I'm taking the online course to excuse a speeding ticket. I expected it to be funnier and more entertaining, with demonstrative skits by a comedy troupe. It's just a very animated woman, Megan, in f... Read More
I'm taking the online course to excuse a speeding ticket. I expected it to be funnier and more entertaining, with demonstrative skits by a comedy troupe. It's just a very animated woman, Megan, in front of a green screen who matter-of-factly speaks about safe driving procedures and presents a few dated (besides one about texting) short films from different sources. The course is very informative and makes me rethink some of my driving habits. I just thought it was going to be more fun and engaging to watch. It took me 3 days to take the course, but that's just because I didn't have a lot of time to do it until the weekend. I got through chapters 3-9 in a few hours on a Saturday, so can definitely get it done in a day if you have about 6-8 hours free. After watching all the videos, you have to make over 70% correct answers on an untimed 20 question comprehensive quiz to pass the course. You can log out and in during the quiz. You have 3 chances to pass the quiz. If you fail after 3 chances, you have to reorder and retake the entire course. The quiz questions are pretty common sense questions, but you have time to research it if you can't remember or don't know. Make sure to read everything carefully, including the answers. I answered too quick on one and got it wrong because answer D was "Both answer A and B."The course is very thorough and informative, but it's also boring at times and I find myself zoning out and then getting surprised and flustered when a question comes up. I fell asleep during a 20 minute video 2 times and had to rewatch. If your computer shuts off for some reason you have to rewatch the entire video over. I don't like how some videos are split in two, but I guess that helps with the having to rewatch the entire video problem. There's 9 chapters with varied subtopics. In every chapter there's a timed surprise question to validate your identity. It's handy to have your insurance info, vin number, license, and registration info handy for when these questions come up. If you miss 4 answers you're locked out. After every film there's an easy untimed question about what it was about.As far as the humor, it's pretty tame and at times annoying because I'm totally aware of how flat the jokes are and how they're eating up time when we could just be getting on with the program. Instead of incorporating humor into the lectures, the instructor goes off on unrelated trying-too-hard tangents and then some uptight angry man off screen yells at her. It's not my taste of humor. Maybe others find it funny, but I think they could have thought up a more effective and funny way to present the course. The one thing I did find funny was her pronunciation of "rural." I do think she's a good speaker, though. I'd probably appreciate her approach a lot more if I didn't come in to this expecting the course to be funny. I will admit I am a snob when it comes to what makes me laugh. (My ideal hosts for this course would have been equivalent to the Kids in the Hall, or the cast from The IT Crowd.)Despite the lack of funny jokes, the course got the job done for just $25 (minimum amount by Texas law to be accepted for a driver safety course) so I guess that's the most I can ask for. Read Less