sltress Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 (edited) Not sure if I am late to the party but I recently was told about a site that offers free full courses to prepare someone to sit for an AP or CLEP exam, whichever they choose. It's called modernstates.org. Their site says it is partnered with edx.com but they too offer courses for exam or certificate. Edx.com offers more courses and can also be for adults in certain fields to get certificates to show their employers or whatever. So my question is...if modern states is partnered with edx than what's the difference b/w the 2 for a high school student trying to test out of college freshman classes? Anyway, this seems too good to be true but I love that my student could take a full free course, take an AP exam, and earn credits, all for the price of the test! I can't afford AP classes and I was a little iffy about just studying for a CLEP exam b/c I really want my student to get full course learning. This seems like the answer. Anyone have any experience/info? I know all about checking with colleges first to see if they accept AP/CLEP so I don't need all that info, just info about these 2 sites. I am thinking of taking a course myself to test it out. I may sit for an exam afterwards, who knows. EDITED TO SAY: Sorry. I originally thought these were full courses but several ladies who have commented below have corrected my misunderstanding and they are TEST PREP courses. The modern states prep courses themselves say CLEP, not AP, but on their site it says these courses help prep for CLEP and AP so that is why I included AP in my description. Thx~ Edited June 17, 2017 by sltress 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 I found this today as well. I cannot answer your questions. but WOW! what a great resource. I think you will want to look carefully at each college to see what they accpet from CLEP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
counselinggirl Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 This looks like an awesome resource! Thank you for sharing. :) After reviewing the site, I can only find "CLEP" courses and not necessarily AP courses. I know sometimes those exams (& courses) cover different material or at least somewhat. Where you able to find the AP classes? Or do you think they just mean that a student can use what they are calling the "CLEP course" to study for an AP exam? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 (edited) I didn't sign up, but the courses that I can see are not full courses. They are all described as reviews of the material and are only four weeks in length. Are there other courses listed for those that sign up besides the ones that we can preview? ETA: I can see that it would be very helpful for those students that want to have a review at the end of the year before taking a CLEP test, though. It looks very good for that purpose. Edited June 17, 2017 by Clear Creek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Where you able to find the AP classes?Can't find any AP courses either. EdX does have quite a few free self-paced AP courses though E.g, AP Macroeconomics https://www.edx.org/course/apr-macroeconomics-davidson-next-macapfull-0 AP Microeconomics https://www.edx.org/course/introductory-apr-microeconomics-mitx-14-01x#! AP Physics 1 https://www.edx.org/course/ap-physics-1-ricex-advphy1x AP Calculus BC https://www.edx.org/course/apr-calculus-bc-davidson-next-calapbcx 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sltress Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 Sorry. This is a new area to me so maybe I am not understanding but this is a quote from the modern states site: "The courses are designed to prepare students for the major “Advanced Placement†(AP)* or “College Level Examination Program†(CLEP)* tests offered by the College Board, including subjects such as History, Computer Science, Math, English and Economics." I guess most of the courses are 4 weeks for 6 hours per week. So 24 hours of class which I guess is not a "full course". Sorry if I mislead. I hadn't really looked that intently at each course timeframe. It just looked like more than a "review". So if a person does one of these classes and passes an AP or CLEP test I would "think" that could count as college credit depending on if your college accepts it??? Still learning all about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Not sure if I am late to the party but I recently was told about a site that offers free full courses to prepare someone to sit for an AP or CLEP exam, whichever they choose. It's called modernstates.org. Their site says it is partnered with edx.com but they too offer courses for exam or certificate. Edx.com offers more courses and can also be for adults in certain fields to get certificates to show their employers or whatever. So my question is...if modern states is partnered with edx than what's the difference b/w the 2 for a high school student trying to test out of college freshman classes? Anyway, this seems too good to be true but I love that my student could take a full free course, take an AP exam, and earn credits, all for the price of the test! I can't afford AP classes and I was a little iffy about just studying for a CLEP exam b/c I really want my student to get full course learning. This seems like the answer. Anyone have any experience/info? I know all about checking with colleges first to see if they accept AP/CLEP so I don't need all that info, just info about these 2 sites. I am thinking of taking a course myself to test it out. I may sit for an exam afterwards, who knows. Thx~ While I see AP mentioned in the FAQ, I don't see any of the courses in the Course Catalog listed as AP courses. One thing that causes me some concern is that the FAQ is very breezy in describing the process of taking an AP test, which is required for credit. While it is true that you don't have to be in a traditional AP course to sit for the exam, it is also true that schools can restrict exam seats to their own students, may not offer all exams, and may require registration for exams months in advance. I tend to register my kids for their AP exams in January, after having located a willing school in the fall. To be more encouraging, if schools in your area are willing to take outside students (we have had some luck with both public schools and private schools), you can in fact create an AP course on your own that you submit to College Board for approval (via the AP Course Audit). I have done this for a number of courses over the years, mostly in history and English, which are my strong areas. If this is something you think you might consider, there are several threads on the topic. (Try searching for "welltrainedmind.com" and "advanced placement" and "course audit" or "planning") 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Just want to pop in and say Coursera has some wonderful free courses that my kids used as a basis for both the AP and Clep exams. Good Calculus and Economics in particular. For the AP the important thing is to compare the College Board Syllabus to the "free" course being offered. A good review book at the end is handy too but can be purchased cheap used or just checked out of the library.https://www.bestapbooks.com For instance my kids used this Calculus on Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/calculus1 for the AP. I think they did the Calculus 2 one also. Free......there used to be an AP Calculus review but it didn't run the year my son took the exam. Dd loved the AP review. I think ds used the free edx courses as a basis for both his Statistics ans Computer Science AP exams. Both topics he was already familiar with. He combined the courses with review books. For Clep this website http://www.free-clep-prep.com is a really valuable resource. The syllabus for the courses and links are great and accurate. My kids did many Clep exams and never had any complaints about the information on free clep prep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Can't find any AP courses either. EdX does have quite a few free self-paced AP courses though E.g, AP Macroeconomics https://www.edx.org/course/apr-macroeconomics-davidson-next-macapfull-0 AP Microeconomics https://www.edx.org/course/introductory-apr-microeconomics-mitx-14-01x#! AP Physics 1 https://www.edx.org/course/ap-physics-1-ricex-advphy1x AP Calculus BC https://www.edx.org/course/apr-calculus-bc-davidson-next-calapbcx Totally unrelated: I clicked on the AP physics just for fun (my degree is physics) and it's taught by my alma mater, by my old advisor!!! Soooo cool! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Just want to pop in and say Coursera has some wonderful free courses that my kids used as a basis for both the AP and Clep exams. Good Calculus and Economics in particular. For the AP the important thing is to compare the College Board Syllabus to the "free" course being offered. A good review book at the end is handy too but can be purchased cheap used or just checked out of the library.https://www.bestapbooks.com For instance my kids used this Calculus on Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/calculus1 for the AP. I think they did the Calculus 2 one also. Free......there used to be an AP Calculus review but it didn't run the year my son took the exam. Dd loved the AP review. I think ds used the free edx courses as a basis for both his Statistics ans Computer Science AP exams. Both topics he was already familiar with. He combined the courses with review books. For Clep this website http://www.free-clep-prep.com is a really valuable resource. The syllabus for the courses and links are great and accurate. My kids did many Clep exams and never had any complaints about the information on free clep prep. Which Economics courses on Coursera did you guys particularly like. There are so many online free Economics courses! I'm hoping to narrow things down so that I don't have to preview them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Which Economics courses on Coursera did you guys particularly like. There are so many online free Economics courses! I'm hoping to narrow things down so that I don't have to preview them all. https://www.coursera.org/learn/principles-of-macroeconomics Both dc's used this one from the University of California Irvine for Macro. Ds used the same school for Micro too. The lecturer is a bit boring but it actually is a perfect class if you want them to practice taking real notes from live lectures. The guy talks in a pretty perfect outline form so awesome for note taking skills. I think these are now on demand. We turned these into Clep not AP but they should work for AP. Pretty sure I compared once upon a time but not available to us. Dd took one from a Uni in Illinois. I don't think it's still available because we couldn't use it for ds. Her lectures were great and a bit more fun. Both were the basic Intro to given at most schools. There are several great economics ones out there if you guys are interested. We used Coursera intently about 4 years ago. There was an Economic of Sports which was fascinating and both dc's did that one. They also did some finance/accounting ones from some big name schools just out of interest. The best thing about them is they could try them and drop them if they were in over their heads and the cost was 0. Another useful course was the Chemistry from Duke. At the time dd took it there was only one which I think was this one https://www.coursera.org/learn/basic-chemistry. She used that plus selected lectures from the University of Kentucky's advanced course to get a great pass in the Chemistry Clep which is considered one of the hardest Clep exams. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 (edited) Not sure if I am late to the party but I recently was told about a site that offers free full courses to prepare someone to sit for an AP or CLEP exam, whichever they choose. It's called modernstates.org. It appears that the Modern States Education Alliance is currently CLEP only. As others have mentioned, they appear to be "review for the exam" courses which is good - many folks need these since you can take the CLEP exams throughout the year. Currently they are providing some vouchers for the CLEP exams so your cost would be $0: https://modernstates.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Modern-States_Freshman-Year-For-Free.pdf thanks for posting Edited June 17, 2017 by MarkT 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 I'm sitting waiting for ds to finish a CLEP test. The administrator brought me a flyer for modern states to let me know he can take future tests for free through their program. It's a non-profit piloting a "freshman year for free" program. She said that they will even pay the college $30 administration fee if I submit the receipt. Even if the review classes aren't perfect, saving $110 on the test is awesome. I came here to post but found this thread already started. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sltress Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 I'm sitting waiting for ds to finish a CLEP test. The administrator brought me a flyer for modern states to let me know he can take future tests for free through their program. It's a non-profit piloting a "freshman year for free" program. She said that they will even pay the college $30 administration fee if I submit the receipt. Even if the review classes aren't perfect, saving $110 on the test is awesome. I came here to post but found this thread already started. Thx for letting us know that! Helps to hear that it isn't something just mentioned on a website but is actually true. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Thx for letting us know that! Helps to hear that it isn't something just mentioned on a website but is actually true. :) You're welcome. I definitely feel more comfortable that it is legit since the university gave me the information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneDesouza Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 Thank you for posting this. I went thru the resources and they are great. I was looking for some ap books that my daughter can use along with CLEP tests and I came across the following resource, which I thought was very helpful. http://www.studyapexam.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 (edited) After reviewing the site, I can only find "CLEP" courses and not necessarily AP courses.AP courses are now up as well. https://modernstates.org/course/?subject=0&accreditation=ap Today is the official launch of Freshmen Year for Free Edited August 10, 2017 by Arcadia 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModernStates Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Modern States is a NYC-based philanthropy that serves as an on-ramp to college for all people. Think of it as a digital public library of full-fledged freshman courses taught by top college professors in every major freshman subject. The courses prepare students to take more than 40 AP and CLEP exams, and include lectures, textbooks, and practice questions, all for free. In addition, Modern States is paying the $85 test fee for the first 10,000 test takers. A passing score on an AP or CLEP exam can lead to college credit at more than 2,900 colleges and universities. A student can take one course or many, all the way up to “Freshman Year for Free.†Modern States partnered with edX to produce the AP courses; the complete catalog of 32 CLEP courses, taught by professors from leading universities, is available only on Modern States. The Modern States CLEP courses are taught by faculty members from some of the nation’s best universities. For example, Paul Schiff Berman, a former dean of the George Washington University Law School, teaches the “Introduction to Business Law†course. https://modernstates.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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