DANTES Lifespan Development Psychology

[P00057870]

Depending on the test and the person... some people come here with life experience in certain subjects and use JUST IC to prepare. Others want to make sure to get the best possible score for a variety of reasons and/or want to know the material more completely just for their own knowledge, so use additional information.

Usually, if you check out the subject specific forums you can find postings saying that some people passed with ONLY IC, until you start getting into harder subjects and/or upper level (UL) credit material. Forum members will tell you when they thought the material was easy, doable, hard, etc.

FYI -- in case you have not been poking around long enough. Most schools who accept CLEP only give you pass/fail. The DSSTs that you see with passing scores above 50 or so (again check with your particular school), many of the schools with give you a grade that will contribute to your GPA. Some schools still only give pass/fail, again check with your school. The newer, updated DSSTS where you see scores with passing grades above 400 are at this time only pass/fail by most colleges.

I have taken tests and passed using only IC, and other subjects I have used older textbooks (paying as little as $1.99) and/or REA study guides which are great as they give you practice tests that also serve as another study tool as they give you answers where they expound upon the information.

Many forum members use just IC and do heavy googling for clarification of terms, famous persons, events, etc. They will also share sites they have located that provide information for free, or links to videos on You-Tube and other sources. This site is invaluable as much for the forum members sharing information! You will find them very supportive and happy to help you get to the right places.

Keep in mind many of us have A+ personalities, just have to do better than before -- even if we (ourselves) are the only ones that we are competing against.

Welcome to the forum and happy testing!

Judy

[P00057870]

For your consideration, even if you do buy a book, they generally range from a few dollars to about $35 new -- such as an REA book with tests on CD.

If you've been taking classes at a brick & mortar school (B&M), you know you pay well above $100 for your average text book. This is overall cheap by comparison.

Look at the cost of your schools per class, divide by credits given, add in the textbook costs, etc.

CLEP and DSST, with site charges, are generally $100 or less, and books of no more than $35. $20 a month for IC and ALL THE INFORMATION you can get from the forum AND the study cards.

What a deal!

Judy

[lolojapan]

You should be aware that the DANTES Lifespan Development Psychology exam and the CLEP Human Growth & Development exam are considered as duplicate credits by Excelsior College. If you are going to take one of these, the the DSST test so you can get a letter grade.

[jprndon]

Several people have talked about REA. What does REA stand for? I am also new to IC. I am getting ready to take HG&D in the CLEP section.

[P00057870]

REA stands for Research & Education Association, which is the publisher for many of the CLEP subject matter books. They come with study material, explanations of how the tests work and are graded, and include sample tests in the back of the book. Some of their newer publications also have CDs in the back, which simulate the timed test.

Unfortunately, they don't have much on DSSTs (that I've found anyway), but it is a nice synopsis or review of what you need to know and a chance to practice before getting to the tests. Remember that when you take a CLEP you are allowed 90 minutes, DSSTs allow 2 hours.

Check out each of the specific exam feedback sections for the specific test you are interested in. The forum members will tell you which material, if any, they individually used and if they feel it helped or was worth it.

Judy

P.S. Have you figured out yet how to get to the specific exam feedback area yet. It actually took me quite awhile to figure that out. Just let us know if you need help getting there.

[marqued]

Judy,
Thank you for the info. I'm only clepping becasue I ran out of time for my Law school app in Jan. I need 1 class and just wanted to do it as quick as possible.
Brenda

[P00057870]

Marqued,

Is there a specific subject you must take or a list of possibilities. If you post it here on this site asking which you think would be most doable with IC only, you will get a lot of responses. Remember, ultimately, subjects you already have knowledge in or are interested in generally are the easiest for you.


Judy

[campbell0021]

Hi All,

I just got back from taking DANTES Lifespan Development Psychology.

My initial feeling is that this exam was "quite easy". I whizzed through the vast majority of the questions because they involved extremely straightforward recall of names, theories, concepts, fact, etc. But there were also several questions where I couldn't narrow down the answer choices, and had to guess. These were mostly 'trend' type questions (girls are more likely than boys to....40-50 year olds tend to do better than 60 year olds at....most teenagers in the 1990s felt that....)

There were 97 questions on my version of the exam, and I finished in about 80 minutes.

This exam is basically the DANTES version of CLEP Human Growth & Development, but under a different name. CLEP is timed and pass/fail, DANTES is untimed and graded. So take your pick!

Instantcert's section on HG&D will probably prepare you adequately for this DANTES exam. I already posted some additional links that you might find useful.

Here are some items that I encountered on MY version of this exam:
(your version may/will cover other items)


Names:

Bandura
Binet
Cattell
Chomsky
Erikson
Freud
Gardner
Gilligan
Kohlberg
Kubler-Ross
Levinson
Maslow
Piaget
Rogers
Skinner
Sternberg
Vygotsky


Concepts/Theories/Facts:

Cognition
Conservation, Permanence, Accomodation, Assimilation, Disequilibrium
Senorimotor, Preoperational, Concret Operational, Formal Operational
Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning
Hierarchy of Needs
Erikson's Psycho-social Development Stages (Trust v. Mistrust...etc.)
Freud's Psycho-sexual Stages (Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital...identify the order)
Attachment/Bonding
Social Interaction (Vygotsky)
Down's Syndrome (most common chromosomal disorder)
Klinefelter's Syndrome (XXY)
Phoneme & Morpheme (definition)
Teratogens
APGAR
Proximodistal Growth (definition)
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (large head)
Alzheimer's Disease (first signs)
Habituation
Cross-modal Perception
Babbling in hearing and non-hearing infants.
Visual Cliff Experiment (tested for Depth Perception)
Morality Theory (Kohlberg v. Gilligan)
Stages of Dying (Kubler-Ross...identify the order)
Boys v. Girls Suicide
ADHD (diagnosis is difficult...MRI, CAT scans don't show etc.)
Androgyny (definition)
Parenting Styles (democratic, permissive, authoritative, authoritarian)
Premack Principle (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Fontanels (The soft spots/gaps in a baby's skull that allow for easier childbirth...useful to know!)
Friendship (boy vs girls)
Egocentrism
Greying/Wrinkles (first sign of aging)
Fluid v Crystallized Intelligence (Cattell...definition)
Daycare (effects on IQ scores)
Double Income Family (effect on social development of children)

--
If you study all of the above, you should do well on this exam.

As always, I hope this is helpful,
Snazzlefrag

First, can a Moderator start a LifeSpan thread in specific feedback area? Anyways, I passed today studying with Snazzlefrag and HG&D flashcards. It was more than enough, but here are more things to study:

Know what Myelin is

Know what semantic development is

Main idea of Concrete operational stage

Know what telegraphic is (HG&D cards)

Be able identify parallel playing (HG&D card dead on)

Meaning of dyslexia

A child watches violence on tv, what is likely to happen next

A mans eyesight returns to him in his middle age, what would be his reaction? (no change??? cheerful???)

Know babies express there anger through temper tantrums

Be able identify Test reliability

Know girls are more likely to have intimate friendships then boys

Know what hypokinetic disease

Know about convergent thinking

[nymanzanita]

Thanks for your post today. I am going to take this test tomorrow and these pointers wil help me out....I am sure of it. Thanks again...glad you passed!

[campbell0021]

Thanks for your post today. I am going to take this test tomorrow and these pointers wil help me out....I am sure of it. Thanks again...glad you passed!

Thank you...good luck and let us know how you did.