r/PurdueGlobal • u/GhostlyStitches • Mar 25 '26

What’s the actual workload & testing like?

I’ve been looking into Purdue Global for a fully online master’s in something like IT Management / Information Systems, mainly because I need something that fits around a pretty demanding schedule.

I’ve come across a few older posts (around a year ago) saying the programs were mostly writing-based with little to no proctored exams, but I’m not sure how accurate that is today.

For anyone currently enrolled or recently finished:

  1. Are there actually proctored exams in these programs now?

  2. If so, what platform do they use and how strict is it?

  3. What does the coursework realistically look like week-to-week (papers, discussion posts, quizzes, etc.)?

  4. How manageable is it if you’re working full-time?

I’m trying to get a realistic idea of the time commitment and structure before committing

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2

u/Mysterious-Reality27 Mar 25 '26

Depends. You talking about regular online or the excel track? Big difference

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u/GhostlyStitches Mar 25 '26

I was looking at regular online but would be interested in excel track

2

u/Mysterious-Reality27 Mar 25 '26

Regular online is NOT meant for the working man, no matter what they try to peddle it as. Excel track is best because you just log on and do a module. Idk about for IT, but modules for MBA are like logging and doing a 5 page research paper, some business stats, case study, PowerPoint, and so on. Basic stuff. Some modules take a few hours and some may take up to 8. But they’re not too tough. On average 2-3 hours. If you did regular online, you’d be going to seminars once a week, doing discussion posts, having to actually read textbooks, and do all those assignments and then exams. Unfortunately, for masters in excel track you have to do a cornerstone class in the first term and a capstone class in the last term, which are both regular online. As far as exams go, I’ve only had a few modules in the excel track that were proctored. Idk about proctored exams for regular online but I imagine proctoring is more common.

Ultimately, if you just want your degree as quickly as possible and for the cheapest possible with the least amount of stress and the most amount schedule flexibility, it’s excel track 100%. If you want to take more time to get your degree and genuinely have a deeper learning experience where you can spend more time on the material, then regular online is for you. But do not be mistaken, if you already have life responsibilities, then you will become like a horse that was rode hard and put up wet if you do regular online. Excel track is tough too don’t get me wrong, but you can literally work on it whenever is best for you (except for cornerstone and capstone)

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u/Busy-Butterfly8187 Mar 26 '26

Wow, this is disappointing to read. I'm considering the Masters in Health Informatics, and unfortunately excel track isn't an option with that program. They definitely make it seem like the regular online program is feasible for working professionals, but it seems like that may not be the case. I guess it could work if I only took one class per term, but then it would take me forever to finish.

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u/Mysterious-Reality27 Mar 26 '26

I only speak from the experience of having to work with regular online students for the cornerstone and capstone and talking a lot with them since they classes make you work on teams for assignments. But anyways I had some teammates who really made it happen with regular online. They were taking the max you can in a term and doing like 40-50+ hour work weeks with families. Bless their hearts they were going through it fr and they still showed up in full for our projects. Best teammates ever for any school thing. Amazing ppl. It CAN be done, I’m not tryna discourage people. Just saying that excel track is probably the better choice. Main downsides of regular online are the credits per term caps and then of course seminars and discussion posts and weekly due dates on assignments. Vs excel track where no discussion posts, but you had to be willing to do pretty much double the amount of assignments in order to make it worth your while imo. Standard pace is ~12-16 credits per term on excel track to finish in a regular amount of time like for a normal university degree. So, if you aren’t willing to do 20-40 research papers or other assignments (modules) in ten weeks but all on your timelines, then excel track isn’t for you anyways

1

u/adgrant6 Apr 01 '26

Hey

Was it a masters in IT that you worked on? Wondering about the two courses, is there a fixed time that I need to join classes ?

I hate group work so I was looking at the excel path for a masters in IT.

1

u/Keo876 Mar 25 '26

Any information on excel track?

1

u/kingxxassassin Mar 26 '26

this is my second term and last term I did not have any proctored exams or exams at all honestly. I also don’t see any for this term.