Hey Guys I'm back, Guide for Noobs!

[johnysc430]

ok Last 8 months have been hectic, I had to put studying aside for a while but I can say with some pride that I have 103 credits, I started out the beginning of the year with only 16 from another college. I'm about 20 credits away from my BS and all the other credits were accumulated in the first 4 months of the year. I've taken a lot of exams and I did pretty well on most of them.

Here are some Things I've learned while testing out and I hope this helps.

Set goals view some of the exams and speak to your adviser about requirements.

This is how my attack plan would be if I had to do it over.

Step #1
A word of advice I can give to some newbies is, start with dantes exams the IC materials will cover most of the material needed for these exams they are a good entry into testing out and taking exams. Most dantes exams can be passed with only about 3-4 days of studying the IC materials. Some of the harder ones will take a little more time and resources.

Step #2
Then I would go CLEPS, CLEPS for me were a little harder than dsst's I've passed some with no studying and some with 2 days of studying everyone is different. The great thing about cleps is they aren't letter graded. It might be a bad thing for some people but it was good for me.
They are scored on a pass fail. All you need is to get over 50 study the materials well and don't feel bad if you get a 50 because it's the same grade if you pass with a much higher score but aim higher.
IC was tremendous with these exams although I did use the REA books and a few outside resources. I would recommend at least 7-10 days of studying and with the harder exams at least 2 weeks. If you feel comfortable with the material then I would take the exam. If you're still unsure give yourself more time.


Step #3

The good old Excelsior exams lol a lot of these exams are upper level credit. When you go take these exams you feel like you're in a maximum security prison. So if you're a nervous person testing at pearson testing centers makes you even more nervous lol. These were my most difficult exams and I would recommend studying from IC and using the recommended text books or doing some research on the IC forums. There are a lot of guides that will compliment IC and I think that IC was great and helped me a ton with these exams. One thing to remember with these exams that helped me is, a lot o them have duplicate material for example Abnormal Psych will help you with other psychology exams and so on. Don't make the mistake of passing a Dantes Exam in the same field and rushing to take the EC exam. That would be a big mistake. These exams require a minimum of 2-4 weeks of studying.
They offer some exams on their website that I would recommend taking also.
Not call classes have these exams. In my closing I can tell you EC exams are tough so don't underestimate them.




I just wanted to give back to the forum that has given me so much over the last 8 months.

Forgive me for some typos lol it's kinda late for me.

If you have any direct questions on exams just pm me.

[PeteDude]

I'd be careful about telling folks DANTES/DSST exams can be passed with 3-4 days of study. That's a pretty fair generality, especially considering individual learning styles/inclinations and the recent exam changes.

Target score objectives also vary by test-taker/school. Memory fails me at the moment, but doesn't one of the Big 3 give letter grades for CLEPs? If that's the case, you may want to do well. I seem to remember there are variances on the policy of letter grades for DANTES/DSST as well. Additionally, while a good grade on a DANTES/DSST exam may raise your GPA, there's certainly room for "just pass it and get it over with" for some folks.

[johnysc430]

If you are worried about your GPA and it means everything to you. Definitely put in a lot more study time. These times aren't meant to be the gold standard but they will get you through the exams if you are a decent test taker.




if you put in 3-4 days of solid study 4 hours each day.

There's definitely a strong possibility of getting an A on a large majority of dantes exams.


Everyone is different, If you don't feel confident don't take any exams, if you aren't great at taking tests.
I would go for 7-10 days of solid study. that's 28-40 hours of study.

Pete if you would read would I wrote I stated that some of the harder ones would take a little more time and resources.

but a subject like

business math for example.

IF you can add subtract and multiply and divide chances are you would pass an exam like that with very minimal study.

you can definitely get by with 16 hours of study, especially if you are using the IC cards. on most Dsst exams.


Use the boards find out which exams are easier or harder.



Set goals, Set exam dates and go take them. Don't be scared the fear will subside and you will pass the exams.

[Degreeasap]

Speaking from experience, I would add that, prior knowledge of the subject matter also determines the level of exam difficulty regardless of whether it is DSST, CLEP or ECE.

[johnysc430]

I couldn't agree with you more!