and which modules/units those are in the course materials. In some courses there are dedicated video cohorts you can watch specifically for these areas. So, take those one or two areas you're scoring poorly in:
  • Read the material. Watch the videos, take the chapter quizzes and the unit tests.
  • Take the PA again and see if you improve in those areas.
  • Some courses have a "final test" you can take which is like the PA and the OA. Focus on that as well.

Note: The PA is the same each time you take it, so make sure you're actually learning WHY the right answers are the right answers and you're not just memorizing the answer to that particular question. The OA is NOT going to ask the same question or have the same answers. They MIGHT try to trip you up with a similar question, or a question that references the same made-up scenario, but with different numbers or situations. So be vigilant! I know many of you you want to go quickly, but it's also important to LEARN and UNDERSTAND why the right answer is indeed the right answer.

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In general, the PA is a good indication of how you'll perform on the Objective Assessment (the OA) though I will add that typically the OA is harder. So plan on the OA being ~15% tougher. In some courses, the OA and the PA are very close, in others there's a bigger gap. As a general approach I'd shoot for being at least comfortably competent on the PA, and not barely passing. Barely passing would mean the difference of 1 or 2 questions. You want to strive for more than that on the PA because the OA is going to be harder.

Performance Assessments

Performance assessments are written assignments. These are essentially "papers" but they don't usually have to be properly formatted (beginning, middle, end) papers. For the most part, each one will lay out precisely what you need to do for each task. Do NOT overthink this.

If a task says "A1. Define what a Turtle is," then you write "A1. A Turtle is..... " and put the definition of a turtle. No more, no less.

There are no extra points for expanding beyond what is required. You certainly can add more if you want, but it isn't necessary. All they're looking for is if you've addressed all the sections of the rubric properly. If you want to pass, make sure you are looking at the clearly outlined sections of each task and the included rubric to make sure you're including all required parts.

Before submitting, go line by line in the rubric and ask yourself "Did I do A1? Yes? Okay, how about A2? Yes? Okay," and so on.

In Conclusion

Accelerating is great. I know many folks who read this are going to try and get their degree as quickly as possible and that's fine. For some returning professionals, you're trying to check a box and I get that 100%. However...

The point of college is also to learn and to be able to apply the concepts and ideas that you learn to real-world work. So while you're checking the box... make sure you're comprehending things as well

In the end, however fast you go... is the right speed as long as it works for you.