11-23-2011, 06:56 PM
Hello everyone,
I just have to announce that yesterday I took DSST Principles of Finance and passed with a score of 471! :hurray:
I studied Barron's Finance, supplementing with Barron's Financial Management and websites. I found that Barron's Finance covered most of what was on the exam and gave me adequate preparation. I used Barron's Financial Management to study some parts from a different angle, to help with difficult parts, and to study some concepts in more depth. I found Barron's Financial Management to be more in depth than necessary to pass the exam. I also used resources and websites that were on free-clep-prep.com (which is a very useful website BTW). I used McGraw-Hill / Irwin presents "Corporate Finance online" and Principles of Corporate Finance for quizzes/practice tests. I also found Snazzlefrag's feedback and this thread: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...nance.html quite useful, as well as Barcotta's feedback in this thread: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...nance.html (in attached word document). Other websites I used for review and study include: StudyFinance.com and NetMBA.com/Finance.
I enjoyed studying for this exam, although I was concerned about remembering formulas and worried about whether I would pass. I found the exam to be easier than I expected. It was similar in difficulty to Financial Accounting, but not quite as easy as Fin. Accounting. (Although remember that "easy" is relative; since I have taken 4 courses and 1 exam in accounting already, I found the part about financial statements, ratios, and financial statement analysis quite easy; also I already had a good knowledge of time value of money and the valuation of bonds from Business Math and Accounting.)
I did not use a financial calculator in this exam. I have a good graphing calculator that also does finance, but it is programmable, so I couldn't bring it, and I did not want to buy another calculator just for this exam (I have two already). I did bring my nonprogrammable non-financial calculator and was allowed to use it (it is much easier and quicker for me to use than the on-screen calculator in the exam). There were time-value-of-money tables supplied but only for the calculation of the present and future value of $1, not for the present and future value of an annuity. But whenever a question required the calculation of the present or future value of an annuity, the calculation factor was supplied. I ended up hardly using the tables, since it is easy enough to calculate the present or future value of $1 using the formula, and switching back and forth to look up factors in the tables took longer than just calculating it (it is for annuities that the formula is complicated and although I have tried many times I have not been able to memorize it). When studying for the exam I made sure to do time-value-of-money calculations with formulas and with the tables for practice doing them both ways and I refrained from using my financial/graphing calculator.
There were a number of questions that required calculations relating to the time-value-of-money such as finding present or future value, valuing bonds, calculating the payments on loans, and finding the yield to maturity (I forgot or did not know well enough how to calculate the YTM and there were several questions on it
).
There were a number of questions requiring knowledge of various ratios. Several questions required calculation of ratios. Some other questions asked how a certain change in one ratio would affect something else or how a certain change in assets or liabilities or sales, etc. would affect a certain ratio. I would advise anyone taking this exam to be sure to know and understand the ratios well.
There were a number of questions requiring knowledge of financial terms or equations (without requiring solving the equations) such as CAPM, SML, systematic and unsystematic risk, cash discounts, leverage, credit terms, factoring, etc. There were a few questions that required calculating (in addition to the time-value-of-money and ratio questions) things like cost of capital, exchange rates, NPV, IRR, PI, and payback period.
There were some easy questions requiring knowledge of financial terms such as annuity, compound interest, compounding periods, semiannual (how easy is that!?). And some of these questions were repeated, for instance there were two questions asking for the definition of one of the terms I mentioned above, just worded differently.
Off course, there were a few hard to understand or strangely worded questions or answers as well as a few questions about things I did not know (but not too many of either).
I am sure there is more, but this is all I can remember.
Sorry for the long essay. I hope the feedback helps someone. I know I have answered several questions that I had and couldn't find the answer to before taking this exam.
Now I will take a little break from studying, but I will be busy anyway.
I just have to announce that yesterday I took DSST Principles of Finance and passed with a score of 471! :hurray:
I studied Barron's Finance, supplementing with Barron's Financial Management and websites. I found that Barron's Finance covered most of what was on the exam and gave me adequate preparation. I used Barron's Financial Management to study some parts from a different angle, to help with difficult parts, and to study some concepts in more depth. I found Barron's Financial Management to be more in depth than necessary to pass the exam. I also used resources and websites that were on free-clep-prep.com (which is a very useful website BTW). I used McGraw-Hill / Irwin presents "Corporate Finance online" and Principles of Corporate Finance for quizzes/practice tests. I also found Snazzlefrag's feedback and this thread: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...nance.html quite useful, as well as Barcotta's feedback in this thread: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...nance.html (in attached word document). Other websites I used for review and study include: StudyFinance.com and NetMBA.com/Finance.
I enjoyed studying for this exam, although I was concerned about remembering formulas and worried about whether I would pass. I found the exam to be easier than I expected. It was similar in difficulty to Financial Accounting, but not quite as easy as Fin. Accounting. (Although remember that "easy" is relative; since I have taken 4 courses and 1 exam in accounting already, I found the part about financial statements, ratios, and financial statement analysis quite easy; also I already had a good knowledge of time value of money and the valuation of bonds from Business Math and Accounting.)
I did not use a financial calculator in this exam. I have a good graphing calculator that also does finance, but it is programmable, so I couldn't bring it, and I did not want to buy another calculator just for this exam (I have two already). I did bring my nonprogrammable non-financial calculator and was allowed to use it (it is much easier and quicker for me to use than the on-screen calculator in the exam). There were time-value-of-money tables supplied but only for the calculation of the present and future value of $1, not for the present and future value of an annuity. But whenever a question required the calculation of the present or future value of an annuity, the calculation factor was supplied. I ended up hardly using the tables, since it is easy enough to calculate the present or future value of $1 using the formula, and switching back and forth to look up factors in the tables took longer than just calculating it (it is for annuities that the formula is complicated and although I have tried many times I have not been able to memorize it). When studying for the exam I made sure to do time-value-of-money calculations with formulas and with the tables for practice doing them both ways and I refrained from using my financial/graphing calculator.
There were a number of questions that required calculations relating to the time-value-of-money such as finding present or future value, valuing bonds, calculating the payments on loans, and finding the yield to maturity (I forgot or did not know well enough how to calculate the YTM and there were several questions on it
).There were a number of questions requiring knowledge of various ratios. Several questions required calculation of ratios. Some other questions asked how a certain change in one ratio would affect something else or how a certain change in assets or liabilities or sales, etc. would affect a certain ratio. I would advise anyone taking this exam to be sure to know and understand the ratios well.
There were a number of questions requiring knowledge of financial terms or equations (without requiring solving the equations) such as CAPM, SML, systematic and unsystematic risk, cash discounts, leverage, credit terms, factoring, etc. There were a few questions that required calculating (in addition to the time-value-of-money and ratio questions) things like cost of capital, exchange rates, NPV, IRR, PI, and payback period.
There were some easy questions requiring knowledge of financial terms such as annuity, compound interest, compounding periods, semiannual (how easy is that!?). And some of these questions were repeated, for instance there were two questions asking for the definition of one of the terms I mentioned above, just worded differently.
Off course, there were a few hard to understand or strangely worded questions or answers as well as a few questions about things I did not know (but not too many of either).
I am sure there is more, but this is all I can remember.
Sorry for the long essay. I hope the feedback helps someone. I know I have answered several questions that I had and couldn't find the answer to before taking this exam.
Now I will take a little break from studying, but I will be busy anyway.
[SIZE="1"]BSBA in Accounting at TESC - Done! :hurray:
Started June 2009 with zero credits, now have 133!
CLEP:
English Literature - 67, Chemistry - 60, Microeconomics - 69, Macroeconomics - 77, U.S. History I - 68, U.S. History II - 64, American Government - 64, Humanities - 68, College Algebra - 64, English Composition - 56, Financial Accounting - 80
, Principles of Management - 74, Intro. Business Law - 73, Principles of Marketing - 79, Info. Systems & Computer Applications - 77
DSST:
Introduction to Business - 446, Human/Cultural Geography - 69, Personal Finance - 463, Principles of Supervision - 443, Organizational Behavior - 76, Human Resource Management - 77, Business Ethics and Society - 468, Principles of Finance - 471, Management Information Systems - 447, Money and Banking - 73
TECEP:
Financial Institutions and Markets, Federal Income Taxation, Strategic Management
Straighterline Course:
Business Communication
[/SIZE]
Started June 2009 with zero credits, now have 133!
CLEP:
English Literature - 67, Chemistry - 60, Microeconomics - 69, Macroeconomics - 77, U.S. History I - 68, U.S. History II - 64, American Government - 64, Humanities - 68, College Algebra - 64, English Composition - 56, Financial Accounting - 80
, Principles of Management - 74, Intro. Business Law - 73, Principles of Marketing - 79, Info. Systems & Computer Applications - 77DSST:
Introduction to Business - 446, Human/Cultural Geography - 69, Personal Finance - 463, Principles of Supervision - 443, Organizational Behavior - 76, Human Resource Management - 77, Business Ethics and Society - 468, Principles of Finance - 471, Management Information Systems - 447, Money and Banking - 73
TECEP:
Financial Institutions and Markets, Federal Income Taxation, Strategic Management
Straighterline Course:
Business Communication
[/SIZE]
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)
, Bus Ethics & Society - 447, Prin. of Finance - 437