Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.
Get oriented to the college environment by combining conceptual knowledge with practical strategies and skills. Since this course applies these concepts to real-world situations, it is particularly helpful for first-generation students and those who want to be sure they are prepared, academically or otherwise, for college.
This course offers new students an orientation to the college environment. It helps build more capable lifelong learners by combining conceptual knowledge with practical strategies and skills. It will equip you with the basic academic, professional, and personal skills you need to be successful in college.
In Unit 1, we determine your goals for your college education. Why are you pursuing an undergraduate degree? Knowing your response to this question will help you stay motivated when you encounter challenges during your college experience. In Unit 2, we explore how to manage your personal space and time to maximize your ability to learn. In Units 3 and 4, we consider what it means to be career-ready and understand the importance your social life has in your college success. In Units 5 through 7, we explore the learning process itself and the different skills and tools you can use to improve your academic performance. Units 8 and 9 provide general strategies for communicating with college instructors and managing stress, anxiety, and other factors that affect your academic goals and overall health during college. Unit 10, the final unit of the course, equips you with some tools to help prepare you for a career after college.
By the end of this course, you will have gained a comprehensive overview of the skills, tools, and resources you will need for a successful, healthy, and happy college experience. You will understand how to apply the concepts we discuss to your individual academic and personal goals and practice the skills you learn by testing them in the college courses you plan to take or are already taking. Finally, you will possess a strong starting point for applying your newfound skills to your job search and career beyond college.
This course was developed by Lumen Learning, with contributing work from Linda Bruce of Goucher College, Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer and Zack Varpness of Chadron State College, and others.
This course includes the following units:
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.
This course was developed by Lumen Learning, with contributing work from Linda Bruce of Goucher College, Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer and Zack Varpness of Chadron State College, and others. The primary learning material for this course is the online textbook College Success.
All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource, and will help you to understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course by clicking on Resources in the navigation bar.
Only the final exam is considered when awarding you a grade for this course. In order to pass this course, you will need to earn a 70% or higher on the final exam. Your score on the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you may take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt. Once you have successfully passed the final exam you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate.
This course is eligible for college credit via Saylor Academy's Direct Credit Program. If you want to earn college credit, you must take and pass the Direct Credit final exam. That exam will be password protected and requires a proctor. If you pass the Direct Credit exam, you will receive a Proctor Verified Course Certificate and be eligible to earn an official transcript. For more information about applying for college credit, review the guide to college credit opportunities. Be sure to check the section on proctoring for details like fees and technical requirements.
Your final grade in this course will be based on your score on the Saylor Direct Credit Exam and three graded quizzes. The Saylor Direct Credit Exam is worth 70% of your grade, and each quiz is worth 10% of your grade. In order to pass the course, you need to earn a combined grade of 70% or higher between the final exam and quizzes.
Your scores will be tabulated as soon as you complete the assessments. There is a 30-day waiting period between attempts of each quiz. There is no waiting period between Quiz 1, Quiz 2, and Quiz 3. There is a 14-day waiting period between attempts of the Direct Credit final exam. There is no waiting period between attempts for the not-for-credit exam, the quizzes, or the Direct Credit exam. You may only attempt each Direct Credit final exam a maximum of 3 times. Be sure to study in between each attempt!
College Success is a self-paced course, which means that you can decide when you will start and when you will complete the course. There is no instructor or an assigned schedule to follow. We estimate that the "average" student will take 40 hours to complete this course. We recommend that you work through the course at a pace that is comfortable for you and allows you to make regular progress. It's a good idea to also schedule your study time in advance and try as best as you can to stick to that schedule.
Learning new material can be challenging, so we've compiled a few study strategies to help you succeed:
This course is delivered entirely online. You will be required to have access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and have consistent access to the internet to either view or download the necessary course resources and to attempt any auto-graded course assessments and the final exam.
For additional guidance, check out Saylor Academy's FAQ.
This course is entirely free to enroll in and to access. Everything linked in the course, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, is available for no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and course completion certificate.
This course also has an optional final exam that can give you an opportunity to earn college credit. This exam requires the use of a proctoring service for identity verification purposes. The cost for proctoring for this optional exam is $5 per session.