My degree plan/progress

[rebeccal]

After several hours of phone calls, I've completed enrollment with EC. Admin over, back to the studying. Thanks Debbie and Mark

I've been promised an email in writing stating that if I were to change my major but remain in the Liberal Arts School, any credits awarded for a subject GRE will carry over. Once that arrives, all is well.

edit: Enrollment completed with a partnership discount for IEEE membership. This also makes sense financially and academically as it spreads financial commitments out, opens up upper level credit opportunities and brings in additional structure. This is in addition to a reduction in enrollment, per credit course and graduation fees. Actually quite looking forward to doing some of the EC courses.

Congrats on your decision to enroll in EC. I know how hard it is to decide and how monumental such a decision is. I'm almost there myself. . .

I'm also glad to hear how things are working out with the GRE. Good news!

Tell me more about IEEE. I'm not sure what IEEE is, though I'm familiar with the money savings that comes through a partnership discount. Any reason you chose IEEE over POAG? I have been thinking of going with POAG which is why I ask.

[irnbru]

Tell me more about IEEE. I'm not sure what IEEE is, though I'm familiar with the money savings that comes through a partnership discount. Any reason you chose IEEE over POAG? I have been thinking of going with POAG which is why I ask.

Hi Rebecca,

I'm actually a member of both IEEE and POAG As I already read a few IEEE publications, it made sense to join with them for the EC corporate partnership. IEEE are a hugely prolific tech organisation involved with communications, information theory and related fields including maths, physics and management.

Also, because I'm based in Europe their fees are a little lower for the UK section compared to the US. Additionally, for someone who has never been to Georgia and while I have a massive amount of respect for police officers, it feels more reasonable to 'use' an international organisation's membership benefits like IEEE. A POAG lapel badge and associate membership are in the mail to me, nonetheless

Overall, there will still be additional costs in being tied to taking 12 credits with EC, which is how I believe these partnerships are still financially beneficial to the college. Now I'm starting the 'senior' courses of a BS, I would prefer the additional structure and feedback that comes with them. Some of the upper level courses genuinely appear quite interesting. Doing Straighterline's English Composition courses reminded me of the benefits of directed learning, even with distance/independent education.

The biggest reasons for going with EC at this time are a combination of many factors which reflect the current state of my progress, changes in college policy and personal situation. Potential large volume of credit from subject GREs for one day of testing, lack of testing facilities in Europe (only one in the whole of Europe provides DSSTs, outside of US military bases), capacity to spread costs over courses, courses which I can study through EC and receive credit for, the choice of courses (especially upper level) are the most influential aspects. If I were just starting out, or nearly finished, somewhere else in the world, etc then a different decision might be more appropriate.

[Maniac Craniac]

Perhaps the problem is that you're going to instacert.com instead of instantcert.com

Nah, instacert.com is a domain owned by InstantCert.

Why did this discussion end up in this thread :confused:

[irnbru]

Updating on study progress for the GRE Psychology Subject Test since other members are also considering it and this is such a massive test any feedback, incomplete or otherwise, might make it easier for us - Maniac, people will post anywhere they think they can get a reply, sometimes.

Yellowdogs recently asked about this test and I made a reply here.

As an update, here is how I'm currently studying for the test:

I'm using two books as my primary sources to guide my study, Princeton's "Cracking the GRE Psychology Subject Test" and Kaplan's "GRE Subject Test: Psychology". As previous feedback suggests, primarily provided by Alissaroot, the Kaplan book is harder to get in to, but acts as a stronger base so far. Both books offer good material and together they offer the best preparation I have found so far.

Following the advice of others, I'm concentrating on the area of Social Psychology for now. The GRE test is broken down into ~43% Social Psychology, ~40% Experimental/Natural Science Psychology and the remainder is history, research design and stats.

I'm trying to make my study as active as possible. Using the freeware application "Freemind", I'm creating my own mindmaps as I work through the material, colour-coding for key experiments, names, theories and effects. This is in conjunction with a general PQRST study strategy for each chapter of the Kaplan book. I'm also creating my own flashcards as I go. The best freeware flashcard app I've found which fits my learning preference is "Mnemosyne".

For developmental progressions or any procedural events I'm making mneumonics, e.g. Zippy Gets Emma Fat (Zygote, Germinal, Embryonic, Fetal) and OAPLG -> Pensioner on a mobile phone (Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital), etc

Feedback from GRE Tests since 2007 states that the current tests emphasise experimental design and understanding of theories, rather than rote recall (a proper test then, urg). This means trying to do practice questions and googling any terms I don't immediately get and wikipedia anyway for reinforcement. Not worrying about dates and places as concepts and application is key.

I've taken intro to psychology tests and stats which massively helped. Stats is currently my strong area so learning, understanding and applying knowledge is the primary focus, now.

It's a massive test for me and I don't expect to make 80%. It's a real grind so trying to maintain concentration and motivation is a toughie; maximum application from the Zeigarnik Effect Aiming for a high score, rather than a straight pass is also taxing. Setting little goals is the way forward.

If anyone other than Yellowdogs is doing this, please do share! Good luck for anyone else looking to sit the GRE Subject tests in November or next April as this is the last Hurrah for EC students.

If anyone has any questions, please ask away.

[Griffin]

I'm definitely following this thread as I am also gearing up for the psychology GRE and standard GRE in November. I'm a psyc major, so hoping to get the highest score possible for grad school =) Definitely taking your book recommendations to heart.

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that EC had discontinued its GRE policy effective Sept 1st?

[NAP]

......
Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that EC had discontinued its GRE policy effective Sept 1st?

The long-standing policy has been changed, but students enrolled by September 1st of this year will still get some chances in the next few months to take the GRE Subject Exams for credit.

Here is a copy of the new policy with more details:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...#post87072

Best wishes to all GRE test takers!

[irnbru]

Best wishes to all GRE test takers!

Hi NAP,

As one of my role models for the GRE Subject Test and for general motivation, how has the change in policy affected your own plan? Are you currently enrolled with EC to qualify to sit the maths test in April? If not, what alternatives are you considering?

[NAP]

Hi Irnbru!

Thanks for asking. Yes, I did get re-enrolled in time to take a GRE for credit.

I am still very disappointed by this situation and considering lots of options. The Biochemistry and Math GREs were incredible opportunities to study topics that have been very important to me for a long time.

For now, I am planning to keep studying for the Biochemistry GRE to take in April. Then I will look at how far I can get in Math through other exams. (I “only” need up to Calculus II for the Master’s program.) It is hard to give up on the idea of getting a math major through the GRE. I would like to learn about the other types of math, but I don’t know how I will do that, yet.

When I know how the GRE credits work out next year, I’ll post a new degree plan. I might like to get a history minor and maybe try some physics.

On the bright side, I could finish a lot sooner with my 5 year degree plan for GREs being more like 3 ½ years now.

It’s nice to know that I have been a good influence on you. I hope you will finish your degree long before I do, even with the big change of plans that this has caused you to make.

[irnbru]

Thought I'd better post something regarding the GRE Subject Test in Psychology as it's been the bane of my life for the last few months.

I'm due to sit it on Saturday and after searching for and reading every scrap of feedback I can find on the net, I've found it's this website which has been the best source for information; I suppose it's only fair to stick my neck out a bit.

People really don't much like talking about this test, you know I think this comes down to a variety of factors. The way the test is graded results in students receiving a scaled score. This means that how good your score is depends on how well (or not!) every other student who took this test did. I guess this leads to a bit of protectionism as any useful information you put out that is read by another test-taker actually impacts and may reduce your own grade.

In comparison, taking a CLEP is easy. Where a CLEP score is pass/fail and that is all a student might aim for, every point on the GRE Subject Test counts. In addition to a sub-population of military test-takers who might take a CLEP on a whim at no cost and the overall level of achievement (score) required for a CLEP, it makes sense that helping out other CLEP test-takers is not a great risk. As the GRE Subject Test usually only comes around three times a year while a CLEP can be completed by a walk-in, these factors soon start adding up. Did I mention that the GRE Subject Test is usually taken by Psychology majors who are preparing for graduate school and so have a strong baseline of knowledge, too? Then there's a perceived stigma in reporting a specific test score and describing study methods as it's a reflection of capability. Not to mention the non-disclosure agreement. It's a competitive test, for sure.

I don't think I'm going to be scoring a scaled 690 or 80th percentile on this test and I'm comfortable with that. I'm scoring around 140 ish raw or 65% raw (scaled 75th percentile ish) on the practice tests I'm taking now. Getting the credits and satisfying a depth will be sufficient. Maximising those UL credits is the real thrust.

Once the test is done, I'll come back for a fuller report. Once I get my scores I will report those so anyone else looking to take the test in April can hopefully learn something from my experience.

I know there are other people reading this and planning to take this November's test How is your studying progressing?

[needgames4lyfe]

Good luck on GRE