My Degree plan--Any suggestions?

[jeffreymb]

Hello everyone! Below I have detailed out my plan for filling the General Education Requirements for a BA in Computer Science from TESC. I would appreciate any input from anyone that has any experience with how TESC handles CLEP, DANTES or ACTFL.

Is there anything wrong with the category I have put any of my courses in? Any credit duplication issues?

A. English Composition 6
CLEP English Composition with Essay 6
B. Humanities 12
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6
DANTES Introduction to World Religions 3
ACTFL Swahili 3
C. Social Sciences 12
CLEP History of the United States I 3
CLEP History of the United States II 3
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics 3
CLEP Western Civilization I 3
D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics 12
Calculus I (3)
CLEP Calculus 3
Calculus II (3)
TESC Calculus II 3 (I am not aware of any way to test out of this. Is anyone else?)
Other natural sciences/mathematics (6)
CLEP Natural Sciences 6
E. General Education (18) & Free Electives (27)
CLEP College Mathematics (General) 6
CLEP Principles of Management 3
CLEP American Government 3
CLEP College Algebra 3
CLEP Pre-Calculus 3
University of North Dakota (Linguistics) 10
God’s Bible School (Greek) 12
ACTFL Swahili 3+

[Griffin]

A. English Composition 6
CLEP English Composition with Essay 6
B. Humanities 12
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6
DANTES Introduction to World Religions 3
ACTFL Swahili 3
C. Social Sciences 12
CLEP History of the United States I 3
CLEP History of the United States II 3
CLEP Principles of Macroeconomics 3
CLEP Western Civilization I 3
D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics 12
Calculus I (3)
CLEP Calculus 3
Calculus II (3)
TESC Calculus II 3 (I am not aware of any way to test out of this. Is anyone else?)
Other natural sciences/mathematics (6)
CLEP Natural Sciences 6
E. General Education (18) & Free Electives (27)
CLEP College Mathematics (General) 6
CLEP Principles of Management 3
CLEP American Government 3
CLEP College Algebra 3
CLEP Pre-Calculus 3
University of North Dakota (Linguistics) 10
God’s Bible School (Greek) 12
ACTFL Swahili 3+

Looks good to me. I have not been able to find an exam that is above Calculus I. One approach is to take the course formally, and you also have the option of asking to have a different course take it's place (though they could also say no).

I would suggest ALEKS instead of CLEP for most of the math portion because you can have quite a few of those courses completed within 1 month. And at $20/month, it's a pretty good deal overall. =) And most of their courses are ACE-approved, which means any of the Big 3 will take them. So that will save you a few hundred bucks

TESC has courses on flash drives (including Calculus II) that can be completed as fast or slow as you can do them, but they are the same price as a traditional course IIRC.

Also, Swahili? That is very cool, sounds like a beautiful language.

EDIT: I didn't see it at first, but you can replace most of your free electives at TESC with some ACE-approved courses from FEMA's Independent Study Program for FREE. Important to note that they only apply to free electives (not gen ed), but it's good if you're lacking a few free electives or something like that. =) If you have experience with security or sat through mandatory safety training a few times, much of it is fairly quick to pass.

[sandraeli]

Ohio University offers Course Credit by Examination, here: Correspondence Course List

Math classes through Differential Equations, though they use the quarter-hour system instead of semester hours, which might mean taking Calc II and III to finish the credits for a full year of Calculus.

Best wishes,
Sandy

[cookderosa]

Generally, it's important to post the link of the degree you are pursuing, that way everyone knows the requirements you are asking about.
Thomas Edison State College | BA in Computer Science Credit Distribution

Your requirements are listed accurately. If you'd like to save some money, using ALEKS in place of a few CLEPS was a good suggestion. Also, not knowing what you have already taken vs which of these is planned makes it hard to show you alternatives. If you "bolded" any credits already earned or as transfer courses, that would be good too.

Here is a cheaper and faster route for your gen eds and free eds, but this assumes that I am not removing credits you have already earned- which I'm not sure about:

E. General Education (18) & Free Electives (27)
45
CLEP College Mathematics (general math) 6
ALEKS Intermediate Algebra (general math) 3
ALEKS College Algebra (general math) 3
ALEKS Pre-Calculus (general math) 3
ALEKS Statistics (general math) 3

[COLOR="red"]University of North Dakota (Linguistics) (general humanities) 10
God’s Bible School (Greek) (general humanities) 12
ACTFL Swahili 3+ (general humanities)[/COLOR]

*I took out management, it's a free elective for your major, and there is no reason to pay for free electives. Also, general electives always overflow into free electives.
If you have already taken the courses I have in red, then leave this as it stands. If you have not taken them, you may want to consider using FEMA in place of those 27 credits. FEMA credit is earned for free and TESC awards credit for free. Additionally, if you don't get 5 or more for the Swahili test, you can use FEMA to fill in the deficit.