In your opinion - CLEP or SAT II's

[chelsea in TN]

Which would you have your child take if the goal was validation to "mommy Grades".

 

College credit would be nice - but the main reason to take would be the validation of high school work.

 

Thank you@

Chelsea

[Jane in NC]

Considering that many colleges do not give credit for CLEPs but wish to see SAT subjects for homeschooled students (as well as those from 'unknown' schools), I would say, "Check with the college." If you wish to demonstrate that your student can do college level work, an AP or two may be preferable. Again, check with the college.

 

Jane

[chelsea in TN]

He is in 9th grade so he does not know where he is going. The "state" schools do accept them.

I do not care if he gets college credit - just show he did do highschool level work in those subjects.

Thank you!

[Jane in NC]

He is in 9th grade so he does not know where he is going. The "state" schools do accept them.

I do not care if he gets college credit - just show he did do highschool level work in those subjects.

Thank you!

 

CLEP demonstrates college proficiency whereas SAT subject demonstrates high school. Apples and oranges? If the point is to show high school work, then SAT subject, I suppose. By the way, CLEPs cost $65 (inexpensive when compared to college tuition) while SAT subjects are less expensive.

 

Here in NC, not all of the state schools give credit for all of the CLEP tests, but sometimes they can be used for placement purposes.

 

Jane

[Gwen in VA]

I agree with EVERYTHING Jane has said --

 

but wanted to add one more thought. You might want to put some thought into what KIND of school your child might go to. Is he interested in Harvard/Swarthmore/other super-competitive colleges? Is he interested in State U? Is he interested in lesser-ranked State U? Is he interested in small Bible College? Is he interested in engineering?

 

Where he thinks he might be headed really is the determining factor in whether to do CLEP's or SAT-II's.

 

My kids did SAT-II's since we were pretty certain that they would be applying to "competitive" colleges (acceptance rates <35%). All of the colleges they applied to either recommended or required SAT-II's. None of the colleges our kids looked at would give any CLEP credit. (My kids took lots of AP's so they did enter with a good # of college credits.)

 

A dear friend of mine can't believe we went that route, since SAT-II's are not even acknowledged at our local cc. Her kids all did lots of CLEP's and managed to scoot through the cc with degrees in record time as a result of all those CLEP's.

 

CLEP's and SAT-II's are both good ways to validate homeschool achievement. Which one is better depends on where your son is trying to go!

[staceyneil]

Here is the response I got when asking Harvard Admissions about SAT-IIs versue AP exams (not CLEP, I know, but similar if I'm not mistaken?)

 

I had written asking whether it sould be detrimental to my daughter if she didn't take the AP exams for the Ap level courses she'll be doing. We will be travelling and taking the AP exams abroad would be extremely difficult. SATs are easier to take abroad. Anyway, this might give some insight:

 

In your daughter's case, no admissions office would fault her for not

taking the AP exams that corresponded to the classes you designed for

her. A simple explanation of what you've told me will instantly

clear the situation up for admissions officers.

 

That said, the great thing (well, interesting at least!) about the

SAT II exams and AP exams is that they're written by the same

company, so generally students perform similarly on both. Having SAT

II exams in the subjects in which your daughter feels best prepared

will be a wonderful resource for admissions officers, and it will

take the place of AP exams (which aren't required for admissions for

any school that I know of). In fact, many students don't have an AP

course or exam on their transcript when they apply to Harvard or

other schools. I think of me, a student from a small farming

community in the Midwest, and the fact that my senior year was the

first I even took an AP course; I didn't have any AP tests or

previous AP courses to speak of when I applied to colleges.

 

In short: your daughter should take the SAT II exams in the subjects

she would do the best in when it the time comes, and you can feel

confident that those scores will give colleges a rough idea of her

academic preparedness for certain subjects. Even schools that don't

require 2 or 3 SAT II exams will appreciate having the extra

information, especially since your daughter's situation will be such

an uncommon one. You can teach traditional courses in things like

world history, US history, mathematics, literature, etc., and there

will be SAT II exams to cover those subjects.

 

[Anne/Ankara]

This brings up another question I have in planning next year-- if you have a student who plans to take an AP exam at the end of the year, would you also have him take the corresponding SAT II subject test that same year? In our case, I'm talking about AP Biology, and the Biology subject test.

 

Would that be redundant, or would it be wise since you may want two or three SAT II tests on the transcript by graduation time? Just wondering if the subject tests should ideally be in different courses/areas than AP or reinforcing the same areas...

[Jane in NC]

This brings up another question I have in planning next year-- if you have a student who plans to take an AP exam at the end of the year, would you also have him take the corresponding SAT II subject test that same year? In our case, I'm talking about AP Biology, and the Biology subject test.

 

 

 

Anne,

 

This is what my son is doing, following advice given previously by the Wise Women on this board. After it is over, I'll have a better grasp of whether or not this worked for us.

 

Jane

[Nissi]

Ladies, does this mean that your child needs to be prepared at AP level in order to do well on a SAT II subject test? Can my child do well at SAT II subject test by doing a course like Thinkwell Biology along with Apologia I and II Biology?

Thanks,

Nissi

[Jane in NC]

Ladies, does this mean that your child needs to be prepared at AP level in order to do well on a SAT II subject test?

 

Apples and oranges.

 

AP shows college level mastery, while SAT subject focuses on high school.

 

Here is the problem: some of the competitive colleges want to see SAT subjects from applicants. Not all colleges recognize AP credit--some do. Basically we are trying to cover all of the bases.

 

But an SAT subject test could be taken after a solid high school class in biology. You can read on the College Board website the recommendations for language exams, math, etc.

 

Jane

[Gwen in VA]

Jane is right on with her answer.

 

I just want to give our experience -- my kids "needed" to take SAT-II's because the colleges they were applying to require them. The schools would not accept AP exams in lieu of SAT-II exams.

 

Since the AP and SAT-II exams are like apples and oranges, they can be dealt with separately or together, depending on the subject.

 

For example, the math SAT-II's are not at all related to calculus -- so you would take them after algebra or after pre-calculus, depending on the exam. You would not wait until after taking AP calculus to take them.

 

But if you are taking AP biology in 11th grade, you might as well wait to take the SAT-II until then -- the SAT-II will be an absolute joke compared with the AP exam, and you can get double mileage out of your studying (though I would still recommend a SAT-II study guide -- some of the SAT-II question formats are weird...)

 

Dd took the physics SAT-II three weeks after taking the AP physics B exam -- and thought the SAT-II by comparison was an absolute joke. She did work through an SAT-II prep book just for the record, but she definitely got double mileage out of her AP studying.

 

It's confusing -- but I have received GREAT advice from the lovely ladies on this board and elsewhere that helped me avoid all kinds of mistakes! Keep asking questions!