Sophia

www.sophia.org

This type of credit is “ACE Credit.” The companies/organizations in this category sell courses “for college credit” that have been evaluated by ACE. ACE (American Council on Education) is a third party credit evaluator that evaluates all types of learning programs that happens outside of a college. Officially, ACE advertises that there are almost 1,500 colleges that “may consider” ACE credit. Unofficially, this credit should only be used when you plan to use one of the partner colleges. Inside a partnership, credit transfer is guaranteed!

Using ACE credit requires creating an account with another third party, Credly to “hold” your teen’s credit until they’re ready to use it. HS4CC List of ACE Partners

Sophia’s courses are offered as a subscription-based learning platform. You can work on 2 courses at a time, but there is no limit to the number of courses you can complete in a month.

Prices as of 8/1/2022: $99/month, $299/4 months, $599/12 months

Sophia subscription works best when you can lighten your homeschooling load and focus on 1-2 Sophia courses exclusively. Since finishing 2 courses in a month is very cost effective, that is the recommended strategy.

What you need to know about Sophia:

(1) No photo ID required. For teens that have a driver’s license or passport, this might not be a big deal, but if your teen doesn’t have an official identification card of some kind, getting past the ID checkpoint can be a pain. Sophia doesn’t require a photo ID, so no worries.

(2) No webcam proctoring. If you’ve taken other ACE courses, you know that webcam proctoring is an expected part of the final exam process. There are always concerns regarding privacy as well as providing a space that meets the proctor’s specifications (nothing on the walls, no one else in the room, etc.) so by using their new technology, they’ve eliminated web proctoring entirely. They are using a product called “keyboard biometrics” that identifies a person by their typing style. My son used it earlier this year and liked it a lot!

(3) Course platform is excellent. The appearance, style, visual attractiveness, and ease of use, intuitive style, etc. are constantly praised by our audience as being “their favorite” online course.

(4) All lower level. Their college credits will come in at 100 freshman and 200 sophomore level. To date they haven’t developed any upper level courses, but we hope they do!

(5) Responsiveness. Their customer service is excellent! In addition, they are in regular communication with HS4CC offering promotions, deals, and coupons exclusively to our audience, and we love deals!!

(6) No labs. At this time, none of their sciences offer lab credit. It wouldn’t hurt to send them an email asking for them to add a lab. A lot of colleges want lab sciences, and there are other ACE providers already serving this market, so we hope Sophia jumps into this area too.

(7) Transcripts. You’ll need to set up an account on Credly to “house” any ACE credits (Sophia or others) as an official transcript. Partner colleges may ask for an official Sophia transcript or an ACE transcript – if they ask for an ACE transcript, they are asking for the one from Credly. EVEN IF your college does not need an ACE transcript, it is highly suggested that you go through the trouble of setting that account up. Having the ACE / Credly transcript holds your unused credits for 20 years. If a company goes out of business before you use the credit, this is your safety net.

(8) ADA Compliance. Sophia has a formal published policy.

SOPHIA_ADA Download

(9) Homework. Most Sophia courses require homework (called Touchstones). Since Touchstones must be graded by a human, this WILL create a lag time in your schedule. The strategy for working through the lag is to pair 2 courses together: 1 with homework and 1 without. Work exclusively on the course with homework (course 1) until you submit an assignment and are forced to wait for it to be graded. During the grading lag, work on the course without homework (course 2). Once your assignment is graded, hop back over and continue on course 1. Repeat this process during each grading lag period. When you finish one of the courses, double down on the remaining course. That strategy will allow you to complete 2 courses in 1 month.

If most or all of your planned courses require homework, you’ll want to use the HS4CC Inactive Account Strategy: Sophia Like a BOSS!

HS4CC TIP: How to list Sophia courses on a homeschool high school transcript

Sophia Courses 2022

(3 credits each unless otherwise indicated)

*indicates a course with homework

Ancient Greek Philosophers*
Approaches to Studying Religions*
Art History I
Art History II
Business Communication*
Business Law*
Calculus I, 4 credits
College Algebra
College Readiness
Communication at Work*
Conflict Resolution
Developing Effective Teams, 1 credit
Discover the Writer in You*
English Composition I*
English Composition II
Environmental Science
Financial Accounting
Foundations of English Composition (not for college credit)

Foundations of Statistics, 2 credits
Human Biology
Introduction to Business
Introduction to Chemistry
Introduction to College Mathematics
Introduction to Ethics
Introduction to Information Technology
Introduction to Programming with Python*
Introduction to Psychology: Smarter Decisions Through Psychology*
Introduction to Relational Databases*
Introduction to Sociology: Embracing Diversity and Collaboration*
Introduction to Statistics
Introduction to Web Development
IT Career Exploration, 1 credit*
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Preparing for the Future of Work*
Principles of Finance
Principles of Management*
Project Management
Public Speaking*
Spanish 1*
Taking Charge of your Economic Future*
The Essentials of Managing Conflict, 1 credit
The Power of Persuasion*
Topics in U.S. History: Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future*
U.S. History I
U.S. History II
Visual Communications

Sophia Courses 2022

Partner Colleges 2022