IAAP Certifications! Potential 29 credits for 4 exams!!

[mongoose65]

Barcotta reminded me I was remiss in not posting about this so here goes:

Exams

The short story is that there are 2 certifications from IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals), the CPS (Certified Professional Secretary) which is 3 of the 4 exams and CAP (Certified Administrative Professional). They have a website (link above or google: IAAP) that has all of the info on the certifications and also has the ACE recommendations for each exam (I think youe need the complete certifcation to get the credit but I could be wrong on that). On the application they require administrative experience that has to be verified by an HR person or employer in order to apoply for the certification and exams.

On the website there is excellent info for the exams including sample questions and study bibliographies. One publisher makes study materials but they are not cheap and there is little info on how good they are.

I took it cold (I have tons of admin and managerial experience) and did really well. I didn't think I did as well as it turned out and there is ZERO info available (as Barcotta discovered) regarding scoring, etc. I didn't think it was particularly hard but it was all "choose the best answer" which means there was more than one "right" answer. I tried to think politcally correctly and bureaucratically and that seemed to work. The exams are really a battle of attrition. 4 exams over 2 days with 175 questions each. Exam 4 is administered on a Friday afternoon, the other three the next day Saturday all day. ALL the info you will find will be found at the link above, pretty much no where else. Even the ACE recommendations!

For a potential 29 credits for $400-$600 bucks, I think it's a gift from the heavens. My original plan was the Psych GRE and this certification which would have supplied 59 credits for under $500 in two exams! I would have been a superstar! LOL. Lo, that didn't happen (Psych GRE was a bear that ate me for lunch). Still, for 29 ACE approved upper and lower credits, this cant be beat. The only downside is that it is paper and pencil (fill in the silly circles) and results take approx. 6 weeks.

[jacanyardie]

I received credits through the CPS.......which I did outside the US more that 15 years ago. So they are good worldwide.

[cookderosa]

Barcotta reminded me I was remiss in not posting about this so here goes:

Exams

The short story is that there are 2 certifications from IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals), the CPS (Certified Professional Secretary) which is 3 of the 4 exams and CAP (Certified Administrative Professional). They have a website (link above or google: IAAP) that has all of the info on the certifications and also has the ACE recommendations for each exam (I think youe need the complete certifcation to get the credit but I could be wrong on that). On the application they require administrative experience that has to be verified by an HR person or employer in order to apoply for the certification and exams.

On the website there is excellent info for the exams including sample questions and study bibliographies. One publisher makes study materials but they are not cheap and there is little info on how good they are.

I took it cold (I have tons of admin and managerial experience) and did really well. I didn't think I did as well as it turned out and there is ZERO info available (as Barcotta discovered) regarding scoring, etc. I didn't think it was particularly hard but it was all "choose the best answer" which means there was more than one "right" answer. I tried to think politcally correctly and bureaucratically and that seemed to work. The exams are really a battle of attrition. 4 exams over 2 days with 175 questions each. Exam 4 is administered on a Friday afternoon, the other three the next day Saturday all day. ALL the info you will find will be found at the link above, pretty much no where else. Even the ACE recommendations!

For a potential 29 credits for $400-$600 bucks, I think it's a gift from the heavens. My original plan was the Psych GRE and this certification which would have supplied 59 credits for under $500 in two exams! I would have been a superstar! LOL. Lo, that didn't happen (Psych GRE was a bear that ate me for lunch). Still, for 29 ACE approved upper and lower credits, this cant be beat. The only downside is that it is paper and pencil (fill in the silly circles) and results take approx. 6 weeks.

>>

Does TESC have any degrees that would take these credits in-major? For liberal arts, they'd all be free electives...which is fine if you already have this from work, but I 'm thinking it's more costly than FEMA unless you can find a way to put these in-major, then it would be a STEAL!

[jacanyardie]

>>

Does TESC have any degrees that would take these credits in-major? For liberal arts, they'd all be free electives...which is fine if you already have this from work, but I 'm thinking it's more costly than FEMA unless you can find a way to put these in-major, then it would be a STEAL!

Could not resist answering this one ..........yes....lower and upper Cr.

[barcotta]

I believe the business degree I obtained from Excelsior College was a lot more exacting in its requirements as compared to some other degrees--specifically liberal arts. I mean, out of 120 credits, I only had 15 electives (or "applied professional" as EC likes to call them)! I pasted the ACE recommendations for the CPS and CAP tests below. Now what we need is someone who is at the BEGINNING of this process to run this by the folks at TESC, EC and Charter Oak and find out if some of these ACE recommendations will correspond to major requirements. There are at least 4-5 recommendations that have the same name or title as some of the required classes for a business degree.

This information would be very helpful to people just starting out and trying to be efficient--either with time, or money, or both. I always have this feeling that the FEMA fiasco is going to disappear one day--although every day that it's still here makes me think I'm wrong. As Jennifer noted--if you can actually satisfy some major requirements with this you would want to take advantage of it--and do it BEFORE you start Clepping so you don't inadvertently duplicate anything.

Mike's plan to do this + the Psych GRE was actually a solid plan. While he wasn't as successful as he would have liked on the Psych GRE, others have done well and there is ample study material out there. Two exam sessions getting you half way to a bachelors degree would be sweet!

[SIZE="4"]ACE 2006 Recommendations[/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]CPS EXAMINATION[/SIZE]

Office Systems & Technology

3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Computer Concepts
3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Information Systems

Office Administration

3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Records Management
3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Business Communications

Management

3 Lower or Upper Division - Human Resources Management
1 Lower Division – Accounting
4 Lower or Upper Division – Management or Supervision

[SIZE="3"]CAP EXAMINATION[/SIZE]

Office Systems & Technology

3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Computer Concepts
3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Information Systems

Office Administration

3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Records Management
3 Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree – Records Management

Management

3 Lower or Upper Division - Human Resources Management
1 Lower Division – Accounting
4 Lower or Upper Division – Management or Supervision

Advanced Organizational Management

3 Upper Division Baccalaureate Degree – Organizational Behavior
3 Upper Division Baccalaureate Degree – Communications
3 Upper Division Baccalaureate Degree – Leadership

October 2006

[mongoose65]

>>

Does TESC have any degrees that would take these credits in-major? For liberal arts, they'd all be free electives...which is fine if you already have this from work, but I 'm thinking it's more costly than FEMA unless you can find a way to put these in-major, then it would be a STEAL!

Hey Cookie,

I checked my eval from TESC and it seems they gave me the computer stuff
(6 credits) as Natural Science and the business communications (Intro and Advanced, 6 credits) and Org. Behavior (3) as Liberal Studies. So that's 15 credits in the Lib Studies major. The rest went to free electives. Had I known this, I would have done 3 fewer FEMAs. Ignorance is bliss.

[cookderosa]

Hey Cookie,

I checked my eval from TESC and it seems they gave me the computer stuff
(6 credits) as Natural Science and the business communications (Intro and Advanced, 6 credits) and Org. Behavior (3) as Liberal Studies. So that's 15 credits in the Lib Studies major. The rest went to free electives. Had I known this, I would have done 3 fewer FEMAs. Ignorance is bliss.

>>

So, THAT is totally rockin!

[rebeccal]

Does anyone know if Excelsior accepts these credits and if so how they are distributed? I actually think it is going to take me quite a bit of study to pass this test. I haven't yet enrolled in EC because money is tight and I'm just beginning this journey so want to knock out several credits before I enroll. At the same time, I don't want rack up a bunch of credits that don't count for anything. I'm okay with them counting as electives, but I just want them to count for something.

[colinsr]

Did anyone ever find out if Excelsior accepts this certification?