Modern States

[rlw74]

For those who have taken Modern States courses, were any better or worse in your opinion? I have a daughter entering 9th grade next year. She is begging to take college courses over the summer. We opted not to go the dual enrollment option this year because if it's too much, those grades go on your permanent college transcript. It would also cut into her course load at the high school because the classes are taught during the school day during one of the periods. So she might potentially have to repeat the course at the high school level later. I think CLEP is safer. She is also thinking about SL as a few of our local college accept SL. Any suggestions on where she could start?

[Ideas]

Good idea. I think she should start with whatever she is good at and likes. Math, history, etc.

Regarding CLEP, personally I would say not economics, business law, information systems, foreign language, or English/Lit. There are many others. Modern States shouldn't be the only prep.

SL seems a lot easier to me, but of course it's less accepted.

[dfrecore]

I can tell you the top pass rates, if that helps:

FY16 Civilian
Spanish 91%
College Comp Modular 84%
College Comp 82%
French 82%
Psych 82%
Sociology 79%
German 76%
Marketing 76%
Human Growth & Development 75%
Macroeconomics 74%
Info Systems 72%
College Math 72%

A few notes:
- Spanish is BY FAR the most popular exam - 32,000 people took it vs. 2700 took French and 792 took German (the least popular exam)
- The most popular exams are Spanish (32k), A&I Lit (11k), College Comp (10k), and College Algebra (9k) - 45% of all tests taken were these four.

Here's how to narrow it down:
- I'm guessing most people who take the foreign languages already think they can pass, so those can be taken out of the mix if you aren't fluent in one of these languages
- the 6cr or 9cr courses are going to be a lot more comprehensive than the 3cr courses, since they cover 2 or 3 semesters of work
- if she's not strong in math, you could still try College Math - this is probably the easiest exam to know whether or not you're ready for it (Khan Academy for instance, could probably teach you every concept you needed, and for free)
- A&I Lit is considered one of the easier exams, but it's a LOT of reading - some people think it's draining, others say it was harder than they thought.
- Only take College Comp if you know a school will accept it - and many won't.  Our CC's here won't take either of them.
- Sociology & Human Growth & Dev are considered some of the easier ones as well.  I think HG&D might be the most relatable for most of us.
- If she has an interest in studying for something, then that's a good way to go.  If she thinks Sociology sounds horrible, but US History II sounds awesome, I would go with interest, as that will get you further than something that's considered "easy."

[rlw74]

Thank you so much! Those pass rates help. She is in advanced math right now but struggles with it a little. She uses Khan Academy for science and history through school so it sounds like that is a format she'll gravitate towards for other subjects. She loves English and History the most. I'll pass along the info to her and see what she decides.

[dfrecore]

Just remember that CLEP exams are taken by all kinds of people and for different reasons. Some just need 1 more class to graduate and think they can just go take a quick exam to finish. Some do a bunch and hope for the best (free to military remember, so their pass rates are a lot lower). Some don't want to do the lower level course because they know the info and think they can pass.

I'm willing to bet that a lot don't study before they take it. So, for example, if your daughter was planning to study US History for the school year, and decided to incorporate the info from the CLEP exam into her studies, and then take that at the end of the year (or split them up and take 1 after semester 1 and the other after semester 2), she'd be in a whole different boat than someone who just thought they knew a lot about history and might be able to pass. I'd think she would have a much better outcome in this type of scenario (incorporating into what she's already studying). The same would hold true for lots of these courses.

The CLEP exams give a breakdown of what they test on, plus they put out a new CLEP Study Guide with samples of every test in it, which I found to be very helpful (and you don't need a brand new book, buy a used or older version if you want - maybe 1-2 years old).