Do you really read the whole textbook from A-Z?

[cookderosa]

Right now I'm preparing for a bunch of exams and got myself ready for some textbooks. No surprises looking at the number of pages (its 600-700) they may just take me about month and a half to complete these books with all the quizzes and assignments. I like studying but I have to confess it's a tad inefficient.

On this forum there are seem to be so many wizards that seem to finish their studying and pass their exams in a day or two. I don't know if that is corrupting my mind but hey it's some food for thought.

Back to the discussion how would you manage your studying if you were to tackle a 600 pager tome?

You won't need to learn an entire textbook. Frequently, the last 1/3 of a book is where the author(s) put their own extra content, so start with that in mind and hit the table of contents.

For an exam, look at the content distribution. Here's a fictitious one:
10% History of the topic
15% Content A
14% Content B
13% Content C
24% Content D
9% Content D1
5% Content D2

Everything should total 100%. Based on the number of exam questions (let's say 100 for this exam) you'll get an idea of what to expect. In this exam, expect 10 questions on the history, 15 questions on Content A, etc.
If you look at content D, you'll see sub-content (D1+D2) making this section the DOMINANT section. 24+9+5= 38% (38 questions). If it were me, I'd spend the majority of my time in that section. Not 38%, more like 70% of my time. Why?

Because if I can learn that topic solidly, I stand an excellent chance of earning more than 30 points, potentially 38. No other section comes close to that kind of reward/return on investment. This is the chapter I'd "study" hard. The other chapters that tie into exam content total 62% of the test, but it's too watered down- it's like trying to study for a game of trivial pursuit. So, in the other sections, you study/memorize important people, dates, and vocabulary words. If you look at a section and say "what are the top 5 important things about this chapter" and then just study that, you're on target. The rest is guessing.

In my opinion, targeting your efforts based on exam distribution is the best return. So, in an exam like this, you could probably study for a pass in a week. The effort required to get a perfect score (in comparison) might take a year. I can't draw you a chart, but you get the idea. Lot's of "up side" in the first week, followed by a sharp decline in return on time invested.

That said, after you've taken one or two, you'll get into a grove that works best for you. Good luck!!

[KittenMittens]

I imagine you're doing TECEP exams. I specifically avoided these exams and TESC for this reason. But to answer your question, a lot of people end up skimming these textbooks and reading them quickly out of boredom.

I don't know why you keep telling people this, without taking one of them. I took and passed the OM TECEP, without reading the textbook. My spouse took and passed the ENC 102 TECEP without a text, and there are others. Please let people who took TECEPs answer these questions. in this way, there is less searching and scrolling info members need to do to find relevant information.

Because the OP literally is complaining about the books being lengthy and supports my position that most people don't find the idea of reading 800 page textbooks to be too thrilling? :roflol: I have every right to post my opinion on the matter, and I'd ask you to refrain from insisting on how or what I can/should post on since it's clearly evident that OP doesn't find the idea of reading lengthy tomes (he literally says TOMES and the word, "inefficient" like how I do) too thrilling. If we only post about things we personally did, then you should not post about things you personally didn't do either, but that would be silly and presumptuous of me to ask. If you told me to study this or that because you heard or read that people think it's a good idea even though you didn't do it, I wouldn't hold it against you at all. Certainly, a guidance counselor or college advisor will do this all the time despite possibly never haven taken a course/exam in question.

My whole contention (like how OP demonstrates) is that using instantcert flash cards and some practice exams can get you credits very quickly and the OP is a perfect example of it. It's just bad form in general to read lengthy tomes whether it be for studying for an exam or learning in general. There is way more futzing around and figuring things out on your own for most TECEPs, as OP laments, and getting some information on what a couple of people say about how they did for a TECEP. Like I've said, I've never been against the idea of TECEPs as a subject matter, I'm against them for the lack of sufficient preparatory materials and lack of abundant test taker data. Too bad there's a herd mentality on this forum despite the fact that the entire website is based on studying for exams rapidly (it advertises studying in as little as a few hours to pass).

If there existed a comprehensive guide as to what TECEPs don't require textbooks to pass, I would be all for it and would have actually done that myself. That is all. If a guide was made that showed what the most straightforward TECEPs were that would be nice. But eventually, I think it reaches a point where you do have to read a few textbooks (yes some of the lower level ones are straightforward like TECEP English writing, or math, or computer skills), but people are probably looking to fulfill major requirements as well. You don't want to get 24 credits in TECEP exams in things that don't apply to the degree, or in ones you already have credit in. I mean you could, but then you'd have to take more exams which will cut down on the savings.

The problem is that it's hard to figure out which TECEP exams are "easy" and which aren't - and that's based on a few anecdotes - not sufficiently large enough sample sizes. Like OP I rapidly accumulated about 70 credits in the course of about 8 months, about 30 upper level. I work full time, I'm 56 so I'm not a fresh apple by any means like many of you, and I know several other posters on this board around my age that have been able to do the same too as it is very feasible if someone applies him or herself even just a tiny bit.

Anyways, I suggested that some of the TECEPs in algebra and computer tech would be pretty straightforward based on the notions that you either know these things or you don't and that math is a subject you don't have to read on, and I mentioned how most students tend to skim the textbooks which is generally the case as other posters confirmed. Ample test taker data on TECEPs is extremely barren with some TECEP exams on the instantcert subscriber's forum having no posts literally for several years. But in any case, let's just stick to the topic.

[soliloquy]

Oh, I thought this was going to be about whether I read the text books for my classes from front to back or just skim, etc. I'd like an answer to that question. LOL

[sanantone]

It's easy to find out that taxation is open book because it says so in the test description. No one has to read through 300 pages of tax code.

[SweetSecret]

In my opinion, targeting your efforts based on exam distribution is the best return. So, in an exam like this, you could probably study for a pass in a week. The effort required to get a perfect score (in comparison) might take a year. I can't draw you a chart, but you get the idea. Lot's of "up side" in the first week, followed by a sharp decline in return on time invested.

OP, this is good general advice, and something I actually plan to do on my future TECEP.

I have taken and passed the Abnormal Psychology TECEP and Psychology of Women TECEP. With Abnormal Psychology I read the book front to back. With Pscyhology of Women I actually took each chapter from the digital PDF and converted each one into an MP3, then just looked over the chapter summaries and skimmed some of the charts/graphics. I also studied the terms online through the Cengage Instructor companion site for the recommended textbook, where they had crossword puzzles:
Book Companion Site - Instructor

I've worked in industries that cover both of these areas, and I thought that reading would be better for me, but actually I scored better on the Psychology of Women exam.

You may want to take a look at this thread as well if you are considering TECEPs:
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...score.html

Also keep in mind that since you are on TESC's PPC plan, you can do the free Saylor (0cr) or Kaplan PLA (1cr) course, and then earn up to 12 credits in PLAs for $350 ($29.16 per credit) versus paying about $37/credit for the $111 TECEP exams. The Saylor and Kaplan courses can be completed quickly. Then you'd just have to decide what college level learning/experience you already have that might be eligible for credit. It's a bit of a gamble on whether you'll be granted credit, but exams are a gamble as well.

To me though, one of the big advantages of TECEPs is that they don't record an exam grade, just pass (CR) or fail. I go through test anxiety, and hardly ever do stellar on tests. I knew in order to keep up my GPA (given grade school requirements) that I wasn't going to want to use the UExcels because they are graded. I already had over 100 credits when I transferred into TESC, but I needed the option of a few upper level credits, which is where the Abnormal Psychology TECEP really helped me out. Many of my lower level credits from previous 4 year colleges actually transferred into TESC as upper level, but I still needed an additional 6 upper level credits. I plan to get the other 3 upper level as well as some lower level via PLAs.

[KittenMittens]

It's easy to find out that taxation is open book because it says so in the test description. No one has to read through 300 pages of tax code.

It was hyperbole, maybe the TECEP Federal Income Taxation was easy for you or in general. I can't say for sure since there's not enough test taker data. The title sounded pretty in-depth and the 4 comments from the instantcert subscriber forum were generally of the opinion that it's was very difficult and laborious. Is it enough to conclude if it's really the case? No, but intuition/gut feeling on how hellish filing taxes is each year, and the 3-4 comments saying it's tough/not easy isn't a good start.

Here's what people wrote for TECEP Federal Income Taxation:

"Summary: This exam isn’t a piece of cake. It is difficult and you can’t fake much if you know what I mean, especially the computational problems. You can’t even guess on those. To be honest, I have NO clue how I did. I saw elsewhere that in addition to a tax guide, that one should google a 1-5 page summary of how to file a tax return to get the basics. I’d agree with this since you need to know the big picture, and how to look up the details. That’s pretty much what this exam comes down to.

"Congratulations on passing. From what I hear it is very challenging. Do you mind sharing which books/study guides you used?"

"Study Method: Get a physical copy of IRS Pub 17 from your local Library or anywhere you can. Read it once. Yes, the whole thing. You will forget most of it, but will be familiar with some of the caveats in some of the regulations. Put tabs on the pages for the glossary and chapters/sections. This will save you time in the test!.... This test is doable! You can do it! Its no walk in the park though!"

Source: http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...ation.html

The other thing to keep in mind is that if TECEP UL exams in general are going to be intrinsically time-intensive to study for, and that though a student can knock out lower level TECEPs that are generally regarded as easy (though there's an absence on info on what people consistently believe is easy let's say the English exam, Math exam, and Computer skills exams are easy), that still leaves about 4 or so TECEP exams to be done so in order to save as much as possible, you'd want to overlap TECEPs with degree requirements otherwise the cost savings will go down. Example: If you took 8 easy TECEPs that don't fulfill degree/major/UL requirements, you'll still have to take exams/coursework in those as well driving the price up.

Maybe if you can come up with a compilation/list of TECEP exams that don't need textbooks and also simultaneously fulfill degree requirements that could help, and and am fully for that. I'm just of the opinion like the OP that reading textbooks is tedious, inefficient, and boring. If data is produced that shows that minimal prep time is needed to pass some/many of these exams especially upper levels, and there enough students to indicate a consistent pass rate of say something like >90% pass rates, then that would be awesome.

[sanantone]

It was hyperbole, maybe the TECEP Federal Income Taxation was easy for you or in general. I can't say for sure since there's not enough test taker data. The title sounded pretty in-depth and the 4 comments from the instantcert subscriber forum were generally of the opinion that it's was very difficult and laborious. Is it enough to conclude if it's really the case? No, but intuition/gut feeling on how hellish filing taxes is each year, and the 3-4 comments saying it's tough/not easy isn't a good start.

Here's what people wrote for TECEP Federal Income Taxation:

"Summary: This exam isn’t a piece of cake. It is difficult and you can’t fake much if you know what I mean, especially the computational problems. You can’t even guess on those. To be honest, I have NO clue how I did. I saw elsewhere that in addition to a tax guide, that one should google a 1-5 page summary of how to file a tax return to get the basics. I’d agree with this since you need to know the big picture, and how to look up the details. That’s pretty much what this exam comes down to.

"Congratulations on passing. From what I hear it is very challenging. Do you mind sharing which books/study guides you used?"

"Study Method: Get a physical copy of IRS Pub 17 from your local Library or anywhere you can. Read it once. Yes, the whole thing. You will forget most of it, but will be familiar with some of the caveats in some of the regulations. Put tabs on the pages for the glossary and chapters/sections. This will save you time in the test!.... This test is doable! You can do it! Its no walk in the park though!"

Source: http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...ation.html

Maybe if you can come up with a list of TECEP exams that don't need textbooks and also simultaneously fulfill degree requirements that could help, and and am fully for that. I'm just of the opinion like the OP that reading textbooks is tedious, inefficient, and boring. If data is produced that shows that minimal prep time is needed to pass and there enough students to indicate a consistent pass rate of say something like >90% pass rates, then that would be awesome.

In addition to the tax code, TESC recommends two tax guide books. Of course, one would know these things after looking at the test description. I didn't use the recommended books, but I used a similar one for Enrolled Agents. All you have to do is look up the answers for the multiple choice questions. The tax guide books lay out step by step how to calculate something. They give you three hours to complete the test. Using the tax code would only make the test more difficult. You purposely skipped over the feedback for the exam that said it was easy. That was the feedback I used to determine that I probably didn't need to study for the exam.

[KittenMittens]

In addition to the tax code, TESC recommends two tax guide books. Of course, one would know these things after looking at the test description. I didn't use the recommended books, but I used a similar one for Enrolled Agents. All you have to do is look up the answers for the multiple choice questions. The tax guide books lay out step by step how to calculate something. They give you three hours to complete the test. Using the tax code would only make the test more difficult. You purposely skipped over the feedback for the exam that said it was easy. That was the feedback I used to determine that I probably didn't need to study for the exam.

I haven't purposely skipped over feedback for the exam that may or could have said it was easy (though there wasn't much indicating this assertion you make). I merely went to the test taker subscriber's forum where people post their thoughts on exams, and I didn't dig through the deep realms of the Internet. I put more emphasis on what students' general impressions are over what the official neutral test descriptions are. They're not going to tell you that an exam is hard or easy. But I did find a few threads and most of them said it was hard with only a couple saying it was easy, but most saying that preparing for it was quite involved. Again, this exam could very well be easy as you mention (I don't think the typical forum user may realize that), it's just not very accessible or centrally located to be readily obvious - you'd really really have to dig for that trace comment you mention where you're putting the trust in the opinion of one person and not many.

Here's an aggregate of links regarding the exam I found through a google search, and I'll make a tally of what the impressions of these people were. After about 10 pages or so, noiseignal ratio was too high, so I just focused on gleaning information from those 10 pages:

http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...ation.html

3/4 posts saying its hard and time-intensive to prepare for.

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

Comments are generally neutral saying that its passable but with ample studying and prep. HorseManiac thought it was very difficult.

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

Consensus is that the exam is hard (from 2008)

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

One person says its straightforward but has a like for taxation.

http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...ement.html

This is thread talking about finding easy TECEPs and Yanji indicates some exams that are easier than others but indicates that it should be avoided if you dislike accounting and mentions you'd have to study 2-3x for this one compared to other ones.

I did just find out that I passed the Federal Income Taxation TECEP. Yay! I didn't study at all. I did study for and pass two Enrolled Agent exams, but that was about a year ago. I couldn't really remember anything, and I tested on the 2012 tax year. I wouldn't say that the taxation TECEP is easy, but you have a lot of time to look up the answers. I had 30 min. to spare. Oh, and I didn't use the recommended textbooks because I had a book for the EA exams.

In fact in this very thread you mention that "you wouldn't say TECEP in Taxation is easy"

Beyond these links, there is little to no other information about this exam besides people wondering about the difficulty and being unanswered.

In one of the threads you explicitly mention that this TECEP isn't exactly easy either, yet here you are saying it is, and from all the aggregate comments I could reasonably find, majority said it was not straightforward as you state it is. So how can you imply I'm being disingenuous when I couldn't find much data saying that this exam was easy? Majority of the comments had a fear or observation that you'd have to study hard for this exam, and that it was difficult.

Even if we assume you're correct on this (though the data I've shown clearly shows otherwise), it's all over the place, and not in one easy to access and comprehend location. Scattered and messy raw data is meaningless without proper context especially if you can't easily find it. Like I said I'm not against TECEPs, I'm against uncertainty, and difficulty in not knowing what to anticipate. That means having review materials, practice exams, ample test results, and abundant discussions that reach some sort of consensus. I'm not alone on this by any means - it's just that the posts/threads on these issues are scattered throughout the forum and through time, and the OP is proof of that.

Anyways, I don't want to derail the thread, so I'll keep quiet on this issue on this thread from here on out - my only point was that the concern about TECEPs being a PITA is a very valid one as the OP and many others like myself have indicated, and it's a very important issue for people to consider before going for the TESC 8 exam/24 credit "per credit" plan - they should at least know what they're getting themselves into rather than discovering what this type of program may entail and what the pros/cons of that are. I think people are hooked on the idea that going for 24 credits in TECEPs exams is a good option because it's so cheap without realizing any potential pitfalls like the OP here has encountered & these incidents are not unusual or rare either - there are plenty of forum posts about people lamenting about how hard/involved TECEP exams are. So I think it's significant enough where enough posters have made a similar complaint that it merits enough attention. I know it was an important one for me because I was leaning towards the TECEP "per credit" plan until I realized it wouldn't be so easy to do. That is all.

[bricabrac]

Correct. Environmental Ethics and Marriage and Family to be specific.

Hello Charismo,

Cookderosa gave excellent advice on how best to study for a TECEP; well any exam actually.

I can offer help with marriage & the family. I took the online course and still have my midterm and final notes. I've shared them with others and was told they helped. Combined with a copy of the test details you should be able to assemble an excellent study guide.

Send me a PM if interested.

[sanantone]

I haven't purposely skipped over feedback for the exam that may or could have said it was easy (though there wasn't much indicating this assertion you make). I merely went to the test taker subscriber's forum where people post their thoughts on exams, and I didn't dig through the deep realms of the Internet. I put more emphasis on what students' general impressions are over what the official neutral test descriptions are. They're not going to tell you that an exam is hard or easy. But I did find a few threads and most of them said it was hard with only a couple saying it was easy, but most saying that preparing for it was quite involved. Again, this exam could very well be easy as you mention (I don't think the typical forum user may realize that), it's just not very accessible or centrally located to be readily obvious - you'd really really have to dig for that trace comment you mention where you're putting the trust in the opinion of one person and not many.

Here's an aggregate of links regarding the exam I found through a google search, and I'll make a tally of what the impressions of these people were. After about 10 pages or so, noiseignal ratio was too high, so I just focused on gleaning information from those 10 pages:

http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...ation.html

3/4 posts saying its hard and time-intensive to prepare for.

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

Comments are generally neutral saying that its passable but with ample studying and prep. HorseManiac thought it was very difficult.

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

Consensus is that the exam is hard (from 2008)

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...ation.html

One person says its straightforward but has a like for taxation.

http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...ement.html

This is thread talking about finding easy TECEPs and Yanji indicates some exams that are easier than others but indicates that it should be avoided if you dislike accounting and mentions you'd have to study 2-3x for this one compared to other ones.

In fact in this very thread you mention that "you wouldn't say TECEP in Taxation is easy"

Beyond these links, there is little to no other information about this exam besides people wondering about the difficulty and being unanswered.

In one of the threads you explicitly mention that this TECEP isn't exactly easy either, yet here you are saying it is, and from all the aggregate comments I could reasonably find, majority said it was not straightforward as you state it is. So how can you imply I'm being disingenuous when I couldn't find much data saying that this exam was easy? Majority of the comments had a fear or observation that you'd have to study hard for this exam, and that it was difficult.

Even if we assume you're correct on this (though the data I've shown clearly shows otherwise), it's all over the place, and not in one easy to access and comprehend location. Scattered and messy raw data is meaningless without proper context especially if you can't easily find it. Like I said I'm not against TECEPs, I'm against uncertainty, and difficulty in not knowing what to anticipate. That means having review materials, practice exams, ample test results, and abundant discussions that reach some sort of consensus. I'm not alone on this by any means - it's just that the posts/threads on these issues are scattered throughout the forum and through time, and the OP is proof of that.

Anyways, I don't want to derail the thread, so I'll keep quiet on this issue on this thread from here on out - my only point was that the concern about TECEPs being a PITA is a very valid one as the OP and many others like myself have indicated. That is all.

I didn't say the exam was easy, but I didn't say the exam was difficult either. All I said in this thread is that Federal Income Taxation is open book, and there is no need to read the whole tax code. Others said the exam was easy, which gave me the confidence to take the exam cold. I did say that there is more than enough time to look up the answers. If someone were to spend a few hours completing practice questions in the tax books, then the exam probably would be easy. I went into the test not remembering anything about taxation.