How to Succeed with Online University Courses

The increased acceptance of online university degrees has seen a large number of people enrol in online degree programs. The problem is that the completion rate for online degrees is very low. There are a few reasons for this but the main one is that most people are simply not prepared to succeed.

Have Realistic Expectations

The main reason that people fail with online university courses is that they have completely unrealistic expectations as to how fast they can complete a degree. This is perfectly natural as most people who enrol in online courses are doing so for career advancement and want to get it done as soon as possible.

The problem however is that it is completely unrealistic to think that you can carry a full course load while also holding down a full time job. Even worse are the people who enrol in self paced courses with the idea of finishing a four year degree in two years. While it is possible and people have done it, you will need a lot of discipline if you are going to achieve this.

Set a Schedule

One of the biggest challenges that people have when taking online courses is finding the time to do them. One of the advantages of online courses is that they have no fixed schedule. The downside to this is that without a fixed schedule a lot of people find it difficult to get their courses done. Most people need to be told when to get work on their courses. Obviously this is not going to happen with most online courses. That being the case you are going to need to set your own schedule and stick to it.

Choose Courses that are Appropriate

When you are choosing the courses that you are going to take as part of your online degree you need to make sure that you choose ones that are at the right level for you. Most people choose their courses based on what is required for the degree and not what they are actually ready to take. If you haven't taken a math class in twenty years it might not be a great idea to jump right into that course on partial differential equations right away. It may be necessary to take some courses that you have already taken in the past just to make sure that you are prepared for the more advanced work.