Bals how long to finish?

[BrighterFuture88]

I dont know if there is already a topic. How long does it take to finish a bals if you have zero credits? (not my case) and if you not use clep/dsst/other usa only things.

I think a motivated person can do this in 18 months.  That's how long it took me, and I had a couple of obstacles.  (1) I didn't have any money, so I had to save and pay as I went. With CLEP being free now, that would have helped me move a LOT faster, but I did my first 60 credits via CLEP/DSST in 6 months.  (2) I had little kids - so I didn't have big chunks of time every day to dedicate to studying.  If you're a single person and work a normal full time job, I think you could easily accelerate the process to about 12 months.  Again, this assumes high motivation.

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

[natshar]

I dont know if there is already a topic. How long does it take to finish a bals if you have zero credits? (not my case) and if you not use clep/dsst/other usa only things.

I think a motivated person can do this in 18 months.  That's how long it took me, and I had a couple of obstacles.  (1) I didn't have any money, so I had to save and pay as I went. With CLEP being free now, that would have helped me move a LOT faster, but I did my first 60 credits via CLEP/DSST in 6 months.  (2) I had little kids - so I didn't have big chunks of time every day to dedicate to studying.  If you're a single person and work a normal full time job, I think you could easily accelerate the process to about 12 months.  Again, this assumes high motivation.

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

The book tells you what could be on the test. But you can have to look up more information. They have sample questions as well. If you ace the sample questions odds are you'll pass the test.

Personally, I think CLEP is great if you already know a bunch about something. Many people on this fourm have taken CLEPs cold (no study) and passed, especially the analyzing literature CLEP. The analyzing and interpreting lit CLEP is mostly just reading comprehension. I took it with two hours of study and passed and its worth 6 credits. My point is you don't have to memorize all kinds of information for a CLEP if it is something you already know the subject matter or are good at.

Another thing cookderosa is there weren't as many options for earning credit back then. Now there are so many.

[BrighterFuture88]

I dont know if there is already a topic. How long does it take to finish a bals if you have zero credits? (not my case) and if you not use clep/dsst/other usa only things.

I think a motivated person can do this in 18 months.  That's how long it took me, and I had a couple of obstacles.  (1) I didn't have any money, so I had to save and pay as I went. With CLEP being free now, that would have helped me move a LOT faster, but I did my first 60 credits via CLEP/DSST in 6 months.  (2) I had little kids - so I didn't have big chunks of time every day to dedicate to studying.  If you're a single person and work a normal full time job, I think you could easily accelerate the process to about 12 months.  Again, this assumes high motivation.

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

The book tells you what could be on the test. But you can have to look up more information. They have sample questions as well. If you ace the sample questions odds are you'll pass the test.

Personally, I think CLEP is great if you already know a bunch about something. Many people on this fourm have taken CLEPs cold (no study) and passed, especially the analyzing literature CLEP. The analyzing and interpreting lit CLEP is mostly just reading comprehension. I took it with two hours of study and passed and its worth 6 credits. My point is you don't have to memorize all kinds of information for a CLEP if it is something you already know the subject matter or are good at.

Another thing cookderosa is there weren't as many options for earning credit back then. Now there are so many.

Ahhhh ok.  So, I take it Analyzing Literature transfers as a Humanities course?  If so, I’m willing to give it a shot through Modern States.  Thank you so much for that info, by the way!

[SoHappy]

it all depends on the person and also the school they are going to. Some people on this fourm have taken years and others have taken one year or less. The required capstones, cornerstones, exam limits by study.com, lack of UL CLEP/DSST and more make it so it isn't as fast as it used to be years ago. There was a guy like twenty years ago who finished the entire degree in 4 weeks. And many old posts on this fourm talk about people finishing in 4-6 months. But none of this is possible anymore.

For TESU at least now that you must have 100 credits evaluated into your plan with most of the AOS done before you can register for the capstone. So you can't just apply, sign up for the capstone and work on the rest of your degree while doing the capstone. I think the fastest possible TESU degree is now 6 months but that would be VERY difficult to do with zero credits.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from scratch with zero credits, I think 6 months is the absolute minimum for any kind of degree from the big 3. And even then 6 months would not be easy.

But it is not a race, many people on this fourm have jobs and kids or other commitments. That is an advantage to this kind of education is it is at your own pace. So as a result people can take years to finish their degree.

Hi! Please excuse my newness. What does TESU stand for? AOS?

[BrighterFuture88]

it all depends on the person and also the school they are going to. Some people on this fourm have taken years and others have taken one year or less. The required capstones, cornerstones, exam limits by study.com, lack of UL CLEP/DSST and more make it so it isn't as fast as it used to be years ago. There was a guy like twenty years ago who finished the entire degree in 4 weeks. And many old posts on this fourm talk about people finishing in 4-6 months. But none of this is possible anymore.

For TESU at least now that you must have 100 credits evaluated into your plan with most of the AOS done before you can register for the capstone. So you can't just apply, sign up for the capstone and work on the rest of your degree while doing the capstone. I think the fastest possible TESU degree is now 6 months but that would be VERY difficult to do with zero credits.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from scratch with zero credits, I think 6 months is the absolute minimum for any kind of degree from the big 3. And even then 6 months would not be easy.

But it is not a race, many people on this fourm have jobs and kids or other commitments. That is an advantage to this kind of education is it is at your own pace. So as a result people can take years to finish their degree.

Hi! Please excuse my newness. What does TESU stand for? AOS?

Thomas Edison State University
Area of Study

[natshar]

I dont know if there is already a topic. How long does it take to finish a bals if you have zero credits? (not my case) and if you not use clep/dsst/other usa only things.

I think a motivated person can do this in 18 months.  That's how long it took me, and I had a couple of obstacles.  (1) I didn't have any money, so I had to save and pay as I went. With CLEP being free now, that would have helped me move a LOT faster, but I did my first 60 credits via CLEP/DSST in 6 months.  (2) I had little kids - so I didn't have big chunks of time every day to dedicate to studying.  If you're a single person and work a normal full time job, I think you could easily accelerate the process to about 12 months.  Again, this assumes high motivation.

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

The book tells you what could be on the test. But you can have to look up more information. They have sample questions as well. If you ace the sample questions odds are you'll pass the test.

Personally, I think CLEP is great if you already know a bunch about something. Many people on this fourm have taken CLEPs cold (no study) and passed, especially the analyzing literature CLEP. The analyzing and interpreting lit CLEP is mostly just reading comprehension. I took it with two hours of study and passed and its worth 6 credits. My point is you don't have to memorize all kinds of information for a CLEP if it is something you already know the subject matter or are good at.

Another thing cookderosa is there weren't as many options for earning credit back then. Now there are so many.

Ahhhh ok.  So, I take it Analyzing Literature transfers as a Humanities course?  If so, I’m willing to give it a shot through Modern States.  Thank you so much for that info, by the way!

Yeah Ive noticed a lot of people are against CLEP. If it's not convenient to test I can see why. But if have the ability to test you really have to nothing to lose and it could potentially be faster than a lot of other methods. If you don't like then you know it's not for you, but you never know unless you try.

[mysonx3]

I think a motivated person can do this in 18 months.  That's how long it took me, and I had a couple of obstacles.  (1) I didn't have any money, so I had to save and pay as I went. With CLEP being free now, that would have helped me move a LOT faster, but I did my first 60 credits via CLEP/DSST in 6 months.  (2) I had little kids - so I didn't have big chunks of time every day to dedicate to studying.  If you're a single person and work a normal full time job, I think you could easily accelerate the process to about 12 months.  Again, this assumes high motivation.

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

The book tells you what could be on the test. But you can have to look up more information. They have sample questions as well. If you ace the sample questions odds are you'll pass the test.

Personally, I think CLEP is great if you already know a bunch about something. Many people on this fourm have taken CLEPs cold (no study) and passed, especially the analyzing literature CLEP. The analyzing and interpreting lit CLEP is mostly just reading comprehension. I took it with two hours of study and passed and its worth 6 credits. My point is you don't have to memorize all kinds of information for a CLEP if it is something you already know the subject matter or are good at.

Another thing cookderosa is there weren't as many options for earning credit back then. Now there are so many.

Ahhhh ok.  So, I take it Analyzing Literature transfers as a Humanities course?  If so, I’m willing to give it a shot through Modern States.  Thank you so much for that info, by the way!

Yeah Ive noticed a lot of people are against CLEP. If it's not convenient to test I can see why. But if have the ability to test you really have to nothing to lose and it could potentially be faster than a lot of other methods. If you don't like then you know it's not for you, but you never know unless you try.

I think a lot of it is that people don't like the idea of a class that is a test and only a test, especially when it doesn't come with tailored study material. They don't like the pressure on one test.

[SweetsugarNL]

I have no problems with a clep class setting. If i have a testcenter in my country i use it. The nearest centers are in Germany on military base.

[davewill]

I wish I had the patience to do CLEP tests, as my ADHD makes memorizing all kinds of information for testing an uphill battle.  Is it mainly getting the 2019 CLEP Book and studying for a specific course based on the information in the book?  Apologies for the dumb question.

I have ADD as well. I found the InstantCert flash cards really helpful. First study from some other source until you have a solid understanding, then use the cards to drill until you're getting them pretty easily.

[Idreamofadegree]

I’m going for it right now and started about two weeks ago.  As of tomorrow, I will be at 16 credits and that will be the end of the free courses for me.  Im aiming to graduate within a year or so with no CLEP’s (I’m not good at testing, so CLEP’s simply do not interest me).  I’m hoping to knock out 2-3 courses per month, but it all depends.

How did you get through the TEEX courses so fast?!?  It's taking me forever to get through the classes.