09-03-2009, 12:05 PM
mongoose65 Wrote: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!