Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
GRE Testing (old-school-style)
#1
The conversation about GRE testing prompted me to look up the old site that disrupted distance learning before disruption was a thing. Lawrie Miller's BAin4weeks site was "the" site for a long time and one that brought a lot of people to find InstantCert.

If you've never read his story: http://bain4weeks.com/introduc.html

When he did his degree (literally, in 4 weeks) he used 2 GRE exams to earn 60 credits in one shot. At the time, all 3 of the big 3 awarded credit for GRE exams, but now that TESU and EC don't, we don't hear much about it. However, COSC still does award credit for hitting in the 40% or better. (Note: COSC used to award 30 credits- a full concentration, now don't so that's probably part of it)

Lawrie Miller managed to score above the 90th percentile for both Psychology and Political Science. I've never taken these exams, so imagine they are quite hard, but clearly not impossible (not to devalue Lawrie's skills, you can see all of his scores, and they are all quite high- so clearly he is very very bright) http://bain4weeks.com/examperformancetables2.html


From Lawrie's site about GRE testing (from 2004)
-----
"ABOUT THE GRE SUBJECT EXAMS

Graduate Record Subject Examinations are offered in a variety of disciplines. Their primary purpose is to test the readiness of candidates for graduate study in a particular field. Most examinees writing these exams are bachelor graduates in the specific field or in a related discipline. Excelsior College is the only assessment institution to award enough credit for a score in the GRE subject exam, to meet all requirements of a major or to trigger conferral of a second degree based solely on one's performance in that exam. Empire State College (not an assessment college – requires that 30+ credits be earned “in-house”) will award up to 36 semester hours credit for a suitable performance in the GRE subject exam.

GRE subject exams are not the same animal as the GRE General exam. They are a different species. Knowledge of basic algebra, geometry, or synonyms and antonyms, will not be enough to cut it in these tests. However, with that said, although the majority of GRE subject test examinees may be graduates in the field, this does not mean examinees who are neither graduates in the discipline or indeed graduates at all, cannot pass these tests at the required level. They can and frequently do. I used the GRE subject test in Political Science to provide all the necessary concentration credit for my first Excelsior College degree. I wrote another GRE subject exam in Psychology, garnering an additional 30 semester hours credit.

A DWINDLING RESOURCE

GRE subject examinations are an endangered species, and it seems that with every passing exam diet there are fewer from which to choose. So if you're toying with the idea of doing this, don't hang about too long. Remember, you can earn such a degree by taking just one exam for about $130. "
----------

The current 2018 exam cost is only $150, which is a steal if you can hit the 40th%. https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/fees/

There are currently only 6 GRE subject exams available. They are:

Biology
Chemistry
Literature in English
Mathematics
Physics
Psychology

The Subject Tests are given at paper-delivered test centers worldwide three times a year, in:

September
October
April

Charter Oak State College is the only school that awards college credit for passing a GRE exam. https://www.charteroak.edu/pdf/charter-o...values.pdf

COSC awards credit as follows:
Biology (40th% = 24 UL/LL credits)
Chemistry (40th% = 24 UL/LL credits)
Literature in English (40th% = 18 UL/LL credits)
Mathematics (40th% = 24 UL/LL credits)
Physics (40th% = 24 UL/LL credits)
Psychology (40th% = 18 UL/LL credits)

One HUGE distinction of the GRE test, is that scores are only saved for 5 years (not 20 like CLEP, AP, DSST, etc) so you do have to use it or lose it.

A second HUGE distinction is that your number correct doesn't matter- it's your rank among other test takers. From the GRE site:

"Percentile Rank
Each GRE test score is reported with a corresponding percentile rank. A percentile rank for a score indicates the percentage of examinees who took that test and received a lower score. Regardless of when the reported scores were earned, the percentile ranks for Subject Test scores are based on the scores of all examinees who tested within a recent time period."

I think the real value in GRE is the upper level credit, though COSC doesn't tell us exactly how much is UL vs LL, which feels risky to me. Still, I think that for SECOND BACHELOR'S DEGREE SEEKERS, this might be the money shot.

"To earn a second baccalaureate degree a student must:

earn a minimum of 30 semester credits subsequent to the award of the initial degree
earn at least 15 of the subsequent credits at the upper level in the new Concentration
meet all distributive requirements
apply no more than 9 credits from the previous degree earned toward the new Concentration
Persons holding a Master of Arts or Master of Science or an earned doctorate must also request approval in writing from the Director of Admissions before applying for a bachelor's degree program."


So, it's possible that as a SECOND DEGREE, a person might be able to do one GRE, a Capstone (?), and maybe more 1 class/exam. Of course COSC does have a 1 credit lab science requirement, a 3 credit speech requirement, and a cornerstone class - so if a person didn't meet those in their first degree, you'd have to do those too (but would be part of the 30 new credits.)
Reply
#2
ESC awards more credits for GRE subject tests if you score very high. The problem is that ESC has a residency requirement.

https://www.esc.edu/degree-planning-acad...es-credit/
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
Reply
#3
I agree that the GRE option is a good one but it was my understanding that it basically tests your knowledge on a complete undergraduate major in that subject. It would take me a very long time of full time independent studying on that one subject to feel adequately prepared for that subject's gre. Independent studying for the essentially freshman level CLEPs isn't that hard but getting the very broad and deep knowledge for UL science courses without university resources is no easy feat. Even if I did get enough study resources to build a solid foundation of knowledge cheap and free enough to make the GRE route worthwhile, I wouldn't have the lab experience that most science graduate programs or science related careers would demand, negating the usefulness of a GRE based COSC science degree. Learning science at that level requires more than just reading books and watching lectures, it requires practicing, application and hands on experience. I would love to knock out that many credits at once for $130 but it doesn't seem like a practical option to me.

I don't know much about the psychology and English literature field so I don't have an opinion on that.

I suppose it could be feasible with the math gre, though very challenging.
WGU BSIT Complete January 2022
(77CU transferred in)(44/44CU ) 

RA(non WGU)(57cr)
JST/TESU Eval of NAVY Training(85/99cr)
The Institutes, TEEX, NFA(9cr): Ethics, Cyber 101/201/301, Safety
Sophia(60cr): 23 classes
Study.com(31cr): Eng105, Fin102, His108, LibSci101, Math104, Stat101, CS107, CS303, BUS107
CLEP(9cr): Intro Sociology 63 Intro Psych 61 US GOV 71
OD(12cr): Robotics, Cyber, Programming, Microecon
CSM(3cr)
Various IT/Cybersecurity Certifications from: CompTIA, Google, Microsoft, AWS, GIAC, LPI, IBM
CS Fund. MicroBachelor(3cr)
Reply
#4
(12-17-2018, 07:58 PM)MNomadic Wrote: I agree that the GRE option is a good one but it was my understanding that it basically tests your knowledge on a complete undergraduate major in that subject. It would take me a very long time of full time independent studying on that one subject to feel adequately prepared for that subject's gre. Independent studying for the essentially freshman level CLEPs isn't that hard but getting the very broad and deep knowledge for UL science courses without university resources is no easy feat. Even if I did get enough study resources to build a solid foundation of knowledge cheap and free enough to make the GRE route worthwhile, I wouldn't have the lab experience that most science graduate programs or science related careers would demand, negating the usefulness of a GRE based COSC science degree. Learning science at that level requires more than just reading books and watching lectures, it requires practicing, application and hands on experience. I would love to knock out that many credits at once for $130 but it doesn't seem like a practical option to me.

I don't know much about the psychology and English literature field so I don't have an opinion on that.

I suppose it could be feasible with the math gre, though very challenging.


Unfortunately, COSC doesn't have any science degrees, so those exams would be used to fill in the liberal arts and upper-level requirements. (bio/chem/physics) You would still need a lab science (all their degrees require a lab).

The math? I'm not really sure about that one.

They DO have a psychology degree, which I think would be doable as an quick/cheap second BA degree for someone.

Keep in mind, you only have to score in the 40th percentile, but it is hard for me to imagine what that looks like in terms of competency.
Reply
#5
COSC mentions the GRE subject tests on their webpages for the relevant concentrations. Remember, COSC used to only have concentrations, and they still offer many of them. The GRE subject test for psychology was mentioned on the psychology concentration page. The GRE subject test for mathematics is mentioned on the mathematics concentration page and so forth. COSC does require labs for its biology, physics, and chemistry concentrations even when you use the GRE for credits.

One problem that one might run into, however, is how COSC lists the GRE credits on the transcript. I'm not sure I received accurate info on this, but an advisor said that the credits are listed as a block with no specific equivalents.

https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/2017-...iology.php
https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/2017-...mistry.php
https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/2017-...matics.php
https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/2017-...cience.php

The physics link is broken, so I don't know if the concentration has been eliminated or if they neglected to update the link.
Graduate of Not VUL or ENEB
MS, MSS and Graduate Cert
AAS, AS, BA, and BS
CLEP
Intro Psych 70, US His I 64, Intro Soc 63, Intro Edu Psych 70, A&I Lit 64, Bio 68, Prin Man 69, Prin Mar 68
DSST
Life Dev Psych 62, Fund Coun 68, Intro Comp 469, Intro Astr 56, Env & Hum 70, HTYH 456, MIS 451, Prin Sup 453, HRM 62, Bus Eth 458
ALEKS
Int Alg, Coll Alg
TEEX
4 credits
TECEP
Fed Inc Tax, Sci of Nutr, Micro, Strat Man, Med Term, Pub Relations
CSU
Sys Analysis & Design, Programming, Cyber
SL
Intro to Comm, Microbio, Acc I
Uexcel
A&P
Davar
Macro, Intro to Fin, Man Acc
[-] The following 1 user Likes sanantone's post:
  • cookderosa
Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  AACSB Certified Online Business School? Trich1996 15 975 10-09-2024, 11:28 PM
Last Post: LevelUP
  Med school - anyone interested? Well... bjcheung77 24 1,577 09-21-2024, 11:23 PM
Last Post: Duneranger
  Graham School - University of Chicago Charles Fout 17 3,106 09-15-2024, 09:09 AM
Last Post: Charles Fout
  Elon Musk is opening a Montessori school in Texas this fall Charles Fout 22 2,029 08-09-2024, 11:41 PM
Last Post: LevelUP
  'Duped': Students of UA's new online college can't get jobs, say school misled them o smartdegree 12 1,567 07-31-2024, 08:17 AM
Last Post: ss20ts
Shocked The Secret of Why You Will NEVER Get Into an Ivy League School Part 2 LevelUP 10 2,862 06-27-2024, 10:55 AM
Last Post: sanantone
  Admission to associate/bachelor programs without a high school diploma David1477 10 1,280 06-19-2024, 07:00 PM
Last Post: bjcheung77
  U.S. Department of Education considers a degree as a high school equivalency ArshveerCheema 15 2,413 05-25-2024, 03:14 PM
Last Post: ArshveerCheema
  F in high school but 4.0 college gpa Spyrine 4 703 05-18-2024, 09:31 PM
Last Post: davewill
  101yr Old Woman Returned To School And Will Graduate College With Her Granddaughter LevelUP 0 482 01-25-2024, 04:36 PM
Last Post: LevelUP

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)