FY13 - DSST Civilian Pass Rates

[Life Long Learning]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...6481,d.cWc

[Prloko]

Cool, I think this basically proved a theory I had for some time that since military members take it at no cost to them, they tend to take the exam "cold" and have a much higher fail rate.

[Prloko]

Here is a newer version. Thanks again for pointing this out, we used to only get the military pass rates.

http://www.dantes.doded.mil/_content/fy1..._rates.pdf

Just update the "fy_13" in the URL to "fy_14" and viola!

[cookderosa]

Cool, I think this basically proved a theory I had for some time that since military members take it at no cost to them, they tend to take the exam "cold" and have a much higher fail rate.

I believe that the newer policy limits their freebie to first attempt, but I might be mistaken.

[BGSU_Alum_86]

^^Yes, you are correct. Just one try for the DANTES-funded member. This means that some will need to have two different accounts (CLEP and DSST), with one listing the required info as a DANTES-funded member and the other a traditional "civilian" account (where they would log in to pay for future attempts).

[OfficerA]

Cool, I think this basically proved a theory I had for some time that since military members take it at no cost to them, they tend to take the exam "cold" and have a much higher fail rate.

Some take it cold just because, and others use it to "preview" a class, at least as far as my fellow Airmen are concerned. Still, seems wasteful of at least 1.5 hours to me just to fail it.

[Prloko]

This is correct. Many AF supervisors would encourage their Airmen to go take a CLEP cold so they can pad an award package with college credits. I used to discourage my Airmen from doing this, not only is it a waste of time but part of their performance evaluation was management of resources. IMHO, not studying for an exam and failing an exam that was paid for by the taxpayers is a waste of government funds and reflect as poor resource management.

[jmeitrem]

I'm one of those that encourages all the Airmen in my shop to take the easy ones at least. They mostly come to me for help weeks before their EPR is due, so taking it cold is usually the only option. I always tell them to take A&I Lit and the Computing tests in hopes that maybe they will catch the CLEP bug like I did after taking a couple. I was especially excited for one Airman who spent time in Germany and got all 12 credits on the German CLEP after MONTHS of nagging him. I suppose I am the epitome of FW&A since I've taken 67 tests...

[gingerbeefE]

I feel like this is terrible advice. Most of the CLEPS and DSST are lower level classes. As long as your Airman went to a decent high school there are several Exams that they could pass with minimal to no studying. More specifically
Information and Computer applications and Information systems ( if they have a decent understanding of computers, which most young people have a decent understanding of and they both apply to CCAF)
College Comp Modular or other ( I don't know how one would study for this class anyways)
Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
Any language CLEP if they have a background in the language.
Among these there are numerous CLEPS and DSST that require minimal studying that you could recommend to your Airmen if you get to know his strengths.
IMHO, you should never discourage your Airmen from trying to get college credits. It takes a lot to talk someone into starting to take CLEP giving them a negative attitude on the subject could prevent your airman from ever taking CLEPS. You're suppose to lead and mentor.

[Prloko]

I feel like this is terrible advice. Most of the CLEPS and DSST are lower level classes. As long as your Airman went to a decent high school there are several Exams that they could pass with minimal to no studying. More specifically
Information and Computer applications and Information systems ( if they have a decent understanding of computers, which most young people have a decent understanding of and they both apply to CCAF)
College Comp Modular or other ( I don't know how one would study for this class anyways)
Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
Any language CLEP if they have a background in the language.
Among these there are numerous CLEPS and DSST that require minimal studying that you could recommend to your Airmen if you get to know his strengths.
IMHO, you should never discourage your Airmen from trying to get college credits. It takes a lot to talk someone into starting to take CLEP giving them a negative attitude on the subject could prevent your airman from ever taking CLEPS. You're suppose to lead and mentor.

I had wrote a much longer response to this but clicked out of it on accident and I'm too lazy to recreate it. To summarize it, I always encourage and recommend education and held my airmen accountable, this includes classes, cleps, dau courses, etc. Also, CLEP bullets are BS and all the senior leadership knows it and they don't have the impact you think they do. They are usually filler bullets when the airmen didn't do anything with more substance. Also, I knew many an airman who would take the speech DSST and pass, and then subsequently stutter and stammer through a briefing to a CMSgt or COL, I'm supposed to then brag about the speech credit on a quarterly board when that same CMSgt heard the Airman's speaking ability. Where is the "leadership and mentor ship" in that? I actually used to encourage taking an actual course if the airman was bad at public speaking. It was crucial in my job.

One of my old Superintendents approached me to write a BTZ package for an Airman who's supervisor was deployed. I couldn't find ANY reason why a package should be submitted, but for the fact that the Group chief pressured him. So I wrote your typical BS bullet package for an Airman who was basically useless. He of course didn't get BTZ, but later in the year when his supervisor tried to write an honest assessment of the Airmen, who couldn't give a deserved "3", but basically HAD to give a "5" because of the BTZ package, if not, was admitting to the BS.

But yes, I do agree, if they have sufficient background, then what is the point of studying for 2 weeks. A native Spanish speaker is not going to benefit studying for the Spanish clep, and that is common sense and should have been implied. But if you don't study, and then fail, money was wasted.

Final note- I am no longer active duty.