Initial Questions About BA History (T

[historicalarsonist]

I started researching how to reach my goal of a bachelor's in history and initially landed on TESU (because there is so much information about it on this forum relative to the other schools). Using a plan online and some independent research, I was able to create my AOS plan and much of my general education plan by the end of the day. AOS plan looks like this:

Name
Western Civilization 1 - CLEP
Western Civilization 2 - CLEP
American History 1 - CLEP
American History 2 - CLEP
History of the Soviet Union - DSST

History Of The Vietnam War - DSST
Causes and Effects Of Vietnam War - Study.com
The Holocaust & World War II - Study.com
Military History - CSU Pueblo

It appears to meet all of the course requirements, including the 18 UL course requirements (not 100% sure about the Military History course, would need to verify that this is UL). That being said, I discovered someone mentioning that TESU is now much more expensive than Excelsior for a history degree. I was planning on using TESU despite it being more expensive because of the wealth of information about this school specifically available on this forum, but hearing that it is much more expensive has given me pause.

I started researching Excelsior and trying to create a similar AOS plan, but I'm having a difficult time because there doesn't seem to be an exact course equivalency provided by sources like CLEP or Study.com. Instead of specifying exactly what class is fulfilled by a course on Study.com or CLEP, it will simply say something like 'Fulfills Social Sciences Requirement For 3 Credits.'

Here is the source I am using for Study.com:

https://www.excelsior.edu/wp-content/upl...l_Arts.pdf

Does anyone have a source for a history plan/guide from Excelsior that I could use to start creating a basic outline? Beyond this, what are your general thoughts on TESU vs. Excelsior for history? There is also a greater requirement for UL courses at Excelsior (30), and as far as I can tell this may end up costing quite a bit more money on courses prior to graduating. Thanks in advance!

[mysonx3]

Excelsior is cheaper at this point, though that may depend on what (if any) existing credits you have. I don't have a degree plan for it, but I believe there's a thread where somebody (probably dfrecore) worked it out in order to calculate the price for Excelsior vs TESU.

If you decide to stay with TESU (and, depending on your financial situation, it may be worth doing that because of the information factors you mentioned), your plan looks solid. A few notes:

1. You don't have anything listed for the Historical Methods requirement. There currently isn't a way to get this via alternative credit (one of the reasons Excelsior is cheaper - they don't have this requirement). I took it at TESU, but I think the cheapest online options are Fort Hays State University or American Military University.

2. As long as the Military History class comes in as upper level, and you take an upper level course for the Historical Methods class, you'll be good to go on your upper level requirements. However, there are cheaper options than the Military History class. You could take the Civil War Era class from Study.com, or one of the upper level history classes from Coopersmith. That would also likely be a faster option, though I haven't tried CSU Pueblo. So unless you're taking the class because it interests you and you're willing to pay more and probably spend more time, you should choose a different option.

3. If you're already taking the upper level Vietnam War class from Study.com, you should take the lower level one instead of the DSST. You'll be basically done with the quizzes by the time you finish the upper level class, and taking an extra Study.com exam is cheaper than taking a DSST (plus, you can take it from home)


Your plan looks very similar to mine, so feel free to PM me if you need any help with any of these classes/tests.

[historicalarsonist]

Excelsior is cheaper at this point, though that may depend on what (if any) existing credits you have. I don't have a degree plan for it, but I believe there's a thread where somebody (probably dfrecore) worked it out in order to calculate the price for Excelsior vs TESU.

If you decide to stay with TESU (and, depending on your financial situation, it may be worth doing that because of the information factors you mentioned), your plan looks solid. A few notes:

1. You don't have anything listed for the Historical Methods requirement. There currently isn't a way to get this via alternative credit (one of the reasons Excelsior is cheaper - they don't have this requirement). I took it at TESU, but I think the cheapest online options are Fort Hays State University or American Military University.

2. As long as the Military History class comes in as upper level, and you take an upper level course for the Historical Methods class, you'll be good to go on your upper level requirements. However, there are cheaper options than the Military History class. You could take the Civil War Era class from Study.com, or one of the upper level history classes from Coopersmith. That would also likely be a faster option, though I haven't tried CSU Pueblo. So unless you're taking the class because it interests you and you're willing to pay more and probably spend more time, you should choose a different option.

3. If you're already taking the upper level Vietnam War class from Study.com, you should take the lower level one instead of the DSST. You'll be basically done with the quizzes by the time you finish the upper level class, and taking an extra Study.com exam is cheaper than taking a DSST (plus, you can take it from home)


Your plan looks very similar to mine, so feel free to PM me if you need any help with any of these classes/tests.

No way - it's the absolute legend himself responding. Your guide to history at TESU was the only one I could readily find and understand and was exactly what I was basing my research on yesterday. Thanks a ton for the response.

For the historical methods requirement, I was under the impression that I would need to complete this along with the capstone at TESU so I didn't bother listing it, but I will take a look at those possible alternatives. Also, I believe there is another course, SOS-110, that I will need to take at TESU (I believe this replaced TESU-100? Not 100% sure, but couldn't find any alternative credits equivalent to this required course).

As for the military history class, yeah, I'm a huge military history nerd, so this class caught my eye and I would be willing to fork out a little bit more out of pocket for it. Also, you are absolutely right about using Study.com for the lower level Vietnam course. I've never used Study.com, but I'm assuming you are recommending taking the courses at the same time (or directly after one another) for the easier and cheaper credits.

The only other thing I was going to ask about at the moment was the process of selecting the general education and free electives. I found a list of 'general education courses,' and at the bottom, it says any of the above courses can be used as general education electives, but I can't seem to find a separate list of all courses that would apply to selecting free electives. I'm not particularly interested in planning out free electives at the moment, but I would like to create a basic plan for my general education to get started on that simultaneously. How did you go about this process? Thanks a ton again.

[natshar]

Gen ed electives are anything that counts for gen ed basically any math, science, English, social studies, communications course will count.

Free electives are anything that grants college credit. They are the easiest to plan and don't worry about them. You might just acquire these along the way.

You must take sos-110 and the capstone at TESU. If you also take historical methods that would bring you to 9 credits at TESU. If you take 16 credits at TESU (TECEPs don't count) you avoid paying a $2800 fee. If you feel like you are getting close to the 16 credits you might as while make it 16. You have to take at least 6 credits (2 courses) at the same time to get financial aid. You can take more 6 credits is the minimum.


If you find the other methods for historical methods are only a tiny bit cheaper it might be worth it just to with TESU. Because it will be less hassle and time evaluating and potentially avoid the wavier. So I'd only go with another option for historical methods if it was significantly cheaper or faster.

If you want some motivation to get started start with the free 1 credit sophia courses. You could have 2 credits by the end of the day, which is a good start. Also CSM is a fantastic way to get the math requirement done.

A lot of study.com especially the history overlaps. There was one where you only needed 2 quizzes if you did the right courses. Definitely use this to your advantage. And if by doing this you have too many history courses,they will count for GE electives.


Do you have any prior credit at all? Or are you starting from zero?

[historicalarsonist]

Gen ed electives are anything that counts for gen ed basically any math, science, English, social studies, communications course will count.

Free electives are anything that grants college credit. They are the easiest to plan and don't worry about them. You might just acquire these along the way.

You must take sos-110 and the capstone at TESU. If you also take historical methods that would bring you to 9 credits at TESU. If you take 16 credits at TESU (TECEPs don't count) you avoid paying a $2800 fee. If you feel like you are getting close to the 16 credits you might as while make it 16. You have to take at least 6 credits (2 courses) at the same time to get financial aid. You can take more 6 credits is the minimum.


If you find the other methods for historical methods are only a tiny bit cheaper it might be worth it just to with TESU. Because it will be less hassle and time evaluating and potentially avoid the wavier. So I'd only go with another option for historical methods if it was significantly cheaper or faster.

If you want some motivation to get started start with the free 1 credit sophia courses. You could have 2 credits by the end of the day, which is a good start. Also CSM is a fantastic way to get the math requirement done.

A lot of study.com especially the history overlaps. There was one where you only needed 2 quizzes if you did the right courses. Definitely use this to your advantage. And if by doing this you have too many history courses,they will count for GE electives.


Do you have any prior credit at all? Or are you starting from zero?

Wow, thank you for all the information. This clears up a lot.

So it sounds like the best plan is to go for the 16 credits in a single term (once I have 104 credits) for monetary reasons if I'm understanding you correctly. This would be 3 credits from the capstone, 3 from SOS-110, and 3 from historical methods. The remaining 7 would be a personal choice I assume to finish out the degree. Taking them all at once wouldn't be an issue, I am going at this full time. I think in light of what you said it definitely makes sense to go with TESU for the historical methods and then going for 16 total credits to avoid that $2800 fee.

That's great news about the history courses. I actually decided to go ahead and sign up for study.com to start the two Vietnam courses since it is fresh in my head right now. I recently watched the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary series and took a practice DSST on Vietnam History and did quite well. That was part of where my plan to take the DSST came from, but as mysonx3 pointed out there is just really no reason to do so. I will try and fit in some of those additional history courses on Study.com this month as well to maximize efficiency.

I don't believe I am starting totally from scratch, as I did receive a GED with ACE college credit recommendations in three subjects (Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies). I did a little bit of searching around, as recently as late 2018 I see people mentioning that TESU is honoring these and giving 1 credit for language arts, 3 credits for math, and 3 credits for social studies. It appears the equivalency has changed a couple of times, but regardless I am planning on starting with 7 credits.

Although I haven't created a comprehensive plan for general education yet, I have identified a couple of low-hanging fruit I can knock out for some easy credits, such as the analyzing & interpreting literature CLEP. My understanding is that this is perhaps the easiest CLEP out there, and I'm an above average language arts guy. I believe this is worth... 6 credits? The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is what courses my GED college credits will equate to, and whether or not I am risking duplicating those credits. Does that fear make sense and do you think it makes sense to enroll now and get evaluated so I could start on those things?

[natshar]

Gen ed electives are anything that counts for gen ed basically any math, science, English, social studies, communications course will count.

Free electives are anything that grants college credit. They are the easiest to plan and don't worry about them. You might just acquire these along the way.

You must take sos-110 and the capstone at TESU. If you also take historical methods that would bring you to 9 credits at TESU. If you take 16 credits at TESU (TECEPs don't count) you avoid paying a $2800 fee. If you feel like you are getting close to the 16 credits you might as while make it 16. You have to take at least 6 credits (2 courses) at the same time to get financial aid. You can take more 6 credits is the minimum.


If you find the other methods for historical methods are only a tiny bit cheaper it might be worth it just to with TESU. Because it will be less hassle and time evaluating and potentially avoid the wavier. So I'd only go with another option for historical methods if it was significantly cheaper or faster.

If you want some motivation to get started start with the free 1 credit sophia courses. You could have 2 credits by the end of the day, which is a good start. Also CSM is a fantastic way to get the math requirement done.

A lot of study.com especially the history overlaps. There was one where you only needed 2 quizzes if you did the right courses. Definitely use this to your advantage. And if by doing this you have too many history courses,they will count for GE electives.


Do you have any prior credit at all? Or are you starting from zero?

Wow, thank you for all the information. This clears up a lot.

So it sounds like the best plan is to go for the 16 credits in a single term (once I have 104 credits) for monetary reasons if I'm understanding you correctly. This would be 3 credits from the capstone, 3 from SOS-110, and 3 from historical methods. The remaining 7 would be a personal choice I assume to finish out the degree. Taking them all at once wouldn't be an issue, I am going at this full time. I think in light of what you said it definitely makes sense to go with TESU for the historical methods and then going for 16 total credits to avoid that $2800 fee.

That's great news about the history courses. I actually decided to go ahead and sign up for study.com to start the two Vietnam courses since it is fresh in my head right now. I recently watched the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary series and took a practice DSST on Vietnam History and did quite well. That was part of where my plan to take the DSST came from, but as mysonx3 pointed out there is just really no reason to do so. I will try and fit in some of those additional history courses on Study.com this month as well to maximize efficiency.

I don't believe I am starting totally from scratch, as I did receive a GED with ACE college credit recommendations in three subjects (Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies). I did a little bit of searching around, as recently as late 2018 I see people mentioning that TESU is honoring these and giving 1 credit for language arts, 3 credits for math, and 3 credits for social studies. It appears the equivalency has changed a couple of times, but regardless I am planning on starting with 7 credits.

Although I haven't created a comprehensive plan for general education yet, I have identified a couple of low-hanging fruit I can knock out for some easy credits, such as the analyzing & interpreting literature CLEP. My understanding is that this is perhaps the easiest CLEP out there, and I'm an above average language arts guy. I believe this is worth... 6 credits? The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is what courses my GED college credits will equate to, and whether or not I am risking duplicating those credits. Does that fear make sense and do you think it makes sense to enroll now and get evaluated so I could start on those things?

You don't need to take all 16 credits in the same term to avoid the wavier. You can but that will be a lot. I would only do that if you have the time to commit to it. You can say 9 credits one term and 7 the next as long as it adds to 16 you should be good. One term is the most cost effective but also most stressful. TESU has a 1 credit Jane Austen course so that to get to 16 because most courses are 3 credits.

If you like Literature the American lit and brit lit cleps are also worth 6 credits. Know a forgiven language those cleps can worth up to 9. Cleps can be easy and quick if you have knowledge on the subject. If you don't have the prior knowledge it can be overwhelming and another method like study where they "teach" you can be helpful. Also dsst is having a special where you get free retakes id sign up for the dsst soon and if you don't pass you get a free retake.

The thing about the DSST is it is one of the few (if not only) ways to meet the non-western/non-us history and still be UL as well. You don't have to take it, but not sure how else to meet this requirement.

Easy credits:
-Free sophia courses
-Free ethics courses
-TEEX (depends on the person, but there are free you can at least try them)
-Any subject you know a lot about CLEP or DSST can be easy
-CSM (also fun and a good course)

---

Regarding the GED. The cedit recommendations have never changed. But it depends on the score you got. You can earn up to 10 credits, but if you score isn't high even you could earn less. You have to score high on all 4 sections to get the maximum 10 credits.

For GED taken after 11/1/14 to 12/31/2020 must score 175 or above to get credit.
TESU transfer:

GED Science will transfer as NAS-131 (3 credits)
GED Social Studies as SOC-273 (3 credits)
GED Math as MAT-121 (3 credits)
GED Language Arts as HUM-101 (1 credit)

If you took the tests before November 1st you get no credit. You must score 175 on that subject to get credit.

If any of these scores pertain to you. Create an ACE transcript account. Then add the particular GEDs you got credit for to your transcript. The ACE transcript is what you send to TESU but wait until you get a lot of credit on it because you have to pay every time you send it.

[lacussucceed]

If you really do plan on taking 16 credits in one term, do make sure there isn't a "Maximum Credit Hour Policy" in place. I know EC has one, prohibiting students from taking a lot of courses/credits at the same time.

[historicalarsonist]

Gen ed electives are anything that counts for gen ed basically any math, science, English, social studies, communications course will count.

Free electives are anything that grants college credit. They are the easiest to plan and don't worry about them. You might just acquire these along the way.

You must take sos-110 and the capstone at TESU. If you also take historical methods that would bring you to 9 credits at TESU. If you take 16 credits at TESU (TECEPs don't count) you avoid paying a $2800 fee. If you feel like you are getting close to the 16 credits you might as while make it 16. You have to take at least 6 credits (2 courses) at the same time to get financial aid. You can take more 6 credits is the minimum.


If you find the other methods for historical methods are only a tiny bit cheaper it might be worth it just to with TESU. Because it will be less hassle and time evaluating and potentially avoid the wavier. So I'd only go with another option for historical methods if it was significantly cheaper or faster.

If you want some motivation to get started start with the free 1 credit sophia courses. You could have 2 credits by the end of the day, which is a good start. Also CSM is a fantastic way to get the math requirement done.

A lot of study.com especially the history overlaps. There was one where you only needed 2 quizzes if you did the right courses. Definitely use this to your advantage. And if by doing this you have too many history courses,they will count for GE electives.


Do you have any prior credit at all? Or are you starting from zero?

Wow, thank you for all the information. This clears up a lot.

So it sounds like the best plan is to go for the 16 credits in a single term (once I have 104 credits) for monetary reasons if I'm understanding you correctly. This would be 3 credits from the capstone, 3 from SOS-110, and 3 from historical methods. The remaining 7 would be a personal choice I assume to finish out the degree. Taking them all at once wouldn't be an issue, I am going at this full time. I think in light of what you said it definitely makes sense to go with TESU for the historical methods and then going for 16 total credits to avoid that $2800 fee.

That's great news about the history courses. I actually decided to go ahead and sign up for study.com to start the two Vietnam courses since it is fresh in my head right now. I recently watched the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary series and took a practice DSST on Vietnam History and did quite well. That was part of where my plan to take the DSST came from, but as mysonx3 pointed out there is just really no reason to do so. I will try and fit in some of those additional history courses on Study.com this month as well to maximize efficiency.

I don't believe I am starting totally from scratch, as I did receive a GED with ACE college credit recommendations in three subjects (Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies). I did a little bit of searching around, as recently as late 2018 I see people mentioning that TESU is honoring these and giving 1 credit for language arts, 3 credits for math, and 3 credits for social studies. It appears the equivalency has changed a couple of times, but regardless I am planning on starting with 7 credits.

Although I haven't created a comprehensive plan for general education yet, I have identified a couple of low-hanging fruit I can knock out for some easy credits, such as the analyzing & interpreting literature CLEP. My understanding is that this is perhaps the easiest CLEP out there, and I'm an above average language arts guy. I believe this is worth... 6 credits? The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is what courses my GED college credits will equate to, and whether or not I am risking duplicating those credits. Does that fear make sense and do you think it makes sense to enroll now and get evaluated so I could start on those things?

You don't need to take all 16 credits in the same term to avoid the wavier. You can but that will be a lot. I would only do that if you have the time to commit to it. You can say 9 credits one term and 7 the next as long as it adds to 16 you should be good. One term is the most cost effective but also most stressful. TESU has a 1 credit Jane Austen course so that to get to 16 because most courses are 3 credits.

If you like Literature the American lit and brit lit cleps are also worth 6 credits. Know a forgiven language those cleps can worth up to 9. Cleps can be easy and quick if you have knowledge on the subject. If you don't have the prior knowledge it can be overwhelming and another method like study where they "teach" you can be helpful. Also dsst is having a special where you get free retakes id sign up for the dsst soon and if you don't pass you get a free retake.

The thing about the DSST is it is one of the few (if not only) ways to meet the non-western/non-us history and still be UL as well. You don't have to take it, but not sure how else to meet this requirement.

Easy credits:
-Free sophia courses
-Free ethics courses
-TEEX (depends on the person, but there are free you can at least try them)
-Any subject you know a lot about CLEP or DSST can be easy
-CSM (also fun and a good course)

---

Regarding the GED. The credit recommendations have never changed. But it depends on the score you got. You can earn up to 10 credits, but if you score isn't high even you could earn less. You have to score high on all 4 sections to get the maximum 10 credits. Low scores could get you zero credits.

For GED taken after 11/1/14 to 12/31/2020

3 credits for math with a score of 175 or above
1 credit in humanities with an English score of 175 or above
3 credits science with a score of 175 or above
3 credits social studies with a score of 175 or above

If you took the tests before November 1st you get no credit.


If any of these scores pertain to you. Create an ACE transcript account. Then add the particular GEDs you got credit for to your transcript. The ACE transcript is what you send to TESU but wait until you get a lot of credit on it because you have to pay every time you send it.

Yeah, that GED info makes sense. I already went ahead and created an ACE account last night and added my GED tests to it. They were approved this morning, and I meet the criteria for the 3 math credits, 3 social studies credits, and 1 English credit. I guess the only remaining gray area pertaining to these is what exactly these credits go to. Are they equivalent to some course, such that I could accidentally take another course that is also equivalent? Or are they separate credits all together?

Other than that, I think with the information provided I have a decent understanding of how to go about general education. My plan is mostly to take classes that I am interested in, including some of the math/science/English classes that may traditionally be considered more difficult. Although I am "checking a box" with my degree, I am genuinely interested in learning about things I think are helpful/important/interesting, although I know this will inevitably add additional time.

I will plan on taking that Soviet Union DSST ASAP. Do you happen to know offhand how long the retake promotion applies? Thanks again.

[mysonx3]

Excelsior is cheaper at this point, though that may depend on what (if any) existing credits you have. I don't have a degree plan for it, but I believe there's a thread where somebody (probably dfrecore) worked it out in order to calculate the price for Excelsior vs TESU.

If you decide to stay with TESU (and, depending on your financial situation, it may be worth doing that because of the information factors you mentioned), your plan looks solid. A few notes:

1. You don't have anything listed for the Historical Methods requirement. There currently isn't a way to get this via alternative credit (one of the reasons Excelsior is cheaper - they don't have this requirement). I took it at TESU, but I think the cheapest online options are Fort Hays State University or American Military University.

2. As long as the Military History class comes in as upper level, and you take an upper level course for the Historical Methods class, you'll be good to go on your upper level requirements. However, there are cheaper options than the Military History class. You could take the Civil War Era class from Study.com, or one of the upper level history classes from Coopersmith. That would also likely be a faster option, though I haven't tried CSU Pueblo. So unless you're taking the class because it interests you and you're willing to pay more and probably spend more time, you should choose a different option.

3. If you're already taking the upper level Vietnam War class from Study.com, you should take the lower level one instead of the DSST. You'll be basically done with the quizzes by the time you finish the upper level class, and taking an extra Study.com exam is cheaper than taking a DSST (plus, you can take it from home)


Your plan looks very similar to mine, so feel free to PM me if you need any help with any of these classes/tests.

No way - it's the absolute legend himself responding. Your guide to history at TESU was the only one I could readily find and understand and was exactly what I was basing my research on yesterday. Thanks a ton for the response.

For the historical methods requirement, I was under the impression that I would need to complete this along with the capstone at TESU so I didn't bother listing it, but I will take a look at those possible alternatives. Also, I believe there is another course, SOS-110, that I will need to take at TESU (I believe this replaced TESU-100? Not 100% sure, but couldn't find any alternative credits equivalent to this required course).

As for the military history class, yeah, I'm a huge military history nerd, so this class caught my eye and I would be willing to fork out a little bit more out of pocket for it. Also, you are absolutely right about using Study.com for the lower level Vietnam course. I've never used Study.com, but I'm assuming you are recommending taking the courses at the same time (or directly after one another) for the easier and cheaper credits.

The only other thing I was going to ask about at the moment was the process of selecting the general education and free electives. I found a list of 'general education courses,' and at the bottom, it says any of the above courses can be used as general education electives, but I can't seem to find a separate list of all courses that would apply to selecting free electives. I'm not particularly interested in planning out free electives at the moment, but I would like to create a basic plan for my general education to get started on that simultaneously. How did you go about this process? Thanks a ton again.

Well, I don't know if I can be considered a "legend" until I actually complete my degree (ETA March 2020), but I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad the plan on the wiki was helpful to you. I wanted to include the link in my initial response to you, but was on my phone so it would've been a pain. Glad you found it anyway!

Doing some back-of-the-napkin math, it looks like you could save about $2k by taking 16 credits in a term at TESU. If you're willing to take on the stress of that, it can be done (I did an equivalent course load at a CC and got all A's while knocking out several CLEPs/SDC courses in the meantime, but your mileage may vary of course). If you go that route, 9 of those credits will be taken up by SOS-110, the Capstone, and Historical Methods. In order to hit exactly 16 (which is the most efficient and cost-effective), you'll need to do either a science lab or ENG-298. For the last six, I would recommend doing ePacks, as they are basically test-outs so will have a lot lower workload. There are ePacks for US History I & II that you could take instead of the CLEP, or you could just do something else and use it for gen ed or an elective.

I would highly recommend taking the Soviet Union DSST by September 30th, even if it means being a bit underprepared because the worst-case scenario is you fail and get to retake for free, best case scenario is you pass and saved yourself some prep time by giving it a go before being totally prepared.

[historicalarsonist]

If you really do plan on taking 16 credits in one term, do make sure there isn't a "Maximum Credit Hour Policy" in place. I know EC has one, prohibiting students from taking a lot of courses/credits at the same time.

My understanding is that this wouldn't be an issue, considering TESU uses a student taking 18 credits in a term in their example on the "How much will it cost?" page. That being said, I am a newbie to all of this and I know TESU is notoriously bad at updating their website. At the very least, here is what I'm referencing:

https://www.tesu.edu/tuition/ug-tuition-comparison