Moved-on

Labs were a bit ridiculous in my opinion - I would dictate everything said in the video verbatim onto my Word app in iPhone and I took screen shots constantly so I had detailed and searchable notes and STILL found it a challenge. In-person would have been MUCH easier I think, but I was also going for all A’s so maybe I would feel different if I had only cared about getting passing credit. Keep the corrected answers from all your tests on hand to study because a bunch of those will show up in the final.

The videos are all online and you can watch as many times as you like, pause, rewind... There is an enormous amount of material in each unit and I found it very difficult to feel “ready“ to take the tests. (But bear in mind this was all a different sort of learning from my background plus I was trying to finish at an accelerated rate.) I’ve heard other people say the classes were easy for them so I really can’t predict what it will be like for you, but for me a live class would be much easier to finish and easier to prepare for tests etc. You can find study cards other students have made on Quizlet for portage courses but I think there are fewer available as the course progresses because it was just too much material to study that way. Do a search for those and it will give you a feel for course content. As much as I complain, I did end up with an A in my portage AP classes, so it’s not impossible obviously, but one nice thing about doing classes at a place like portage is that if you get a terrible final grade, you don’t have to identify the institution in your applications or transcripts for other schools - just pretend it never happened, LOL.

I have changed direction, no longer pursuing nursing, and no longer on these boards, but I will weigh back in here for a final comment (essay) because I took three classes from Geneva / Portage. First, your transcript will say Geneva (and if you ask them to make the dates align with a traditional semester they will do that). It may say portage somewhere as well but portage is simply the “name brand“ of their online delivery system, not a school name of its own. Nice, helpful, responsive teachers. Now, the important part, what were the classes and tests like…? Lectures are fast, not always clear, and I found it helpful to go buy a used AP textbook from half-price books to explain things better. All of the reading material is online so you will be printing huge amounts of material on your own printer (assume an entire ream of paper). I don’t see how it would be possible to make notes if you did not have a hardcopy (unless you are really good at using mark up software on a laptop that you can write on - and then you would need the video lectures running on one computer while you took notes along side the written materials on your second computer or tablet. This was what I did.) Labs are utterly ridiculous with regard to how much lecture information they contain and the specific degree of knowledge you have to know to take the timed quiz at the end. Ridiculous. I graduated with a 3.95 GPA for my BSEd and I completed my masters program with around 3.7. But THIS was ridiculous (granted, I am not a “detail” learner, I succeeded in my earlier studies by grasping larger principles and patterns, and NEVER had to memorize lists of bones or definitions of things that have no context in my real world experience – some other people have said they found the portage classes easy, so maybe it depends on the type of brain you have?). Did I mention labs were ridiculous? Like, if you are taking notes by hand and are meticulous like me, a 30 minute lab might take 4 to 6 hours. Here’s how to fix that: 1. Buy an iPhone and install an iPhone version of word or some other document. If you know how to keep these documents in online storage so you can see them on your computer at the same time you are writing them on the phone, all the better - you can take screenshots and add them to your notes. But not necessary. 2. Turn on Siri and let her write a transcript of the lab. Don’t bother with other dictation software (like dragon) because they do not recognize the medical terminology Siri recognizes. 3. Take pictures of every screen that has any sort of text on it. You will need these for your quiz, and it still may not be easy. 4. You need teo computers for this course for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons is so that you can take the quiz on one computer while searching those notes Siri took on the other computer. Yes, you are permitted to use your notes when taking the lab quiz (I think it’s like 10 questions in 20 minutes or something and, did I mention it’s ridiculously specific?). You are not supposed to use any notes or materials during the test, but (as an experienced test taker) I am certain they have amped up the difficulty of the questions so that the test is difficult to complete in the time allotted, even if you are reasonably bright and have studied diligently, done all of the assignments and reviewed them diligently, and EVEN WITH the benefit of using notes. (Do not assume for one minute you could skip studying the materials and pass the test just using the notes. I would theorize the test would be difficult to do well on even if you had studied diligently, made practice quizzes for yourself, AND also had searchable access to the entire unit of materials on a second computer during the test.) Someone like myself might choose to go a different direction with their studies rather than resorting to those sorts of strategies, but I am from an older generation (I’m told the use of unauthorized technology is just expected by teachers and the difficulty of tests is ratcheted up to compensate. I believe this is true with portage and it places an unfair burden on more traditionally minded students who take the “ no notes“ rule seriously. (In case it’s not obvious from above, these tests are not proctored in any way.) I WOULD assume I am just more stupid than I thought (or which my previous degrees indicated), but I found similarly difficult classes I took locally were much, much, much easier than the ones I took through Portage. Tests were hard enough that a substantial percentage of the class made C’s or failed, but I was able to make A’s without needing extra help. So, whatever the cause, taking online classes at portage is a different ball game from taking live classes. ALSO, be sure to copy all of your completed tests into your study notes because they will help a ton with your final. Last, for your tablet, purchase the affordable app “Drawboard PDF” and use it for reading and making notes on your PDFs. Nothing else comes even close to matching it’s ease and versatility (this is for using a stylus/ pen). You can zoom in on white space in the margin and write as many notes as you like, as well as underlining and highlighting in any color you choose. I also purchased the more expensive ($129 on sale) adobe acrobat PDF editor, and it makes me wish I had purchased it years ago because it can eliminate every annoying thing about working with PDFs I’ve ever experienced. But for annotating PDFs, nothing comes close to draw board. But for annotating PDFs, nothing comes close to drawboard. Good luck!

ONLY TWO you don't know where to start with? On the pretest? Wow! They don't count so just put your best guess and then when you see the results save the answers to study for when you get to that section in the course. Meanwhile I'm just struggling to remember how to SPELL kemistry.

By the way, I had to put chemistry aside for the past few months but now am about to start working on it full-time because I need to finish by May 10 or I lose my spot in the program I was accepted into (pretty likely at this point!). Anyone out there want to have a race? The competition would help motivate me! By the way, I use Quizlet cards from user "IM24601" for memorizing lists - they are based on Portage classes. Any other resources anyone knows of would be helpful too!

I'm in Portage chemistry, my 3rd class from there, and the pretest doesn't count for anything so it takes only as much time as it takes to read and click through 9-12 pages of multiple choice. I was clueless so it didn't take long! I'm prepping for 2nd test and would love to know someone else who has done this ahead of me to know how hard the rest are!

It would be undergrad because it is leading to a bachelors degree (even though you graduated once already!). Graduate refers to Masters level courses and above.

I interviewed last Wednesday and got an email acceptance Monday (now I have to figure out how on earth to afford it!).

The exams are not open book or open notes (except for the lab quizzes which allow you to use your lab notes). However, the tests are not proctored in any way so I am not sure how they monitor compliance. It is likely that, because the tests are timed to one hour, someone would have a tough time even with notes if they did not understand the material. The labs contain a LOT of lecture material and the ONLY way I have managed to complete them is by plugging in earphones and then dictating as much as possible verbatim into my iPhone. Siri is AMAZING and understands even the most obscure and technical medical terms in the course! It helps to have Microsoft word on your phone and also on your desktop, using their free Onedrive storage box so your notes are present in both places at the same time. Regarding AP 2, The first module is absolutely ridiculous in the amount of material it tries to cover – everything from the chemical action of neurons to the bones of the ear to the various layers of the eyeball... I memorized a ton of stuff but then when I took the test it only covered a fraction of stuff and was pretty simple (in other words, I studied too hard!). The second unit is a lot more reasonable (the first module had about 120 review questions and this module has only about 12 questions!). Another study tip I found helpful is this. On the first page of every module is a "print" option which opens the material in a format that you can copy and paste into a word document. I use this for taking notes – I just create text boxes and add stuff I want to remember.

Awesome - wish I could double LIKE! I wish there was a forum where Portage students could talk about stuff like this! Glad to know the neuro part is bigger than the rest - I about passed out when I saw how many questions it contained! Fortunately I already know a lot of neuro basics, so maybe it won't be as hard as AP1.

MPBrown, I just finished the final for AP1, expecting a 97 average, but I studied harder than I have ever studied in my life ( i'm old and have forgotten how to be in effective student so I'm basically memorizing the whole module). I've been so busy trying to memorize every little detail (and the labs are possibly packed with detail) to know if the study questions alone were good enough for the test. Are you saying they ARE? That would make life much easier!

I'm in AP 1 and Chemistry, and the transcripts say "Geneva College", which is regionally accredited as "legit". Baylor and MSU both told me they'd take the credit. HOWEVER, some schools (TCU) specifically say they don't take online lab courses, so that's worth checking out. The transcript doesn't broadcast the online nature of the course (just mentions Portage at the bottom) but if a school specifically does not accept online lab courses, they may recognize "Portage" down in the subscript or be familiar with Geneva having an online component

Thanks for the comment – appreciate it! Looks like I'm sticking with the online course to make sure I get the complete picture.

Thanks for the feedback, Dodongo. LOL, of course I'll do whatever I want to do but what I WANT to do is influenced by the feedback of those who know the future landscape. My context is unusual - I will NEVER work in a medical setting beyond the clinicals for school. I'll be over 60 when/if I finish, and won't be changing jobs, so my learning objectives are pretty specific (purely psych related with a high-functioning population that doesn't require complex med management). My question is whether the neuro component of AP is something cursory (ie, a shallow survey that contributes to a more rounded understanding, but not necessary for anything beyond earning a credit), or foundational in understanding pharmacology. Glad to hear any other relevant thoughts you have.

Thanks for the insight, umbdude! If I do go the local route and have to miss the neuro chapters, I'll definitely make it up on my own. I don't mind the extra study (I probably have a more in-depth interest than would be covered in undergrad anyway). Thanks again for the feedback.