Exam Score Questions

[homeschoolmom]

My daughter, who is 14 and a high school freshman, studied 9th grade Biology last year. In September, she decided she'd like to take the CLEP and she began preparing for the exam using her textbook, the REA guide, and Instacert. She studied hard and by November, her REA practice test scores had improved from a scaled score of 49 to 73. Her percentage of correct answers on Instacert supported these improved scores with an average of about 70%. Yesterday, she took the exam and passed--barely--with a scaled score of 50. She said the actual test was much harder than the material presented in practice. Might anyone have insight into why she experienced such a big gap in her performance on the test compared to her practice sessions?

Also, is a pass really a pass in the eyes of a school? Since she is a couple years away from choosing a university, we have banked her score and plan to do the same with other CLEP exam scores. My concern is that a university will look at her '50' and think 'C'. She is not a 'C' student--this is her first average grade in any subject--and I don't want to communicate 'average' to prospective schools. I also don't want her to start her college career trying to bring up a 'C' average. She is hoping to be ready to take the College Algebra, Analyzing...Literature, and either Psychology or Sociology exams by the end of this school year, but now we are a concerned that these exams could hurt her more than they will help. Any thoughts?

[snazzlefrag]

Hi Homeschoolmom,

Remember that these are university level exams. She scored in the average range in comparison to college students, NOT fellow 14 year olds.

You are doing your daughter a grave disservice if you are likening her average score on this exam to an average score amongst freshman high school students.

To pass a SIX CREDIT, college level, biology exam at the age of 14, is a wonderful accomplishment.

I'm a little bit perplexed that you (and/or she) might be somehow dissapointed that she didn't score higher. She just earned herself six college credits in biology for goodness sake. Relax and enjoy the victory!

At the age of 14, she is just a baby really. Why should she have to be worrying about what her potential College GPA might be four years down the line?

Here's the bottom line. What a SMART KID SHE IS to be able to pass the CLEP Biology exam at the tender age of 14. She has great things in her future. If she wants to put in the extra study to try and pass some more exams, great. If she passes them, wonderful. If not, it's not the end of the world. When the time comes for her to go to college (four years from now), you can CHOOSE whether to send her CLEP transcripts to the school, and you can also SELECT which exam results get reported to the school. So if she is unhappy with any score, she can have that result withheld from the transcript. Failing scores automatically get withheld anyway. So she really has nothing to lose by going for these exams. But if it is, in any way, going to add a burden onto her little baby shoulders, then I would recommend you hold off letting her take any more exams until she is a little bit older.

Just do it for FUN at this age...and if she gets some college credits in the process.....well, how COOL is THAT???

Congratulations to your daughter on her EXCELLENT Biology score,
Snazzlefrag

[chromo]

I agree that passing Biology at 14 is amazing. I recently took that exam myself (age 25) and trust me, that is definitely one of the hardest CLEPs I have taken. If she can pass that one with a 50, she will do fantastic on her future exams. As for the "college's view" I guess that will really depend on the school. At Excelsior College the number score does appear on my status report in parentheses next to the course title but the grade is a "P" for passing. It does not get factored into my GPA at all, so although it looks nice to see a high score on the side there, it really doesn't matter whether it's a 50 or an 80.

[aisha38]

Yea I also heard that the biology test is super hard...most people don't even want to attempt that one...

.. .. her taking cleps will never hurt her image.. if anything its a jaw dropping wow. ... even if she does fail one or two or three.. its an accomplishment that she even went for it..isn't 14 an 8th grader???

I think its great to keep smiling at her and keep her heart feeling good about her self and her self esteem and her efforts. that's really where the value in her self is going to lie. and her motivation.. and her desire to please you and herself.. be the magic.. be the magic.. ...

I hope you r not hanging over her like a cloud with heavy duty expectations.. and 'you are stressed too the day of her test'....and its not your idea that she take all these exams..she's at that age,, where all this stuff REALLY AFFECTS your mind... (failed? I'm stupid)

she'll do much better if she knows you won't be disappointed in her no matter what happens.. stress is enough on her own.. (more concerned hurt her image) (cringe) (sorry mom) loving on you/sharing..... not good to add mom's stress on her too.... I"m just sharing,, not insinuating anything either,,I wouldn't dare either... but I"m a daughter and it would have been so much nicer / less stress if my mom smiled at me more often.. if ya know what i mean... .... instead of feeling dread and sick that o my good ness more disappointments.. .. 'trying to make me better' and all that crap. even if you think you are not 'saying anything' you know we feel every vibration... its truuuuuue..so just be careful.. ..

in my owwwwwwwn humble opinion.. Hug that girl alot, smile at her alot. Laugh alot.. Positive Feelings Only. Don't take it so seriously. Life will unfold. don't worry. I promise she's going to make it into the college that she wants... and by the way,, in the end a degree is a degree, no one is really gonna care..... not everyone was a 4.0 gpa and she probably won't be...

and while I'm sharing.. --this is just a personal comment--, if you shut down communication with your daughter.. because you were unable to embrace her without adding all your stuff too.. she'll shut down and close her petals and you won't know a thing about her in the next few years she's gonna hit that age of 16, 17,,.... I'm 34. my parents don't know a thing about me for the past 15 years. (at least not the important stuff) would have been nice to go back to mom and dad... .. when I really needed them....keep that in mind..

Most people function from a state of fear,, instead of from a state of love.

passing cleps isnt important. if she fails all of them she can take normal college courses like everyone else normally does. get rid of the fear mom.

please accept my comments as commentary and not directed at you.. (its so hard to talk on email sometimes people can read stuff wrong) ,, I mean them from the bottom of my heart and I tell you true...... I think its wonderful that you are on this forum..... keep sharing everyone!! keep sharing...

[aisha38]

one more thought,,

this whole experience could make her end up questioning her self confidence.. shattering her self confidence...-not good.

so if this whole testing thing is 'hard' for both of you.. dont do it. definitely not worth it.

she needs every positive thing inside her own self to make it through life healthily.. so she can stay strong and high self esteem and love herself.

[skyfall123]

From the outside looking in, I think that if she takes CLEP's that correspond with her current learning, then it makes sense. For instance, if she is taking Sociology in HS next semester, then why not concurrently study for the Sociology CLEP. The in depth study would help both the current class and CLEP prospects. I think that Biology may have been a bit too ambitious. There are a handful of good CLEP's that would compliment her efforts and she could learn from. Maybe one or two a year at the very most. In this light, I think that taking A&I Literature (if she is an avid reader) which is usually considered a second year in depth class would be a better choice. It requires skills that will help her throughout college and if she is an avid reader, she should score well. I think that studying for the Algebra CLEP concurrently with her HS class when that arrives in a couple of years would be a great idea.

As a parent of twenty somethings who are both in college at the moment, I would say that it is important to consider your reactions, more than your child's. If you make her grade of 50 a big deal, then she will make it a big deal. It is important to have perspective....14 is awfully young to be testing out of college credit. And the question has to be asked....was it a blow to your ego that she only scored a 50? Is this about you or her? If she's the one who wanted to do it in the first place, then she should feel a tremendous amount of accomplishment and satisfaction for mastering college level content as a 14 year old. Personally I think a college would say that a 50 makes perfect sense for a 14 year old, or that 14 is too young to be testing out of college credit. Either way I don't think it will make any difference to a prospective college.

CLEP's are a means to an end on a long journey, in and of themselves, to study and pass, and while they require skills that are extremely useful in real life....to help give your daughter passion for life, there is no CLEP for that....that is something only a parent can do....and that is infinately more important than a CLEP test.

I think if you want your child to get noticed for a big name school, there are things that you as a parent can do that are as important or more important than what she does. It would seem to me that helping her develop a particular interest or passion might be high on the list. Does she like Geography, History, Language? Why not tell her that if she takes two years of French then you will spring for a trip to France, which would mean more, life experience wise, than passing 20 CLEP's.....Plus, when she gets home and you get your credit card bill, she can pay you back by CLEPPING out of the Geography, Western Civ I&II, and French subject tests. Think of all the money you can save!!!:eek:

[cudawn]

Test anxiety can add to the lower score. My college advisor said they only look at 50 as a pass. Some colleges attach a grade most do not. I think 50 is awesome. I am mainly a straight A student. It is OK to not always get A's. It took a college nursing instructor telling me a B is just as good as an A if you have done your best. Excellence is the goal, not perfection. Keep up the good work mom. Encourage, encourage and help your daughter believe she is special and wonderfully made. Are you home schooling?

[homeschoolmom]

Thank you all so much for sharing you knowledge and perspectives. Yes, we are homeschooling and we are on unchartered ground right now in our family. This child is our first to tackle high school at home and we are so proud of the hard work she puts into her studies. CLEP testing, we hope, will help us to demonstrate to colleges that she has learned what we say she has learned in the classes we list on her transcript. So, the testing does follow the classes she takes; we are not trying to get her through college before she finishes puberty . For example, last year she studied Biology so she took the test this year. This year she will finish Algebra II and Literary Analysis, so it seems logical to follow with testing in those subjects. Still, while we want to show her learning, we don't want to do anything detrimental either. After all, she will have ACT and SAT scores to demonstrate her learning.

My reason for asking about the scoring really is much more innocent than I may have communicated in my original post. I truly just wanted to know why she experienced such a large performance gap, whether this was a common experience or not, and what suggestions other experienced CLEPpers might have for future tests. I think I was able to weed out the answers though; she probably scored much lower on the actual test because of some test anxiety (as homeschoolers we don't put much energy into testing and we never do standardized testing) and that her first experience CLEPping was on one of the most difficult tests. I also appreciate knowing that the grade that shows up is passing, not a letter grade. I do want to protect my daughter from unnecessary stress and any harm that may come from not being ready for this kind of testing which is why I was having second thoughts about solidifying her high school transcripts in this way. I don't want her to pay later for my mistakes in guiding her today.

So, no, this is not about my ego or about being dissapointed--I'm not. She gets lots of hugs and kisses and praises. For those who are curious, after her test we celebrated with an afternoon off from school (we sat around and played Mario Party 8 on the Wii ) and when dad came home from work, we took her for a celebratory dinner out. She is very encouraged and is looking forward to her next foray into CLEPdom. Her mother, however, may be a little shy in seeking help here in the future though .

[skyfall123]

Her mother, however, may be a little shy in seeking help here in the future though .

C'mon MOM....you asked for opinions and you got them. I'm sorry if my comments offended you (the ego comment was a question, not an accusation). I hope you stick around for a few reasons:

1) You can help other Mom's with similar questions
2) It's a great site with a wealth of knowledge
3) The homeschooling perspective is one that not everyone is familiar with, so your experience can help educate everyone...especially the Geezer
4) You get a variety of answers to questions...which is a good thing and highly encouraged in most academic settings.

[Paul]

Homeschoolmom,
As a homeschool Dad I can identify with you & your husband about being in unchartered waters & can also identify with ya'll as fellow "CLEPers". I just wanted to encourage you to not be shy about posting with other questions since your questions and subsequent answers help all of us. Everyone on here is VERY caring and supportive even though it is a diverse group in ages and experiences. Additionally they will spend as much time as needed to help with whatever individual question/circumstance one may have. There is a wealth of information here that probably isn't available in such a user friendly form elsewhere. I guess I just wanted to encourage you to "hang in there" & stay.
My wife just mentioned perhaps along with this site you may want to visit ClepForHomeschool@yahoogroups for encouragement and help from other home school moms.
Hope to continue hearing from you!
Paul