How BTS Courses Work All BTS courses ordinarily involve readings, audio and/or video tapes and written work. A typical course will include approximately 25 hours of lectures, extensive reading assignments, one or two short written assignments, a final exam and a term paper. Exams are all "open book" enabling students to use any pertinent material. This allows BTS students to experience real-life research instead of mastering test-taking techniques of the artificial classroom environment. BTS's aim is that students have an accurate understanding of the content of the course, not perform stunts in short-term memorization. A unique benefit of correspondence courses at BTS is that they always include personal, one-to-one discussions with the instructor (four hours per course). Auditing Courses Any course may be audited (taken for no credit) for $25. No exams, papers or tutorials. Covenant Media Foundation does not extend a student discount on materials for audited courses.