Clep credit through Modern States

[athena1277]

We are planning for dd to take several clep exams (the college she wants to go to will take a lot).  We are looking at Modern States, but I’m not sure how some of it works and how to fit it into our schedule for the year (11th grade).  

How tough are the courses?  Do they always take the full 4 or 6 weeks they list?  Can they be done in less time?  Is there a way use it as a review? for example dd took American History last year, so she doesn’t need a full class.

Also, if your dc used this, how did you schedule your year?  Some of dd’s subjects this year need to be done all year, but MS classes are more compacted, so I don’t know what would be realistic for a schedule.

Thanks!

[Lecka]

My husband did Western Civ 1 with Modern States and he passed, but did not feel well-prepared.  

He has taken one now with Instant Cert Academy and thought that was better.

He has taken two others that were either CLEP or DSST and just studied from recommended resources (and one of those was a topic he already knew a lot about).  

I listened to a lot of the Western Civ 1 lectures with him, and I thought the lecturer was very good.  

He was just doing it where he could fit it in.  

I am not sure how much he read of the pdf textbook.  

Anyway — he has taken and passed 4 now, and Western Civ 1 with Modern States is the one where he felt the worst about it.  He barely passed it.  

Edit:  overall I have a great impression of that Modern States course, but it was not enough test prep and my husband did not have a good sense of what to study — and Western Civ covers a lot.  

Edited July 15, 2019 by Lecka

[cbollin]

My middle daughter has lots of positive experience with  Moderns States and CLEP prep.  Loved those vouchers for free testing and reimbursement of test center fees. Took 9 exams in one calendar year, and passed them all, and all of them accepted at her college toward degree.  The year she did those exams was her 5th year of high school (or her gap year depending how you want to look at things.)   DD took high school US history in grade 11.  So it was review.  Same with US Gov't and some other classes.  Several CLEP exams she took were on new to her material as we did not do a psychology or sociology course in high school.   I tend to think of the Modern States class as review and fill in the gaps from regular high school class to be able to pass the CLEP.  

How modern states worked for my dd:  Their classes are get a little video overview of some material, read the online textbook assignments, take a handful of practice questions on the material. And then a full set of practice questions at the end.  The practice questions tally up and when you finish all of them, you can get a voucher to register.  (You have to follow the instructions on that with screen shot, etc).   After she got a voucher, she then took about 3 practice exams before going to the test center.  This is much like one would do with ACT test.  Our library system as free access to the Peterson's CLEP practice exams so it was free to us to practice that way.  We also had some REA guides for CLEP for a few tests for more practice.  She was nervous.  But practice tests were showing she was ready.   Oh, on the Humanities clep, and Eng LIt CLEP,  she used InstantCert for flashcards to study.

There is a lot of information in the online texts.  Some classes were totally new to my dd and if she had been still in high school years, I would have called it a full class especially since she passed the CLEP.  But, I'm not a person who only counts clock hours to make a credit. 

I'm not really sure how to suggest you work the schedule for the year.  I know the prep work for Government clep only took 3 weeks for my dd from start of class to pass the test. With my daughter she hyperfocused so it was one subject at a time for a short burst of study to do those cleps.  That was after 4 years of 6 classes a semester and doing each one everyday.   Sociology (took a little longer than 6 weeks because she was getting used to format).  Review for US 1 and US2 took quick time. Psych was fast too do. Biology (was quick to review clep material even after 4 years since taking apologia). Pre Calc was the one she took time to review and study.  She had done Saxon Advanced in grade 12 and math is not her area.  But she passed.  Gov't. Humanities. Eng Lit. were 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 4 weeks.  I have heard of others who do it in way less time. good for them.

Not sure which exams your daughter wants to do or how you normally schedule work.  Some people work toward and study for 2 clep exams at a time.  and yes that can be done with Modern states.  

 

oh, on the question of how tough are modern states classes:  none of the ones my dd took had essays or research or labs to turn in or anything like that. It was learn material from reading and practice tests. grading was automatic on the multiple choice and I think she got to have 3 tries on each question so you can learn the material. The goal is to prepare for test instead of do a college level course work to prepare for workload. all classes are recorded and you can read the transcript of the video as you watch. text is accessed with course.  self paced.

[Lecka]

I do know my husband took the practice tests with Western Civ I, and that was helpful but he felt like a lot of questions on the CLEP were not things he had ever seen on the practice tests and he didn’t have a sense that they would be on the test.  He did pass — but he did not like feeling unprepared.

For my husband — he just needs to pass the CLEP or DSST tests, and then they show up on his college website after about 2 months.  He enters his college code when he takes the test.  

He is in the Army and he can take any test free from a testing center on post here, but if he fails a test he cannot retake the same test for 6 months.  

He has a list of “recommended resources” for every test and Modern States is one of the resources they highly recommend.  It is also free!  

But for his situation all that matters is that he pass the test, with whatever study method or materials he chooses.  

Edit:  I should say — he is not a really confident test-taker and HATES to see a question and feel like he doesn’t know anything about that question.  It really, really bothers him.  It really ruined his day (or even a few days) because he was so sure, while he was taking the test, that he wasn’t doing well on it.  

Anyway — it is a bit of a touchy subject!  But he will not use Modern States again because of that. 

But on the other hand — he did pass.  

For the Instant Cert he did, he felt more like he was familiar with everything, but it was also a subject he knew more about in the first place.  

He did not have a lot of background knowledge for Western Civ.  

He is planning for his next test to be Western Civ II and to use Instant Cert, so I think he will be able to compare them more then.  

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Lecka