I have lots of questions about going back to school

[Parrothead]

I suppose this is the place to discuss my going back to school since we do not have a dedicated self-education board.

 

Today I'm going to focus on CLEP tests. I bought the REA CLEP book about English comp. I suppose I'm going to take that test first. I also purchased SWB's first adult history book to read. I'll get the CLEP books too.

 

Is there a limit on how many CLEP tests a person can take and use toward the degree? Or would that be something determined by the individual school?

 

On average how long should one study prior to taking the CLEP test of choice?

 

I should make out a schedule. Help me prioritize. I need to get 5 hours a day dedicated to homeschooling dd. I need to also use that time plus another 2 hours on my own to study. I need to run a household. I need to get 2 hours a day for exercise (tai chi practice takes 1.25 hours a day, plus I need to run. These don't have to be done consecutively. ) I need to get dd to her outside lessons on Monday and Tuesday. If I can come up with the money should I hire help? Like a cleaning lady.

 

Searching the boards brought a link to this CLEP help website. It looks very helpful and I just wanted to post it in my thread so I can find it again easily if I loose the bookmark.

 

Why am I so nervous? Every time I start to think about this too hard I start getting nervous. My hands shake like an addict in need of a fix.

 

Oh! Another question. Should I focus on one CLEP test at a time or is it practical to study for two at a time then take the tests in the same week?

 

Another "oh!" What is the essay on the English comp about? Just any subject of interest? Or is there a specific subject matter I should be looking into?

Edited February 21, 2012 by Parrothead

[regentrude]

Is there a limit on how many CLEP tests a person can take and use toward the degree? Or would that be something determined by the individual school?

 

It will depend on the school and on the degree you are working for. You should first of all look up the degree requirements of the degree at the school you are interested in and see how many of the required subjects are even doable by CLEP, and which exams are accepted by your school.

Each department will have required classes for a degree in that department; they usually contain some electives which you may be able to fill with CLEP. But before you start scheduling and buying prep books, I'd contact the school and see how much credit you would get for each CLEP, and which courses would even count towards your degree.

[Beth S]

The rather non-traditional route is to enroll in an online college like Thomas Edison, which accepts a lot of CLEPs in their degree program.

 

To get more test prep practice with possible CLEP questions, you may want to enroll in http://www.instacert.com . There is a monthly subscription fee.

[AuntieM]

It will depend on the school and on the degree you are working for. You should first of all look up the degree requirements of the degree at the school you are interested in and see how many of the required subjects are even doable by CLEP, and which exams are accepted by your school.

Each department will have required classes for a degree in that department; they usually contain some electives which you may be able to fill with CLEP. But before you start scheduling and buying prep books, I'd contact the school and see how much credit you would get for each CLEP, and which courses would even count towards your degree.

 

This was our experience as we looked into the CLEP route for our high school students. We found that the schools we were looking at for continuing in a degree program had pretty strict limits as to how many CLEP credits they would take.

 

Have you read College Without Compromise? In large part it recommends the CLEP route to keep good Christian kids off wild college campuses, but it does contain all the details about CLEPing one's way to a degree. Maybe your library has a copy.

[Parrothead]

I did find out that the school I'm going to go through allows 30 CLEP credits. I have picked out 7 courses I can CLEP pretty easily. Three of those are worth 6 credits so I can only do those 7. That will max out the test for credit option for me. It does allow me to take 4 courses a semester and get the job done in 4 years instead of 5 and it will cost a few thousand less originally thought.

 

The CLEP books I bought arrived and answered the rest of the questions. I'm going to be studying and then taking two tests in about 7-8 weeks. I'm hoping I can squeeze all 7 in before actually starting this fall.

[regentrude]

I did find out that the school I'm going to go through allows 30 CLEP credits. I have picked out 7 courses I can CLEP pretty easily. Three of those are worth 6 credits so I can only do those 7. That will max out the test for credit option for me. It does allow me to take 4 courses a semester and get the job done in 4 years instead of 5 and it will cost a few thousand less originally thought..

 

 

Please make sure not just to look at what the school allows, but also which of theses courses are going to count towards your major! It would not make sense to get lots of CLEP credits if your department does not require the subjects either as core subjects or electives.

[Barbara H]

Please make sure not just to look at what the school allows, but also which of theses courses are going to count towards your major! It would not make sense to get lots of CLEP credits if your department does not require the subjects either as core subjects or electives.

 

I agree. Getting credits doesn't necessarily do you much good if they don't meet requirements. I would encourage you to meet in person with an advisor at the college to chart out a plan.

[regentrude]

I agree. Getting credits doesn't necessarily do you much good if they don't meet requirements. I would encourage you to meet in person with an advisor at the college to chart out a plan.

 

Or, if that is not feasible right now:

the college will have a course catalogue, and each department will list the course requirements and a proposed sequence of classes. They will stipulate specific courses in your field and electives in specific field. Most will require English Comp and US history and a certain number of out-of-field electives, and then there is a certain number of completely free electives you can use to fill up your hours.

[scrapbookbuzz]

I agree with all of the above except the meeting with the advisor. Okay, let me clarify.

Make sure the advisor is actually helping you, not only to make sure you're getting the right courses but that you are ON the right course. KWIM?

 

In my experience, college advisors aren't really all that helpful. But maybe that was just my advisor.

 

(Parrothead, I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. I've been wanting to pursue a very specialized masters degree for awhile now but have come to the conclusion that it's just going to have to wait a little longer. I truly hope this works out for you!)

[BuckeyeAtHeart]

One final word of caution: CLEP no longer delivers an exam titled "English Composition." They retired English Composition (with and without essay) and Freshman Composition in 2010, replaced with College Composition (2 mandatory essays built into the exam)and College Composition Modular (which has a stand-along multiple-choice section and then 2 optional essays, depending on what your college requires).

 

The best place to start your search, if you have not already, is the CLEP website (http://clep.collegeboard.org). You can find exam descriptions for each of the 33 exams. You will also be able to purchase ($10) downloads of the individual detailed descriptions along with a practice test, or if you plan to take more than 2 CLEP exams you might want to consider purchasing the CLEP Official Study Guide (they currently have 2012 edition, but you can look for older ones to use too).

 

If you do a google search on the exam title, you will find others who have referenced the same/similar exam. Learn from others who have already studied and taken these exams!

 

Another great resource would be the Peterson practice exams. Many testers have claimed that these are actually more difficult than the actual CLEP exam, but it is still another resource to help you cover the material. Some library systems have a subscription to the Gale Center "Testing & Education Reference Center" -- this is where the Peterson practice tests are located (along with many others besides CLEP). If your library offers it, you won't have to pay the $20 normally charged for the Peterson practice exams -- a great savings!

[Parrothead]

Please make sure not just to look at what the school allows, but also which of theses courses are going to count towards your major! It would not make sense to get lots of CLEP credits if your department does not require the subjects either as core subjects or electives.

Since I have to have a handful of general classes, the credits will go toward those. Things like western civ 1 and 2, CCM, natural science, and a couple others.

 

Since there are no CLEP credits for things like Foundations of Catholic Spirituality or Church History 1 I'll need to actually take those classes.

 

Here is the list of general classes I have to take:

English Composition 6 credits Social Science 12 credits Natural Science 3 credits History 6 credits Philosophy 3 credits Ethics (PH 210) 3 credits Mathematics 3 credits Humanities 9 credits

There are 45 credits there, and the school only accepts 30 test credits so I'll end up taking 5 of those as actual classes. Ethics and Philosophy for sure. Oh, and math. I don't remember the other two right off.