How uneducated can you be and still pass a CLEP?

[linh]

I posted about month ago, and then husband and I did three weeks full time six year back US taxes plus current year, in preparing for applying for me to get US visa. I am back, with more focused questions about CLEP.

I am highly uneducated Vietnamese woman. I have a year of online high school from America, but it was using mastery system, no testing. I have 12 college credits of ALEKS math. Again, no testing.

Which means I have never taken a test of any kind. Not once.

I read slowly and write slowly. I don’t know much, but I can really apply myself when necessary. However, applying yourself only goes so far. I am not dumb, well, maybe a little bit, but for sure I am not smart.

I asked in old post about Straighterline, and did it educate. I am not sure how to say this, but I now have a better set of priorities: Get an AA or AS as quickly as possible for US immigration purposes.

I think I can manage SL English Writing I and II. (Again, no test.) That would give 18 units. Where do I go from there?
I suspect that the SL tests for stuff like chemistry can be different a lot. So are hard to predict. But if it is not SL but CLEP chemistry, maybe the questions are from a standard group, and the flash cards can do it. I know just the cards are not enough. I have done stuff like Frank Cardilla’s teaching company high school chemistry, which took a long time. So I do have a little background.

I just realized I am asking a question nobody can answer. “Can I pass CLEP tests?” I feel so dumb.

[OfficerA]

It depends is my most honest answer.

A little background on myself (long story incoming), who also immigrated to the US; thanks to "familial duties" (my parents' words, not mine), I ended up losing time and money helping my parents out over the most dumbest set of priorities, all of it culminating in a really ugly, messy divorce (which is why I refuse to talk to the two of them to this day).

I took 1 full time semester of community college 3 years after high school, coming off of being a C average student, taking a variety of classes from PE, English 101, Intermediate Algebra, and Speech. That one semester was the first time in my life I ever got a 4.0 average GPA for all the classes I've taken at once. I just really applied myself, fell in love with the courses, and it probably helped that all my homework was done by Friday of every week, so I could review and live a little on the weekends.

But then I had to take a break for more than 4 years after that, because of the same familial duties rearing its head (leading up to the divorce). I secured a fun, well-paying job that unfortunately did not leave any time or money at all for me to go to school with. In all those 4 years, I did not once pick up a book, nor try to develop myself outside what my job demanded of me; I was too drained, and I was hitting the gym hard so I didn't have to see my family much when I came home.

When I was nearly done with my financial obligations that my parents tied me to, I told them I was joining the military. I didn't study for the ASVAB (meant to test where your strengths are in relation to what the military needs), as my own recruiter wanted me to use my first test to gauge where I am, but scored high enough that I would have qualified for almost all jobs if it weren't for my lack of citizenship. In a year I shipped out (making it clear to my family that I didn't particularly want to see/contact them much), went through basic training, my follow-on tech school, and landed in my first duty station.

When I joined, all I cared for was a relatively stable (for my branch anyway) job; it's only after my own supervisor found out how well I did in my career development courses that she pushed me to get back and on track to school. One of the benefits we had was that it was free for us to test once in either CLEP or DSST, on top of tuition assistance. When I found out how fearful even my own education officer was of CLEPs back when he was in the service, I decided to give it a try just for the hell of it; what's the worst that can happen if I don't pass it, I figure?

I checked out a book in the library, applied myself yet again (helps that I fell in love with reading a LOT again, and where I am you tend to run out of stuff to do fast), then tested 3 months afterwards, while still balancing the equivalent of a full-time job, as well as one class a semester. I passed Analyzing and Interpreting Literature with a 67 I believe, and after planning things out (both for my CCAF AS degree, as well as now my BSBA through TESC), I've been knocking out mostly business courses with confidence, with less than a month's studying at a time for a good number of them.

For me, I've found something I enjoy taking (mostly management courses, but really business as a whole), and I just apply myself. I've been able to knock out exams in as little as 4 formal days of studying or so, such as for the Management Information Systems DSST. That is what helped me amass credits towards a degree, going from having only 12 credits accepted by my branch to having 92 credits in less than 2 years through TESC.

I don't recommend you sell yourself short, including calling yourself uneducated, as I never believed in being smart enough for a 4.0 until after high school; to this day I still have a 4.0, and I'm still hitting the books and applying myself hard. I'll be blunt; I've yet to take anything close to Calculus or a business course as math heavy as the Principles of Finance DSST, but as long as my base library is open, as long as this community (IC/degreeforum) exists, and as long as I care enough to make up for all the time I've lost, you best believe I will apply myself and get educated, and I believe you can do the same.

[Saharapost]

...I've yet to take anything close to Calculus or a business course as math heavy as the Principles of Finance DSST, but as long as my base library is open, as long as this community (IC/degreeforum) exists, and as long as I care enough to make up for all the time I've lost, you best believe I will apply myself and get educated, and I believe you can do the same.

Thanks for your story, Officer A

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[Leebo]

The CLEP website has a handful of free example questions for each exam. These might be helpful in confirming for yourself that you won't have difficulty with the vocabulary or sentence structure of real questions. CLEP sells an official practice question book for like $25. Study for a subject and then take a look at practice questions. Don't worry about getting some wrong. I have passed CLEP exams by a wide margin after only getting 70% or so of the practice questions right.

[Tedium]

Your question is not dumb, but it's really difficult for anyone to look at someone's history or level of education or whatever, and decide if that person will pass or fail a CLEP. I may not know material for a certain test really well, but I might be amazing a taking standardized tests. Or the other way around. Things like that all factor in, so it's not just an issue of educated or uneducated.

Honestly, you don't sound uneducated from your post. I think this is more of an issue of you being new to the world of testing and American education. Every single person on this board started where you are at one time. They have many practice tests available, so if I were you I would sit down and take a few to see where you are at in your studies right now. When you take them time yourself. Most tests give you a suggested amount of time for completion. It may be that you don't do as poorly as you think you will.

Have you taken or thought about taking the TOEFL test? I suspect that studying for that might really help to increase your reading speed and comprehension. That will help you with your English classes and any other future tests/classes you take. Also, it will help by giving you actual testing experience. That's just a suggestion, though. I am not saying you have to do that. If you are interested: TOEFL: Home

You said you can apply yourself, and really that's half of the battle. As long as you are able to learn you can succeed if you put in the time and effort. Don't sell yourself short by thinking you are dumb. You can work at and solve all of the problems you have described.

[linh]

Leebo, thank you. I guess it is time for reality check. I have been doing this CLEP investigation on my own and now I got my husband into it with me. We got some internet CLEP stuff like you said, and my husband kindly pointed out:

Chemistry is two semester course with online professor three hours a week, and learning it with husband teaching will take same time.

And it is not just chemistry, it is a huge pile of courses I need for AS degree, like history and stuff with a lot of reading.

Sigh…. I guess 3 semesters of college stuff for me need 18 months. So no CLEPs for me, not now anyway.

We maybe want to go to Mountain Home Arkansas, with nice trout fishing. We checked and there is a 2 year college there. I guess that is a plan. I am so tired of online education. I have one year online high school from America and never met even one student, only teachers.

Thanks for inspiration OfficerA, but I was sad to hear your story of divorce. In Vietnam a big problem is you can marry a woman who is world’s greatest daughter but world’s worst wife. Parents are so happy, and cannot understand why son-in-law gets a divorce.

[zenurez]

Hi Linh, I have been following your posts for awhile and I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.

Firstly, I understand how easy it is to allow uncertainty to limit your goals. I had many fears about taking CLEP's even after I had taken college courses. Unfortunately, I let my fears keep me from doing something I was very capable of doing.

Secondly, I have found most colleges and universities will talk you out of taking CLEPs. It could be because they want you to pay them more money, or because they feel you couldn't possibly learn as much through a CLEP. Since you have completed a high school level education, I would try a CLEP or two before spending a huge amount of money on college courses. Even if you take two CLEP and fail both, it will cost you less than one college course. (Not that I think you would fail, but just evaluating it from a financial standpoint).

If I could make the following suggestion. Why don't you prepare for an "easy" CLEP, such as Information Systems and Computer Applications (or even better, do the DSST version called Introduction to Computing so you can take the "official" DSST practice test online and become familiar with the testing interface). Clearly you have used computers for your school work so some of this should already be familiar. Signup with IC for a month and give yourself lots of repetition. Take the free test at free-clep-prep.com. Then take the official DSST or CLEP test. The test will give you a score which is immediate feedback as to how prepared you were for the test.

There are four reasons why someone would not do well on a test.
1) Not understanding the material
2) Not enough preparation / repetition
3) Poor test taking strategy (spending too much time on hard questions, not answering all questions, etc)
4) Emotional Constraints, such as getting really nervous during tests.


The first three can be completely controlled with good preparation.
1) If you don't understand something after a few times through IC then google it.
2) I'd suggest you "over practice" for your first test. You can't be too prepared. Use the free test over and over at free-clep-prep.com.
3) If you haven't taken a lot of multiple choice tests, you might need to practice good test taking strategies:
----a) If you don't know an answer right away, mark the question so you can come back to it.
----b) Answer every question before your time is up, even if you have to guess.
----c) If you can eliminate even one wrong answer, you have a better chance of getting the right answer.
4) Nerves can be hard to control, and for some people can have a significant negative impact. The best way to counteract nerves to prepare well in the first three steps.

Chemistry is definitely a hard topic. I know people with computer science degrees who failed basic college chemistry courses even with a professor. On the difficulty list found here Clep Difficulty List - Free-Clep-Prep.com it is considered to be one of the hardest. Of course if you have your heart set on Chemistry, that is fantastic! But maybe you should get your feet wet with some easy tests. You will become familiar with the structure and wording of the tests. You will learn how to schedule and study for the tests. As well as become familiar with the testing facility where you take the tests. Feeling confident and comfortable with all of this can really help you during hard tests such as Chemistry.

So I look at it this way. You could spend about $150 dollars to prepare for and take a CLEP/DSST. If you don't pass you can see how low your score was. If it is really low, that might indicate you would do better in a classroom environment. If you're close to passing, perhaps you need to brush up on one of the first three steps and try again. And of course, it is possible you will receive a passing score on your first try. Don't you think it is worth it to try?

There are so many free resources out there for you, I hate to see you get tied into spending money at a college, unless it really benefits your learning style.

Your future is really determined by your beliefs. Don't let your beliefs or others beliefs limit you!

[linh]

By the way, I put dumb in the title for a laugh. I guess I should use a smiley. I was joking about dumb, but not about uneducated.

Zenurez, such a nice post, like a great essay.

First, you are not quite right. I do not have a high school diploma. I just finished first year at online school this month. Probably I will not finish. People think a diploma is necessary for college, but many colleges say if you are 25 or older and they think you will "benefit" from their college, you will be allowed in.

I think I could do well on CLEP college algebra, because I am good at math. But I already have five ALEKS credits (I know after four are overlaps.) Real fast and easy, ALEKS. I am also kind of good at science that is like math -- chemistry and physical science.

But my husband, who really believes we must sometimes leap before we look, showed me I was not ready for CLEP, even Chemistry. I am not so much afraid of CLEP as I am not wanting to get in way over my head, which I did once a long time ago. Horrible feeling, no way out.

I think SL is something I should try. SL costs more than CLEP, and you can spend your CLEPs at a lot more colleges than SL. But the big three do SL. And for SL I think I can feel the course more and be in it more. And this would help me pass.

Thank you so much for your post.

Linh

[Saharapost]

...

I think SL is something I should try. SL costs more than CLEP, and you can spend your CLEPs at a lot more colleges than SL. But the big three do SL. And for SL I think I can feel the course more and be in it more. And this would help me pass...

Linh

If you plan to do SL, I'll suggest you do so in time as no one knows what tomorrow might bring. FEMA used to be accepted by TESC until recently. Who knows what colleges and universities may decide to do about ACE credits- especially from non collegiate sources like SL... Just thinking