04-03-2014, 09:49 AM
All - This is my first and only post to this forum, but I wanted to share the news that I passed the Bio CLEP test. I am a mid 30s adult student with a full time job, full time family, and what seems like several balls in the air at one time. I finished every component of my undergrad degree program with the exception of Bio Sciences. In lieu of paying ~$500 per credit to satisfy this, I elected to CLEP out of it. I did the same for Humanities about two years ago.
I scored a 59. While it was lower than I wanted, I found the exam to be extremely diverse and comprehensive. There were many questions that I had to make educated guesses because I had no friggin clue. The approach I did take was provide an answer regardless if I knew the correct one, and keep moving at a decent clip. I also marked the questions I didn't know with hopes that I may see a similar one later in the exam. The thing I kept in mind was to keep moving, you don't get any credit for a skipped question. One thing to be clear - some may consider CLEP a shortcut, but Bio was no joke, and there isn't a shortcut from a study/prep standpoint.
My study materials were the IC flashcards - Don't let the number of questions seem imposing, the test is somewhat imposing and you need to cover the material. The vocabulary and terminology is critical in the major areas - i.e. cells, DNA, replication, etc. I also bought the REA book and read it cover to cover. I would often run through the flashcards and keep the REA book on my lap - I'd look up the answer to the question if I didn't know it - helped me memorize and understand the material better. Don't get caught up on your score on the IC flashcards. Read the answers, just like they suggest.
Finally I listened to the Bio Khan Academy videos - I have some clients that round trip requires 4 hours of car time. The videos were perfect for what otherwise is unproductive time spent. I found the cell videos and plant videos to be most valuable to my learning process. This forum is also a great resource - I anonymously read and took away from other test taker experiences, so I felt obligated to take 10 min to share my experience.
BTW - my pursuit towards degree has been brutal, but I'm officially done. I started in 1999, transferred to University of Phoenix in 2001, finished my degree program in 2004 and left Humanities and Biology to CLEP. That took me 7 years to revisit (my fault on procrastinating) - when I attempted to submit my humanities score to Phoenix, they said thanks but no thanks...we changed your major and you now need to pay for an additional 15 courses. Since then, the aforementioned institution has seen my last nickel and I transferred to a legit, AACSB accredited University. I still had Bio left to do, and the mistake I made last time was leaving it out there for 7 years.
Long story short - if you're a student and think you can save a buck and some time by CLEP, you can, you just need to have the discipline to knock it out.
Peace!
I scored a 59. While it was lower than I wanted, I found the exam to be extremely diverse and comprehensive. There were many questions that I had to make educated guesses because I had no friggin clue. The approach I did take was provide an answer regardless if I knew the correct one, and keep moving at a decent clip. I also marked the questions I didn't know with hopes that I may see a similar one later in the exam. The thing I kept in mind was to keep moving, you don't get any credit for a skipped question. One thing to be clear - some may consider CLEP a shortcut, but Bio was no joke, and there isn't a shortcut from a study/prep standpoint.
My study materials were the IC flashcards - Don't let the number of questions seem imposing, the test is somewhat imposing and you need to cover the material. The vocabulary and terminology is critical in the major areas - i.e. cells, DNA, replication, etc. I also bought the REA book and read it cover to cover. I would often run through the flashcards and keep the REA book on my lap - I'd look up the answer to the question if I didn't know it - helped me memorize and understand the material better. Don't get caught up on your score on the IC flashcards. Read the answers, just like they suggest.
Finally I listened to the Bio Khan Academy videos - I have some clients that round trip requires 4 hours of car time. The videos were perfect for what otherwise is unproductive time spent. I found the cell videos and plant videos to be most valuable to my learning process. This forum is also a great resource - I anonymously read and took away from other test taker experiences, so I felt obligated to take 10 min to share my experience.
BTW - my pursuit towards degree has been brutal, but I'm officially done. I started in 1999, transferred to University of Phoenix in 2001, finished my degree program in 2004 and left Humanities and Biology to CLEP. That took me 7 years to revisit (my fault on procrastinating) - when I attempted to submit my humanities score to Phoenix, they said thanks but no thanks...we changed your major and you now need to pay for an additional 15 courses. Since then, the aforementioned institution has seen my last nickel and I transferred to a legit, AACSB accredited University. I still had Bio left to do, and the mistake I made last time was leaving it out there for 7 years.
Long story short - if you're a student and think you can save a buck and some time by CLEP, you can, you just need to have the discipline to knock it out.
Peace!
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Also congrats on finishing up!
