CLEP - The Educational Dilemma

[dseiler]

I am working towards a BA in English with Secondary Education as my primary goal. The CLEP seems a great way to get some of those core courses out of the way but it got me thinking.

1. Will I be able to follow another psych class (for example) if I CLEP'd out of Intro to Psych? My next class or clep would be Educational Psychology.

2. Does anyone think they may would have been better off in the long run if they shelled out the money to take the class? I am concerned I might be missing some key elements especially where psyche and education classes are concerned.

Maybe I am just looking to hard into it. Anyway, I am curious what you all think.

[iwannapass]

I took Sociology, Ed Psych, and Human Growth & Dev. They all piggyback eachother. I was also advised to take Abnormal Psych, Adulthood and Ageing, and Gerontology which also is an extension of the other courses. I don't think you are missing out, as a matter of fact you may be getting more because you have to take in a lot of material that might not be covered in depth in the classroom. I think clepping is much harder than going to class. You can only count on yourself for direction, and of course the wonderful people on this board. Good luck!

[dhlvrsn]

If you are concerned that you will not know the concepts that depends on how you study. A number of us on the board take the slow and steady approach. KNOW the instantcert material. What you are studying here are the key, I'd almost say generic, points from each course. If you study and know the information you should be able to pick up the next level class with no problem. I've taken classes every way invented so far from many different professors in brick and motar schools to online to correspondence. I can honestly say that for me I've retained more and know the core concepts better through using a combination of instantcert/practice tests/online searching to fill in the gaps.

If you just study the material quickly to pass a test your retention may not be as deep. That said cramming has been a way of life on the college campus long before Al Gore invented the internet...

[ShotoJuku]

I am working towards a BA in English with Secondary Education as my primary goal. The CLEP seems a great way to get some of those core courses out of the way but it got me thinking.

1. Will I be able to follow another psych class (for example) if I CLEP'd out of Intro to Psych? My next class or clep would be Educational Psychology. [SIZE="3"]Yes, many classes bleed over and piggyback into others forming a series such as the soc/psych courses.[/SIZE]

2. Does anyone think they may would have been better off in the long run if they shelled out the money to take the class? I am concerned I might be missing some key elements especially where psyche and education classes are concerned. [SIZE="3"]NO, don't waste your valuable time and money if not needed.[/SIZE]

Maybe I am just looking to hard into it. Anyway, I am curious what you all think.

..............

[dseiler]

Thank you for the replies. I am going to create the balanced approach, cramming with plenty of online research.

[bceagles]

If you have a genuine interest in the subject testing out will be easy and you will gain as much/more knowledge of the subject as if you sat for the class.

[Bongsau]

I really believe that I learned more during my 4 months of testing out of classes than I did during ANY 4-month semester of school! You will not miss out on any important topics if you study IC really well and read up on the subject.