If CLEP/DSST/ECE released a new test this year...

[zomgmikeftw]

Which one would you want it to be? Curious to see what tests ICers would be interested in taking.

[NAP]

I would love it, if they offered more upper-level math and science exams.

[sanantone]

None of those. LOL. Intermediate Auditing could be helpful for business and accounting majors and the History of Mexico course would give history majors more upper level options. Like NAP said, there is a real need for more upper level math and science tests. Psychology, business, and even history seem to be the best covered subjects. I think there are plenty of liberal arts, humanities, and general education-type courses; but I'm sure some people would like to see more courses in religion, journalism, and communications. I would like to see more tests in other languages besides Spanish, French, and German. More IT/computer science tests would be great along with engineering if that would be feasible. Economics is another very useful degree, but there are hardly any tests in that subject. It would also be nice to be able to completely test out of a human resources degree which is in high demand. Since there are so many tests for psychology, it should be easy to develop more tests in sociology. Just because it is my graduate area of study, I would like to see more political science, international relations, and government courses. And wouldn't it be great to mostly test out of the requirements for teacher certification?

[Prloko]

I would like to see more business and economics type courses. And more andvanced mathematics courses would be the most useful since you don't really lose anything out of testing out of math (no socialization or research skills to develop). I don't think engineering should be a distance education or clep type of test since it is very hands on and labs are crucial. Also, since most of these tests are geared towards professional adults (not AP of course), why not have tests that would allow a Police officer, Fireman, retail manager to apply their learned skills to a degree, i.e legal courses, fire science and management courses.

[dcan]

None of those. Managerial Accounting. CollegeBoard used to have an all-inclusive 6-credit Accounting CLEP that covered Financial and Managerial Accounting, but now they only have a 3-credit Financial Accounting CLEP instead. I will have to take a TESC class because of this.

How many people would actually take a CLEP for specialized math, science, or engineering? I want them to do more comp sci stuff (database design would be a nice one), but the market is small.

[SuZQ2]

Upper level Humanities - Literature, Art History and the like. To my knowledge they've got ZERO tests in these areas.

[sanantone]

I would like to see more business and economics type courses. And more andvanced mathematics courses would be the most useful since you don't really lose anything out of testing out of math (no socialization or research skills to develop). I don't think engineering should be a distance education or clep type of test since it is very hands on and labs are crucial. Also, since most of these tests are geared towards professional adults (not AP of course), why not have tests that would allow a Police officer, Fireman, retail manager to apply their learned skills to a degree, i.e legal courses, fire science and management courses.

Obtaining a distance learning engineering degree may not be ideal, but the University of Southern Mississippi offers an ABET accredited online bachelors in construction engineering technology, the Air Force Institute of Technology has an ABET accredited online masters in systems engineering, and Texas A&M has an online masters in petroleum engineering. There are plenty of business tests for retail managers. It would make sense for law enforcement to be able to test out of a CJ or similar degree, but several colleges already grant around 20+ credits for peace officer licensure. TESC grants up to 34 credits to New Jersey state police officers. My local CC also grants a lot of credits to Texas peace officers. Austin CC gives 22 and Tarrant County CC gives 18.

[sanantone]

None of those. Managerial Accounting. CollegeBoard used to have an all-inclusive 6-credit Accounting CLEP that covered Financial and Managerial Accounting, but now they only have a 3-credit Financial Accounting CLEP instead. I will have to take a TESC class because of this.

How many people would actually take a CLEP for specialized math, science, or engineering? I want them to do more comp sci stuff (database design would be a nice one), but the market is small.

I think there would be a lot of demand for IT courses. I've browsed through IT forums and people are always looking for a college that grants credit for certifications (I think most places grant less than 3 credits for most certifications). Many people are also interested in Western Governors University since it's competency-based.

[Prloko]

Obtaining a distance learning engineering degree may not be ideal, but the University of Southern Mississippi offers an ABET accredited online bachelors in construction engineering technology, the Air Force Institute of Technology has an ABET accredited online masters in systems engineering, and Texas A&M has an online masters in petroleum engineering. There are plenty of business tests for retail managers. It would make sense for law enforcement to be able to test out of a CJ or similar degree, but several colleges already grant around 20+ credits for peace officer licensure. TESC grants up to 34 credits to New Jersey state police officers. My local CC also grants a lot of credits to Texas peace officers. Austin CC gives 22 and Tarrant County CC gives 18.

Those are very good points. You are indeed correct, most of these institution already have their training accredited, like the Air Force.

On my second point, most engineering online degrees I've seen are Master's degrees where the student already has an engineering degree (BS) which is fine. Although engineering is largely Mathematics/Physics, I still feel there is a great deal of hands on expertise that can't be quantified through distance learning. I love non traditional learning (online, CLEP, etc), but I wouldn't trust an Engineer with a fully online degree as much I wouldn't trust a Surgeon with an onine degree.

[dcan]

I think there would be a lot of demand for IT courses. I've browsed through IT forums and people are always looking for a college that grants credit for certifications (I think most places grant less than 3 credits for most certifications). Many people are also interested in Western Governors University since it's competency-based.

Right, but I meant a traditional comp sci load, i.e. discrete math, algorithms, data structures, etc. Small market for that stuff.

BTW if I'm not mistaken anyone with the tuition can attend AFIT. I didn't know that until a few months ago and I've been enlisted for 17 years now. The word throughout the enlisted corps was that it was officer only until just a few years ago. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force actually complained about it in a forum I attended ten years ago, and he said that when he suggested AFIT allow enlisted (before they opened up) they looked at him like he suggested they kill their own mothers.