brla Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 My girls are 14 and have almost finished their first year of High school Early American history. They believe they would do well on either (or both of) the CLEP or DSST test(s) for this subject. I am not sure if it's worth it. I did look at the colleges they could possibly attend to make sure they accept all of these types of tests and found most to be testing centers for them. So, what to take? What is worth the money and effort? We will not be doing community college. My husband decided this last year. He is ok with them doing college online while in high school, but I don't want to do a dual-enrollment scenario where I lose control of what materials they are using for studying. We looked at college plus, but decided against it. So, anyone have experience with this? suggestions? books to read? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 My dd did a bunch of CLEP and she liked it. My girl friend had two kids in CollegePlus! and her eldest son was just accepted into Paramedic school. We live in Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brla Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 Thanks for your feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brla Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 We are doing it. If you have an idea where you plan on sending them then it is if the school accepts it. We are looking at a couple of universities here in the St. Louis area. 3 of them will be at the homeschool conference this weekend. The other school is out of town and will require a visit. Most of these are for one of my daughters who wants to major in Music. She will need to go to an actual brick and mortar school for her major area course work. HOWEVER, she also wants to major in English (a double-major) and then continue on for her Masters in Library Science. My other daughter wants to major in History (hasn't picked a certain area) with a minor in art and Music. So, she has more opportunity to actually do most of her work online or thru distance-learning. I've looked at that Thomas Edison college (the one College Plus recommends) for the History degree. I requested information today from them. So, once we decide on the school(s) then do I just make an appointment with an advisor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtneyBrooke Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 It would definitely be a great option to try. Most schools accept at least a small amount of CBE (credit by exam: CLEP, AP, DSST) credits. Thomas Edison and some others accept a large number of them. Sometimes schools will let you skip that course and move to the next level. *Even if* schools won't accept the credits, including them on your transcript shows colleges that your daughters are willing to work hard and complete college-level exams. In our school, my daughter completes the high school course for a subject and then takes the corresponding CBE. For example, she studied Earth and Space Science and then took the Astronomy DSST. She took a course on Analyzing Literature and then completed the Analyzing Literature CLEP. We aren't sure where she will go to college, but we believe the CBE will come in handy at some point. We also make a fun day out of it: We drop the little siblings off at Grandmas, she takes the test while I sit in the waiting area and read, then we go out for lunch and she has the rest of the day off school. She looks forward to those days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 … one of my daughters who wants to major in Music. She will need to go to an actual brick and mortar school for her major area course work. HOWEVER, she also wants to major in English (a double-major) and then continue on for her Masters in Library Science. My other daughter wants to major in History (hasn't picked a certain area) with a minor in art and Music. So, she has more opportunity to actually do most of her work online or thru distance-learning... Potential downsides to doing a lot of CLEP or DSST: - The college may grant credit, BUT only as electives -- and NOT count the CLEP/DSST as fulfilling required credits in the student's major; some schools may not even count it towards general ed. requirements. - Credit by exam does not carry a GPA. That's not a problem if it's just a few credits; but it can be problematic if it's a large portion of the credits for the degree; some Master's programs require the Bachelor degree to have a GPA for most of the coursework. The take-away for both situations: research, research, research… - policies of the schools your students are interested in for Bachelor AND Master degrees - if those schools accept credit by exam - if so, which specific CLEP/DSST do they accept - what is the maximum number of credits by exam do they accept - are the credits applied toward gen. ed. and/or degree areas -- or just accepted as electives - will a Bachelor's with significant CLEP/DSST be accepted by the school of choice for entrance for a Master's One last concern: CLEP and DSST exams are GREAT for solo study of material and testing of knowledge gained from reading texts and literature. BUT… they cannot provide for the exchange of ideas and critical thinking that comes out of class discussion and are a critical part of English, History, and Humanities programs. Credit by exam also cannot provide the practice and experience of research and writing papers and receiving feedback from an experienced instructor. Discussion, writing essays, and research/cited papers are all a huge part of English, History, Humanities programs. In the same way, STEM students do not get the vital experience of lab work when a science class is taken as credit by exam, rather than in a classroom setting. For example, my DH retired last summer and this semester he is finishing his BA at the University. One course required for his degree is a 200-level Literature class; the exams are all essay answers, and several lengthy papers are required -- some requiring research and reading/responding to peer-reviewed articles in conjunction with the work of Literature. There is an emphasis on using published research, and learning the process to be able to publish your own research, which is what a graduate student works towards; this class as part of the Bachelor's is a training ground or stepping stone toward that goal. I use that as an example of what your DDs would need to be prepared for, if they start college at say, a sophomore level because they end up with enough credits through CLEP/DSST to have the freshman year out of the way. Because of your DDs' major areas of (English and History), in addition to studying the material for the CLEP/DSST exams, it would be critical to include in your home coursework lots of discussion, writing of essays, research and longer papers with citations, use of peer-reviewed articles and primary source documents, etc. Esp. if you would be doing a lot of CLEP/DSST and knocking of 1-2 years of college in advance, it could be VERY helpful to hire a tutor each for the English and History fields to help raise the bar for advanced level discussions and papers to make sure DDs are prepared for those aspects of upper level college classes. Or, find a rigorous online course that you would trust, which could also provide very valuable class discussion and outside instructor feedback on the writing. Just a few more things to research and discuss as you work out your options and goals! BEST of luck, whatever your family decides. :) Warmest regards, Lori D. ETA: PS -- and in answer to your original question -- yes indeed! Depending on the student's goals and the college, CLEP/DSST can indeed be worthwhile. :) They can certainly save you money and time, and "prove mommy grades" on the transcript. You just have to research and know what the limitations may be, and weigh the pros/cons of all your options to determine if credit by exam is the best way to reach your desired goals. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 If you are on Facebook, you might want to join this group. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ClepForHomeschool/info It is very active and there are some great people on there ready to answer questions about CLEP and DSST. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 since I had never heard of DSST before this post: DSST credit granting colleges: http://getcollegecredit.com/institutions/search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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