How did you determine what you already know?

[a2jc4life]

I had a plan, but it crashed and burned (due to my own misinformation) so, while I'm working on some possible options to push through with that, I think I may need to just scrap everything and start over again. I've been reading over the "Beginners Guide" thread, where the recommendation is to start by determining what you already know and/or have credit for. Any tips for this piece of the process? I currently have 57 hours of college education, but for all intents and purposes I have 2 hours of (usable) credit. And I have a decade of experience both in areas of blogging (including basic design, HTML, Wordpress troubleshooting, etc.) and internet/ebook publishing, etc. as well as household and homeschooling-related experience and reading (so some early childhood development, education theory/methods, cooking -- including for allergy adaptations, etc.).

Soo...assessing my current credit is pretty simple -- I basically have none. Assessing my current knowledge -- well, that's trickier. I know a lot of things, but most of them are kind of "weird" and don't fit tidily into mainstream courses so I'm not sure what I know that's useful.

[dfrecore]

There are tons of courses/exams that you can take, you just need to look at all of them. See which ones sound like things you could fairly easily pass without a lot of work. Sounds like computer-related courses to me.

Saylor has a bunch, all for $25 per exam (course is free):
CS101: Introduction to Computer Science I
CS102: Introduction to Computer Science II
BUS206: Management Information Systems
BUS303: Strategic Information Technology
CS301: Software Engineering
CS402: Computer Communications and Networks

Coopersmith has some (SecularCourses.com) for $150/exam:
Computer Information Systems
Dynamic Web Design & Development
Intro to Computing & Program Design
Intro to HTML5 and CSS3
Multimedia and the Web

These are just examples, there are tons more out there, and in all different subjects. But if you go through the beginner's Guide, and look at what's offered by each course/exam provider, you will start to see what's available.

[Ideas]

I think you should look through some of the less expensive exams. See which you feel would be easier for you, like not need as much studying since you already know the topic. That gives you an idea of how many credits you can get quickly.

I believe study.com has a childhood development one. And I think there are education TECEPs and/or UExcel exams.

[Notgodot]

Well, there are two ways of turning what you know into credit, which is the real point.

First is knowing what sort of alternative credits you can get quickly because of your knowledge. Example: I know literature, and that let me get 30 literature credits from Shmoop's courses in less than a month.

Second is doing a formal Prior Learning Assessment process with the school you want to graduate from. Each one is different, with a different process, cost, and utility. Here's a link to TESU's PLA program:

PLA-100 and PLA-200

[davewill]

Yeah, you just have to look through lists of tests and courses to see what jumps out at you. You can take some practice tests if you're not sure what's covered.

For most people Astronomy is a very difficult exam, but I've been interested in it since I was a kid, and while I had to study, it was quite doable. It was the same, if a bit less so, for me with Anthropology. The rest of my degree was largely dictated by the degree requirements, but I chose CS both because I knew the material and because that's the degree I needed.

[High_Order1]

Second is doing a formal Prior Learning Assessment process with the school you want to graduate from. Each one is different, with a different process, cost, and utility.

This is what I thought this thread referred to.

I am currently going through PLA-200. It appears they don't want your experience, they want to know when learning took place. I am having some trouble wrapping my head around it.

However, I could see where, with your learning experience, the PLA route might be a good fit for you. Wish I could expand on the topic, but I am just learning it now... lol

[a2jc4life]

I'm interested in either type of credit, just was having some trouble wrapping my head around how to "quantify" for myself what I know. Looking through the lists of tests and courses available makes a lot of sense; thank you!