Adult CLEP study?

[Carrie12345]

I’m considering trying to CLEP some credits while figuring out what I want to do in the not so distant future. My CC accepts up to 75% tested credits and our local state school accepts all of our CC transfer credits. I don’t have any real transferrable credits from my college attempts 25 years ago. My best grade was in an obscure course that nobody else has, lol.

I’ve been reading up, and high school kids are recommending studying for a couple of weeks max, but I’m assuming they’ve recently had classes in quite a bit of the subject matter. I certainly haven’t, and I’ve been outsourcing a lot of high school for my homeschoolers, so my brushing up is minimal. I could probably CLEP college algebra cold, but my current preferred major wants statistics instead!

I’ve been looking at Khan, study dot com, speedy prep, and CLEP books. I’m no genius, but I do consider myself intelligent, just rusty. I’m wondering what the shortest distance from point A to point B might be. A couple of weeks like HS students? (Excluding the biggies like foreign language.) Spread out like a full length course? Or something in between?

Additionally, there are two courses I’d like to test out of that aren’t offered as CLEP. They’re listed under the courses that have Departmental Challenge Exams, but there’s no real information on those (just the departmental contact.)

I really do not want to pay to take Public Speaking. I hate it, and yet it comes up in my life often enough to be able to say that I’m competent. What might a Public Speaking Challenge Exam look like???  Also, Intro to Computers.  DD took this last year, and it’s such a time waste.  They’re teaching MS Office in 2020 as a required course.  We are a Google and Apple family, and I know there are some slight differences. Would a cheap MS Office book be enough to pass an exam if I already know how to do everything on my preferred platforms?

These are the questions that keep me procrastinating.

[klmama]

You might want to take a look at Modern States.  It provides free, asynchronous classes taught by college professors.  After completing the courses via Modern States, you can request a CLEP voucher code to take the test for free.  

Edited January 19, 2020 by klmama

[cbollin]

long answer:

I'll second the idea of using Modern States.  watch videos, and also read the assigned pages in the online textbook provided too.  Get voucher for CLEP exam.  and they will also reimburse test center fee after you take the exam. My slow to average middle daughter was able to use modernstates to pass 9 clep exams in about 8-9 months time.  This was her "gap year" and wasn't trying to do it all at once in less time either.  Her cc accepted all of them. She took 8 classes to finish associates (well, that will be done in a few more weeks, but... yeah).  Originally that was the end goal.  But now, she's attempting a bachelors at a university that takes a lot of transfer credit from clep, "ace transcript" (so study.com and sophia.org, and other).   It's  "just in case" degree in liberal studies.  but still, this is more than we originally thought we were planning.

Check your library for any access to CLEP practice tests. (or even REA prep books)  In my state, there is a statewide free online access to the Peterson's brand of CLEP practice tests.  Maybe your library systems have similar options.   (edit to add: on our library website, it's part of online reference materials and called Testing and Education Reference Center powered by Peterson's.  ask at your library.)   Another option for practice exams is REA.  You can buy printed book (new or used), check library, do just the online practice exams from them after you've done test prep. 

Dept. challenge exams: that can be interesting topic where it seems that no matter what, the student does not pass. Maybe there are some success stories out there. I keep waiting to hear them. I keep hearing the stories where it wasn't positive outcome.

For public speaking and any intro statistics, look into a DSST exam option if your schools accept them.  DSST are similar in some way to CLEP, but published by different company.  Check your local CC if they accept those (you might have to ask about that under the older name for DSST which is DANTES.  no, you don't have to be military to do them).   I've heard good things about using a free course on Learner.org for statistics, with the caveat that it was the "older version of that course".  I don't know how the "new" version is different,.  look on learner.org for a course called "against all odds".   Someone I know did that course as an adult after years had passed from high school math, and passed the DSST intro stats exam and it was a quick A to B point process.

for some exams, my daughter found using the paid subscription on InstantCert to be helpful for the flashcards.  And as she continues to pursue the idea of non traditional route to getting a bachelors degree, we are finding the information on the non paid portions of instantcert's message board (degreeforum) to be helpful.  Not all degrees can or should be done with non traditional methods.  But some work that way.  Not sure what you degree you are going for. So that might not apply to you. In my 21 y.o daughter's case, she is going for a BA in liberal studies at one of the "big 3" that take almost the entire degree in transfer.  That's a whole other discussion though.  You might need an on campus degree for your studies.  Or you might just take those courses you are interested in and transfer and mix/match game.  I know that's not traditional.

One thing to double check with the local state school that you think you might want to transfer to:  will they accept the credits from the community college that are via CLEP, or is it the case they'll only accept actual courses from the CC for transfer and some of the specific CLEPS?  I've heard stories in some places (not all of course), that student run into obstacles with that.  Hopefully that's an non issue and you already checked that based on what you wrote.  But the nuisance is important to ask them if you did not do that already.  It will vary. The state school might say one thing if you completed the associates requirements, and another if you didn't.  But I've heard stories where it mattered.  So double check on that if you did not ask that nit picky transfer detail already.

To the thoughts about how long will it take when you're not fresh from a similar high school course?  Most of those REA guides I mentioned earlier suggest a 4-6 week planning time with their materials and that includes practice test time, and not super cramming the info either. And at least one study guide/lesson planner out there on this topic has high school students prepping for 2 CLEPs at once.  I've been out of school for decades, but homeschooling and being part of my children's homeschool studies kept me more current than I realized on some of this. Maybe you'll have that feeling too.

Edited January 19, 2020 by cbollin

[Lecka]

My husband has used Modern States and he has also used Instant Cert Academy.  He has done 4 CLEP or DSST tests in the past 18 months or so.  
 

He is active duty military and qualifies for Tuition Assistance, and then he has ended up also qualifying for a Pell Grant when he has taken more classes than are covered by Tuition Assistance.  

I think see what degree you are pursuing first and then see what you can do with CLEP or DSST that will transfer.  

Good luck!  My husband has passed all of his, and only started Instant Cert when he felt very unconfident during a test that he did pass.  He felt really bad during the test and thought he would fail it, so the Instant Cert is good for his confidence.  

[Lecka]

My husband did do the public speaking/communication DSST test also and gave a speech as part of it.  That was a pretty smooth one for him.  It was nice to be able to do that as a DSST for him since he has done public speaking as part of his job and really has no need of a class.  
 

Edit:  that pp mentioned

Edited January 19, 2020 by Lecka

[mumto2]

I found this http://www.free-clep-prep.com/clep-exams.html website really helpful when I was starting the CLEP journey with the dc’s.  It’s been several years but Straighertline https://www.straighterline.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI05e4o7eQ5wIVDpSzCh339ASrEAAYASAAEgJPlPD_BwE for ACE credits was quite use too.  Aleks might have a statistics class for credit.

[Lecka]

My husband studied more than this — but he did see questions word-for-word from the Modern States practice questions on one of his tests.  I think it does just depend but I think studying the practice questions can go a long way for someone who doesn’t necessarily study as deeply.  

[Lecka]

My husband’s education was very lacking unfortunately — he went to a church school and got two days a week to spend  knocking on doors and running a bus ministry.  He got a lot of life lessons and mentoring from the bus ministry but the education side was given very short shrift.  I think he did lead some young people to Christ though.  
 

Edit:  He and his sister are both making different choices than what his parents made wrt education.  
 

Edit:  just to say — my husband started with zero background knowledge but he has found it pretty manageable.  Like — zero background knowledge, no prior exposure. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Lecka

[Lecka]

We do think my husband will get jobs based on his resume and work experience, but he needs a college degree to check a block.  He has talked to quite a few people who have jobs that required a college degree but don’t really use the degree, but do look at military experience, but do also want a degree.  So it’s not really the same as for a young person, but he does need a degree for a lot of options that do make sense for him.  

[cbollin]

If you go to a college that accepts ACE credits:  heads up on the aleks for stats credit: be sure to check the details on which stats you can take and which are duplicates.  That can be found on the ACE site http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=browse.getOrganizationDetail&FICE=1004997

of course, you have to make sure the place you end up at accepts ACE credits or which ones.  I'm complicating it. sorry.

and seconding the idea of figure out what degree you want first, then resourcefully plan how to get credits you need with CLEP or other, and of course where is a personal decision on it too (you might want to be on campus, or have state college, or you might have other places.)