Mixture of CLEP/Traditional Classes

[B2MANLEY]

Just curious...For those of you who study for 2-3 weeks and then take the exam, are you also taking any other classes (classroom setting, online, etc.)? The reason I ask is, I am attending a 4-year traditional college that allows me to CLEP 30 credit hours of electives. I am trying to do this while also taking 1 traditional seated class, and 1 online class (both through the college). I am averaging about 5-6 hours of study time through IC a week. Does this sound sufficient?

Obviuosly without knowing my study habits and capacity, I don't expect anyone to give me an exact timeframe on preparedness, just trying to get an idea from those that take these exams every 3-4 weeks.

I am taking US History I and II, American Goverment, Business Law, and a few others once I get those out of the way. I only need 19 credits, the rest are coming from traditional means.

Thanks in advance...

[ShotoJuku]

Just curious...For those of you who study for 2-3 weeks and then take the exam.....
Thanks in advance...

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Navy"] WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!

That's pretty much how I did it, an exam every 3 weeks. As for study time, I usually studied a few (2-3) hours a day until I was geared up to take practice exams. In essence, I would study hard for around a week and a half, get comfortable and then take a few (2-3) practice exams during the next week. If confident - I sat the exam.

Setting a time table is ultra important!!!! Try to project a future test date and gear your study time up to that point. GOOD LUCK!![/COLOR][/SIZE]

[MuellerArts]

I got my Associate's degree traditionally, and then worked (plodded away) on my Bachelors while in the military through off-duty education.

Unfortunately, by the time I found out about that there actually were classes that I could CLEP, there was little left to test out on. I was fortunate to have an advisor who was very big on having students test out.

During my time testing, I was taking 1 or 2 off-duty courses (depending on the schedule) and 1 test. With the exception of the test I just took (Environment and Humanity), I went in without any study as the topics were things I had experience with -- Computing, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Human Relations, and Here's to your Health.

With the transfer credits (mostly elective) for military experience, I'll end with 138 credits when I graduate -- either when the results from Environment and Humanity come back as PASS or after I actually take the Human Ecology course (8/21-10/15)

[snazzlefrag]

I got my Associate's degree traditionally, and then worked (plodded away) on my Bachelors while in the military through off-duty education.

Unfortunately, by the time I found out about that there actually were classes that I could CLEP, there was little left to test out on. I was fortunate to have an advisor who was very big on having students test out.

During my time testing, I was taking 1 or 2 off-duty courses (depending on the schedule) and 1 test. With the exception of the test I just took (Environment and Humanity), I went in without any study as the topics were things I had experience with -- Computing, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Human Relations, and Here's to your Health.

With the transfer credits (mostly elective) for military experience, I'll end with 138 credits when I graduate -- either when the results from Environment and Humanity come back as PASS or after I actually take the Human Ecology course (8/21-10/15)

MuellerArts,

I don't know your particular situation, which degree you are earning, where you are going to school etc. However, I want to throw an idea at you.

You say you will have 138 credits by the time you are done. You only need 120 credits for your degree. Once you have your first degree, you could get a second bachelors degree by earning an additional 30 credits and fulfilling all the requirements for the second degree. But only credits NOT transcripted on your first degree can count towards the 30 new credits.

You might want to think about keeping your extra 18 credits OUT of your first degree, and putting them towards a degree somewhere like Excelsior, COSC, or TESC that has extremely flexible transfer policies.

Depending on the content of those extra 18 credits, you might find yourself only needing an additional 12 credits to complete a second degree, and that might be completely doable by taking 2-4 more CLEP exams.

Again, I don't know if this would work out for you, or even if it is something you might be interested in doing. But I thought I would let you know that it is possible, and that you might already be extremely close to having a second bachelors degree. But once you include those additional 18 credits in your first degree transcripts, you cannot use them again to put towards anything else.

I'm sorry I can't be more specific or more detailed, but I don't know your exact circumstances (degree, types of credits, school, etc.).

It's something for you to think about though. You might want to ask your advisor if it is possible to keep the 18 extra credits out of your degree.

Feel free to respond here, or PM me if you would like to hash out the details a bit more.

Best of luck,
Snazzlefrag

[Criticalthinker]

Just curious...For those of you who study for 2-3 weeks and then take the exam, are you also taking any other classes (classroom setting, online, etc.)? The reason I ask is, I am attending a 4-year traditional college that allows me to CLEP 30 credit hours of electives. I am trying to do this while also taking 1 traditional seated class, and 1 online class (both through the college). I am averaging about 5-6 hours of study time through IC a week. Does this sound sufficient?

Obviuosly without knowing my study habits and capacity, I don't expect anyone to give me an exact timeframe on preparedness, just trying to get an idea from those that take these exams every 3-4 weeks.

I am taking US History I and II, American Goverment, Business Law, and a few others once I get those out of the way. I only need 19 credits, the rest are coming from traditional means.

Thanks in advance...

Hi and welcome.

I am doing a combination of Independent Study courses, for which I submit assignments online on my own. I do not meet with cyberclasses. I also had 48 traditional credits from being in a classroom, when I started my general studies degree. I only recently started testing out. I wish that I had tried it earlier. I was sure it would be too complicated, and not really possible, and that it would be like working on finding a needle in a haystack!

With IC and the practice tests from Peterson's, I am doing well at this. I have been taking tests at fairly regular intervals , every few weeks, and recently every week to ten days. I study a couple of hours a day, and then take the practice tests when I feel ready.
It was scary the first time, I took a CLEP, but it is so much more gratifying that my other option, which was submitting a Self acquired competency portfolio for which the number of credits I would be granted, no matter how well it was written and documented was said to somewhat iffy by my advisor. It disheartened me for awhile.

With the CLEPS and DANTES, I am still getting credit for life and work experience in someways, but I know instantly, and I love that.

My school does not have a limit on how much test credit I can use, but does have other perimeters, such as so many hours at acquired through their classes, so ultimately it is limited by those requirements, just in terms of needing a certain number of credits from my school, as well as UL credits etc...

If I had known about testing, or at least been courageous enough to try it, I would have definitely started sooner.

Good luck
CT

[B2MANLEY]

My school does not have a limit on how much test credit I can use, but does have other perimeters, such as so many hours at acquired through their classes, so ultimately it is limited by those requirements, just in terms of needing a certain number of credits from my school, as well as UL credits etc...

Yeah, I know what you mean. The college I attend is pretty strict on transfer credits and CLEP. The ywill allow up to 30 credits from CLEP and 60 transfer credits (must include CLEP credits). I need a total of 126 credits to complete my BS in Management Information Systems. I will get most from traditional classroom instruction, and community college transfer credits, but still need 19 elective credits that I am hoping to get from CLEP.

Thanks for the replies. I think that studying for 2-3 hours, 3-4 times a week will work for me. I have already taken one DANTES exam and passed (Finance), I am somewhat familiar with it.

Thanks again for all of the replies...

[snazzlefrag]

Yeah, I know what you mean. The college I attend is pretty strict on transfer credits and CLEP. The ywill allow up to 30 credits from CLEP and 60 transfer credits (must include CLEP credits). I need a total of 126 credits to complete my BS in Management Information Systems. I will get most from traditional classroom instruction, and community college transfer credits, but still need 19 elective credits that I am hoping to get from CLEP.

Thanks for the replies. I think that studying for 2-3 hours, 3-4 times a week will work for me. I have already taken one DANTES exam and passed (Finance), I am somewhat familiar with it.

Thanks again for all of the replies...

Hi B2Manley,

Welcome to the board,

I think the "30 credits from CLEP (and similar exams)" policy is fairly normal for most schools. Most schools allow about 90 credits in total transfer (ie, 30 credit in-house requirement), so your school is a little on the low side in that respect.

However, even if you end up getting 30 credits of general education requirements taken care of this way, you will be well ahead of the game. It's definitely a worthwhile investment of your time and money.

It seems MOST schools allow at least some credits to be earned via CLEP/DANTES etc. MANY even do the testing right on their own campus. But not many schools actually publicize this option. Every class you test out of means less income for the school, so it makes sense that most schools would desire to keep this option on the down low.

You have stumbled upon a very well-kept "secret".

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you as you progress in your studies.

Best of luck to you in ALL your exams,
Snazzlefrag

[MuellerArts]

You might want to think about keeping your extra 18 credits OUT of your first degree, and putting them towards a degree somewhere like Excelsior, COSC, or TESC that has extremely flexible transfer policies.

Depending on the content of those extra 18 credits, you might find yourself only needing an additional 12 credits to complete a second degree, and that might be completely doable by taking 2-4 more CLEP exams.

That's a great point! The unfortunate thing for virtually all of the transfer credit for my military schools and experience is that it counted as lower level credit into general areas (Physical Science, First Aid, Personnel Management, and other General Experience). It would have been great if I had no degree at all, but virtually useless for anything above an Associates.

Not that it's a total loss... the type of elective credit looks good on the Human Resources side, and the job experience write up by ACE is almost perfect for a resume.

[CDM]

I didn't want to start a new thread -- but I had a few questions about some of the tests for the General Management degree.

1. How many of you think that it would be easier to take an online course for Principles of Finance, Money and Banking, Statistics, and Pre-calculus -- rather than do the CLEP/DANTE method? I 've heard how hard these tests are - and I'd just like to get them DONE rather than trying to study forever.

2. Has anyone taken the TECEP Sales Management test? Do-able?

Thanks a ton for any advice!
christina

[Bongsau]

Just curious...For those of you who study for 2-3 weeks and then take the exam, are you also taking any other classes (classroom setting, online, etc.)? The reason I ask is, I am attending a 4-year traditional college that allows me to CLEP 30 credit hours of electives. I am trying to do this while also taking 1 traditional seated class, and 1 online class (both through the college). I am averaging about 5-6 hours of study time through IC a week. Does this sound sufficient?

Obviuosly without knowing my study habits and capacity, I don't expect anyone to give me an exact timeframe on preparedness, just trying to get an idea from those that take these exams every 3-4 weeks.

I am taking US History I and II, American Goverment, Business Law, and a few others once I get those out of the way. I only need 19 credits, the rest are coming from traditional means.

Thanks in advance...

I was enrolled in 12 credits of traditional school last semester, and managed to test out of 33 credits of classes during the same time. I was ALWAYS studying, and rarely saw my wife and kid, but at least I got it over with. I found that, with the help of IC, I enjoyed studying for tests much more than taking traditional courses. I could have tested out of much more, maybe twice as much, if I had not been taking so many traditional credits. I never studied for more than 2 weeks for any one test, even while enrolled in traditional school.

good luck!