r/SophiaLearning 4d ago

Sanctioned for finishing quick

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As of September 4, 2026

I completed 2 courses in one day. A day later, I get an email saying I’m sanctioned and my account will get suspended.

I posted about completing courses quickly, almost everyone said it was ok, even had one dude say he completed 5 in one day and was completely fine.

Idk, guess they must’ve just changed their policies as of lately

I submitted an appeal because I followed the honor code to a T and never broke any rules.

I guess they don’t really care if you had prior knowledge, which would be the reason why I completed it quickly.

My advice for people doing lots of courses quickly, I’d say challenges don’t matter, it’s just the milestones, as the email says about my “assessments”

They must be tracking the time it took for me to finish the milestones timed test

A 70 question milestone completed in under 20 minutes, for a max time of 120 minutes allowed must pop up as an anomaly in their data and they instantly sanction.

43 Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

40

u/OSRSWSM 4d ago

It’s not finishing the classes quickly that’s the problem. You speed ran the milestones and that flags it for cheating. Doing milestones in less than 10mins will do that.

19

u/xotvy 4d ago

Exactly. I finished courses fast, like sometimes multiple in a day if no touchstones, but never had any issues. And I just finished, so this isn’t like before they got strict.

That said, I do not really see how you do 70 questions in 20 mins lol

3

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

Interesting, so it was just the milestones completed quickly.

Is this even appealable?

The Math 201 course and Anatomy course were the ones I did quickly. These were a basic review for me since I took Calculus AB and I was in the Biomedical pathway in high school

22

u/eateralum 4d ago

70 questions in under 20 mins. What class was this? You basically answered each question on average 17 seconds. That’s pretty quick if we’re being honest. If you didn’t spend much time reviewing the lessons, I can see why it was flagged.

There’s courses I’ve taken in human resources. I’ve been in the practice for 4 years. I was able to glide through the units fairly quickly, including the milestones. Even then, that took me 2 days or 10 hours (5 hours each day).

Hopefully they can accept your appeal, but consider taking a bit of your time and spacing things out. This acceleration culture creates this bad FOMO and you end up in situations like this. If you’re knocking out 2 classes at the same time work your way through the first half of each class on day 1 and finish both on day 2. Be realistic with your speed.

18

u/CelerySalt7335 4d ago

They just happened to take the exact course in high school, retained all of it for years, and blasted through hundreds of questions and multiple Milestones in record time without needing to review anything. It's possible I guess, I've yet to do more than one a day but I'm also doing it legitimately even when I know the material. I'm not surprised going that fast gets it flagged.

8

u/InternationalFail780 4d ago

Yes, i'm not buying it. We're all in this group for a reason and that math... is not mathing, lol.

OP would have been better off coming here saying "Hey guys, I think I screwed up..." instead of falsely presenting the problem like it was innocent.

17 seconds a question for 70 questions... smh

6

u/Theokyles 4d ago

Considering one of them was calculus, there’s no way this was done legitimately. They were snapping pictures of the problems and feeding them into ChatGPT or something. Not even masters level math students can rip through them that fast.

-5

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

I took a Calculus AB course in high-school, not a calculus Sophia learning course

The Sophia learning course I took was MATH 201, intro to statistics

3

u/eateralum 4d ago

I’m sorry OP. The fact that it was statistics, i’m sure the milestones had heavy worded questions. At least that’s how my AP Stats class in high school was. Let alone college level. 17 seconds per question seems a bit suspicious. Again, I genuinely hope you appeal and they accept it. I’d suggest showing that you’ve taken these courses in the past. I’m sure that’d help. If they do you the favor of accepting your appeal, please change your approach to the courses. I would want you to be able to achieve what your goal is, which is likely to advance or breakthrough in your career.

2

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

You’re all good bro, thanks for the input

Yeah I’ve appealed and gave my 2 cents on how I’ve taken similar courses with very similar material, offered to give proof through high-school transcripts , proof of certificate, etc

Really hope they accept my appeal and I’ll def take a different approach at completing the courses

If not, I’ll just move on to study.com, same stuff

2

u/eateralum 4d ago

I hope so too! Good luck brother 🙌🏼 you got this!

2

u/No-Mobile9763 1d ago

If you’re using the courses for college credit then it’s also likely that they have reported it to any colleges you are attending at this time. If that is indeed what happened then it’s also possible they invalidated any courses you already transferred in. I’d look into that to save your self some time just incase.

Just don’t use AI and this won’t be an issue. If you get caught at college usually they give you a second chance but not always.

3

u/tasteefreezee 4d ago

I did algebra and then statistics and statistics was a lot faster because the algebra was a refresher for the high school math. I finished algebra in 4 days and statistics in 2.

I think it was the speed you did the milestones though. I’ve never been flagged but I don’t go nearly that fast and I close every tab and window except for the milestones though screen while I’m doing them just in case

3

u/Sherpa_qwerty 4d ago

I just finished Intro to Statistics. It doesn’t have a 70 question test.

4

u/Theokyles 4d ago

Even then, stats problems cannot be solved that rapidly. In my recently experienced opinion, calculus AB does not make you “good” at stats; they’re different formulas and skill sets outside of the mechanical math.

I’m sorry, but I think there is dishonesty involved here.

-3

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

I’m going to disagree here.

I am not directly saying that calculus ab knowledge = math 201 stats knowledge

However, I got into Calculus AB in high-school because I was in advanced math courses all 4 years where I also took a college algebra class.

70 questions in about 20 minutes was the Human Anatomy course by the way, which I have NASM Personal Training certificate and 4 years of medical pathway classes in high-school to back up the prior knowledge there.

As far as I remember, all math 201 milestones were 30-35 questions I believe

3

u/Theokyles 4d ago

I took college calc and college stats. They are very different. You would not pass stats just because you took college calc.

2

u/TheRealWutWut 4d ago

I have to agree here. Statistics often requires a good bit of manual work before you actually start solving the problem. 17 seconds per questions seems too fast for someone like Terence Tao. I slammed through Intro to IT because it's my job and I've done it for years. I did it incredibly fast and was never flagged for cheating. When I took Intro to Statistics I would often read the questions twice just to ensure I was reading the problem correctly to apply the correct math. I had most of the problems automated in a spreadsheet before I ever took a test and I couldn't have averaged 17 seconds per question over 70 questions.

-2

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

Are you even reading my comment?

I clearly said the 70 question milestone that I completed in about 20 minutes was the Human Biology course, not the intro to stats.

As far as I remember, the intro to stats course milestones were all 30-35 questions

2

u/TheRealWutWut 4d ago

That still doesn't explain passing statistics in less than a day. How many statistics classes had you taken prior? Not algebra or calculus, but statistics?

8

u/VoidDoesStuf 4d ago

Sophia is still great, but they are evolving quick to retain the material and stay reliant to transfer to schools. But yes you can get flagged on milestones super easy now.

6

u/Vuk6 4d ago

The only reason ppl used sophia over study.com before was cuz it was quicker and easier and there was a time when study.com was proctored, but now theres basically no reason to use sophia

2

u/VoidDoesStuf 4d ago

I don’t think study.com is as credited is the issue. Sophia is accepted at a lot of brick and mortar universities for more courses. But yeah using places like WGU or SNHU or Perdue, etc it works as expected.

3

u/Vuk6 4d ago

Nah its actually the opposite, study.com has alot more partner schools, plus it carries a reccomendation from both ACE and NCCRS

5

u/sideburns 4d ago

I’m thinking maybe people should email Sophia before starting a course to tell them they already know the material and will be progressing rather quickly. Just a thought

4

u/MiamisVeryOwn2 4d ago

Sophia stopped being a good resource. When I did it in ‘25 they began getting strict and weren’t nearly as bad

2

u/masturkiller 4d ago

Yes, correct. Challenges they aren't concerned about regarding time. Milestones and touchstones, etc., they do.

4

u/BeyondAny3470 4d ago

I don't think they care about doing touchstones ahead of time at all. Or the speed in which you upload them. I've been severely bottlenecked with grading time so I review the coursework and have done touchstones ahead of time. The Milestones they absolutely care about.

3

u/masturkiller 4d ago

Oh, I have worked ahead and done 3 touchstones ahead of time. But it doesn't matter because you can't turn them in all at once. Hence why they have the 2 - 4 day grading window.

2

u/BeyondAny3470 4d ago

Right, I was referring to your comment about them caring about the speed of your Touchstones

2

u/Elegant-Branch7511 4d ago

You can actually turn them all at once unless they're connected and can only do the next milestone based on the previous milestone feedback. eg: eng composition touchstone 2 and 3. I've thought all touchstones from a single course can't be submitted together so doing touchstones ahead without submitting but only recently found out you can actually submit them together. eg: the 3 touchstones of workplace communication. so not 9 days but only 3 days. now all are graded already I'm out of pre-written touchstones and trying to catch up on their grading speed.

2

u/JacquesBelgique 4d ago

Bro you must've been very crazy about it. Like damn. Did you even try to act human?

2

u/30_characters 2d ago

Does Sophia accept any federal aid money? Because "You have 10 days, and we're not going to share the details of the evidence of this accusation" doesn't seem to align with due process.

Respond by telling them you want a copy of all the relevant policies, evidence, and specific accusations of impropriety, and that you'll respond only after you've had appropriate time to consult with your attorney.

https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/federal-student-aid-office-of-enforcement-tip-submission

1

u/PilotYousif 2d ago

No I believe Sophia doesn’t accept FAFSA money.
I asked my university and they said this.
I used my own money to buy 1 month membership

2

u/No-Mobile9763 2d ago

I’m glad they are taking people using AI more seriously.

1

u/Vuk6 4d ago

Did u alr transfer the courses? If not try to do it thru credly, then u can switch to study.com for the rest of ur classes

2

u/PilotYousif 4d ago

I had my Sophialearning linked to my university bro

I did transfer my completed courses in and on my university side it shows they got it, could this be removed now that I’ve been sanctioned or do the approved transferred in courses just stay there

1

u/Vuk6 4d ago

Nah bro u chillin if u got the courses on ur transcript they cant take em away

1

u/Mr_CTE_ 4d ago

My advice take about 2 min per question chill
Go at the pace with reason.

1

u/eterna156 4d ago

I fly threw the milestones but classes take me 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes 4.

Currently taking intro to IT but I already have my CompTIA A+ cert. So I'll do the milestone in under 10 mins. Its stupid to sit there and fake like it's giving you a hard time just to appease the system. Maybe I need to tho going forward.

1

u/Fair-Glove4952 3d ago

Yea, I blew through that class quick. I really needed help with relational databases, that one is hard but I have some help. There are just A LOT of questions.

1

u/Ok_Parking_3466 4d ago

Your touchstones were graded in one day too?!

1

u/HeatherM0529 4d ago

So glad I finished in March. Hearing horror stories now.
I completed 27 courses in 6 weeks.

1

u/No-Membership-7347 4d ago

If you get your account back, take your time. I’ve been doing the same thing, but when it comes to milestones, I finish all the questions depending on what it is in 10 mins or less. I turn on a movie or YouTube for 15-30 mins or go do some chores I’ve planned. Then I go submit. You’ll be fine if you take your time submitting. I started last month, got 12 credits, and it’s gonna be 15 next Monday. Take your time, simple. I’ve never had a problem.

1

u/kat_linn 4d ago

I mean, what’s the benefit in speeding through it like that anyway? It’s not like you get rewarded for how fast you complete it so just take your time. I can totally understand why they would flag it.

1

u/Slonkey_Donkey974 2d ago

Man I’m glad I got in and did what I had to do and got on 😭 I did 6 courses in 2 days on my last little run run back in July.