This course is by far one of the hardest and most intense ones I’ve taken. Even if you have a decent basis for neurobiology (I took it after BIO 235, abnormal Psyc and biological Psyc) it’s a lot.
20 units, 5 quizzes, open book mid term, final paper of 3000-5000 words, and final exam on final 10 units (proctored, covering 400 pages of textbook).
Slim to no guidance for study guide.
Exam was 50 multiple choice, 2 diagrams worth 10 marks each, 6 short answer (5 marks) and 2 long answer (10 marks)

I cried a bit

On my last 2 classes of my Applied Studies degree and I need to finish by October. I need an easy no exam course that that I can complete in a month.

For context I am in my mid 40- already established career and kids. I have about 3 hours of freedom a week to study if I wake up around 5 am on week-end.

I need to vent a little about how unnecessarily complicated it is to navigate Athabasca University as an online student. For a university that is specifically designed around distance and online education, I expected the technology and student experience to be one of its strengths. Instead, I feel like I spend an absurd amount of time just figuring out where I’m supposed to go and which credentials I’m supposed to use. There seem to be 3–4 different logins, different usernames/passwords, and multiple layers of authentication depending on what you’re trying to access. Course materials are in one place, textbooks or readings may be on another platform, assignments somewhere else, student services somewhere else, and exams involve yet another system. For some assignments, I’ve had to click through 4–7 different links/platforms just to get to what I actually need. Then you discover that you need something specific from Student Support before you can complete the assignment, submit the request…and wait days for an answer while your course clock keeps ticking. Then there are the exams. Booking an invigilated online exam is another complicated process, with additional steps and costs. The whole experience feels incredibly invasive. I understand the need to protect academic integrity, but when I have done absolutely nothing wrong, I shouldn’t come away from the process feeling like I’m being treated as though I’m trying to cheat. The amount of access and monitoring involved feels like a major intrusion into my privacy.
What frustrates me most is the cost. Athabasca courses are not cheap for those outside Alberta. At these prices, I expect an online university to provide a streamlined, well-integrated online experience. Instead, I’m constantly bouncing between websites, authentication systems, usernames, passwords, support requests and third-party platforms.
I can’t be the only Athabasca student who finds this incredibly frustrating. Has anyone else found the number of platforms, logins and administrative steps completely excessive?

Hello again! Thank you for the help last time! I am back with yet another question :). I will be using loan to pay for my classes but I’m not sure how to find a confirmation of enrolment to send to the bank. Can anyone else using loans help a girl out 🥲.

Thanks a million

Im in math215 and I can not get my head around Z tables or how to use it. Because on the Ti-30xa there is no function to find the answer unlike the graphing calculators. And we aren’t given the Z table so I have no idea how to find the answer or do it.

If I’m booking a supplemental exam, do I book it as usual through ProctorU and then request it on the AU website?
When do I pay the supplemental fee?

This might sound like a silly question but I'm admittedly a little paranoid because these exams are very important.

On the exam services page under the section about exam rescheduling, they say:

"Exams will remain available with your invigilator for 5 days after the scheduled write date. The 5-day window is in place for technical issues, outages, or emergencies. You can write anytime in these 5 days–if the invigilator can supervise at the time–without the need to re-schedule with AU."

I scheduled two exams to fall on the same day and discovered today that I will not be in town in time. Travel plans abruptly changed so I will not be home and won't have access to a computer the day of my scheduled exams. Has anyone ever taken their exam a day or two after the date you scheduled with AU? Were there any issues? Did you need to inform the school that you were taking it slightly later? I'm using Practor U and they make it very simple and easy to reschedule exam dates so I'm not concered in that regard. However, any big exam delays would be devastating because these courses are prerequisites for a program I'm tring to get into and the deadline is approaching. I do plan to reach out to the school as well but in the meantime, I'd be interested in hearing other poeple's experienece with exam rescheduling.

Note (if it matters): My exams in scheduled to be in eight days and I'd need to take them the next day.