Going for an almost fully tested bachelors.

[Magicant]

Hey all, I’m new here so I guess this will be my first post. I’m a slacker, I always have been. I dropped out of high school and got a GED. I took a semester of college (only two classes) and passed them pretty easily and got 6 credits. Long story short, I want to change my life, become a motivated person and complete my bachelor’s degree so I can go overseas and teach in Japan. I don’t really have the time or money to spend on a real college sadly, so I’m really counting on this…

I’ll be using this as a kind of blog I guess you could say to motivate myself and hopefully get some help/encouragement from the community so I can make it through this. I’ve listed my entire array of tests I’ll need to take down below and I’ll be crossing them off upon (hopeful) completion. I plan to take my first tests next Friday and use this upcoming week to study until my eyes bleed and brain melts. (Hopefully not that violently but you get the idea.)

If anyone has any advice they can give me about ANY of the tests below, I would appreciate it greatly. I’m pretty confident about the English tests, but everything else is up in the air.

I guess I’ll end it on that note, hope to hear back from the community with any thoughts or advice you may have.

As of 02/06/09
[Total credits: 06]

As of 02/06/09
[Tests Taken: 0]
[Pass 0/Fail 0]

ECE World Population 3
ECE Abnormal Psychology 3
ECE Foundations in Gerontology 3
ECE Ethics Theory and Practice 3
ECE Organizational Behavior 3
ECE Research Methods in Psychology 3
ECE Business Policy and Strategy 3
ECE Labor Relations 3
ECE Production/Operations Management 3
ECE Management of Human Resources 3
ECE Statistics 3
ECE English Composition 6, L
DANTES Business Law II 3
DANTES Management Information Systems 3
DANTES Drug and Alcohol Abuse 3
DANTES Here's to Your Health 3
DANTES Criminal Justice 3
DANTES Fundamentals of Counseling 3
DANTES Principles of Supervision 3
DANTES Principles of Finance 3
CLEP Principles of Accounting 6
CLEP College Algebra 3
CLEP Introductory Business Law 3
CLEP Macroeconomics 3
CLEP Microeconomics 3
CLEP Principles of Management 3
CLEP Principles of Marketing 3
CLEP Introductory Psychology 3
CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology 3
CLEP American Government 3
CLEP Introduction to Sociology 3
CLEP Information Systems and Computer Applications 3
CLEP Humanities 6
CLEP Natural Sciences 6
CLEP Social Sciences and History 6

[cookderosa]

Goodluck to you! My only suggestion is to take the inexpensive tests first (CLEP/DSST) so you can get your feet wet. It would really hurt the pocket book to fail an EC or TECEP exam :eek:

[Mamasaphire]

Welcome! Good luck! And if you want specific help -- after you sign up for IC (instacert) there is a private part of this forum where people leave specific feedback about each test.

[Sam]

Welcome to the forum Magicant! Searching the archives, posting and keeping your dream of teaching in Japan in mind is sure to keep you motivated.

Ditto what Jennifer said about taking the cheaper tests first. I'd also suggest mapping out a specific degree plan when you decide which school you'll be graduating from. The advantage to following a plan is twofold: you won't duplicate credits and you can save a lot of study time by grouping courses that have overlapping content.

Good luck. Sammy

[MadMax396]

Lots of motivation combined with lots of work to do. If you need anything PM me. Also, If you are going to Excelsior(No residency requirements) you might check out the ALEKS thread, you may be pleased by what you find.

Also Instant Cert is a real beast that will help you chew up and spit out tests while teaching you a great deal of info. You still have to take each one though so stay focused on the test at hand while keeping your vision in mind.

I wish you all the best and you will find as much or more great information in the forum as you will on the flashcards so search it and stay as up to date as you can.

I am working on my Bachelors right now; So, see you on the road there
Go get em!

[Lioness088]

Also magicant consider taking the psychology GRE (graduate record exam)if ur going to excelsior. U could potentially test out of 30 psych type credits that way for less than $200, it's $130 I think. U can do a search for it on this board. Best of luck!!!!

[Lioness088]

It wouldn't let me edit so I'm having to add a post. U may also consider the analyzing and interpreting literature clep for humanities I believe it is. U get 6 credits for that also and from what I see ppl saying its pretty easy and much easier than the humanities clep. U can't really study for it but maybe practice interpreting some old literature there's info here on that clep to guide u as well.

[YokotaJo]

You have a lot of tests to take but if you bunch them together by subject you can tick them off quickly. I only had to grab 8 courses of Psych for my BA but I was able to start with what I felt was the best foundation exam (Human Growth & Dev) and really studied that one hard. Then from there the rest have been just more of the same with a bit more info. [SIZE="1"](I already had Intro to Psych from my long lost days at the a big U so I did not have to do that one but most would start with Intro to Psych.)[/SIZE] Then you can just layer on top of the foundation course and need only a week or so to prep for the next test. Once you have run through History as an example, then go and do your Science exams and then your Math or whatever. You might even want to re-arrange your list of exams on your signature so you can see what you have coming up. Also, people on this board are great about sending PM's commenting that they see you have xxx exam coming up and giving you some additional info or tips or direct you to a great site for info.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the road ahead to test out of a bunch of credits but if you batch them together then it will only seem like "next I have to do the history section" and will seem more manageable. Also you can use a bit of time each week to be sure to order or find or borrow whatever books and guides you need for the next batch of exams.

You will find a wealth of info on this board. The first thing I did was spend a week of just combing through each thread and getting tons of info and direction. Just yesterday I searched some older threads and found a gold mine of info on a topic regarding a masters program. You want to know about it.......the info is here on this board somewhere-- just go looking for it.

It will be great to watch you knock them off one by one. Keep us posted!

One more thing..........be sure to use the smiley face things in your posts--- for some reason we all love them!

[gcalvin]

I did almost that same lineup just over a year ago, so I know you got it from Lawrie Miller's bain4weeks.com -- a great site, but slightly out of date. Let me bring you up to date on a few things.

1. CLEP Principles of Accounting is long gone. Take DSST Financial Accounting (to get the grade), and then you'll need to do something for Managerial Accounting -- nobody's offering an exam right now. I used Penn Foster College's course, which can be started at any time and completed quickly. It's not a giveaway though -- you do have to learn the material to pass their proctored final exam.
   
   
2. ECE doesn't offer Production/Operations Management anymore. You can take a TECEP Operations Management exam to cover that requirement.
   
   
3. ECE Business Policy and Strategy is no longer offered, and Excelsior requires their capstone Business Strategy course for all Bachelor degrees from their business school. It's a 15-week course, incorporating about 20 open-book quizzes, online discussion (bulletin board), and a case study project.
   
   
4. Some of the ECEs in your plan can be replaced with less expensive DSSTs. Use the Business School catalog and the Student Guide and Assesment catalog to find alternatives, and run your plan by an academic advisor.
   

I think I left feedback on most of the exams I took. Find my old posts, and let me know if you have any questions that aren't answered there. Do you have a time frame in mind?

-Gary-

[ShotoJuku]

Yes by all means - ditto on the ditto's - start with the EASIER clep/dsst exams FIRST - Good Luck!