Newbie is Nervous

[djnorton15]

Well ill get right to the good stuff.

I am an E-4 in the Army, Trying to rack up an Associates with the quickness. I have 18 FEMA credits added through TESC towards a Criminal Justice degree. But honestly im nervous as hell about these CLEPS

I have never been good with tests. They suck. But I really wanted to know if anyone else can help me create a plan to acheive my goals. I joined instantcert last year, but I honestly had no time to study for anything. Now in a few weeks I'll have about 1-2 months of time on my hands to knock out as much as possible.

Please Help.

My degree plan looks like this.



I. General Education Requirements 21
A. English Composition 6
B. Humanities 3
C. Social Sciences 3
D. College Mathematics 3
E. General Education Electives 6
II. Area of Study: Criminal Justice or Administration of Justice Studies 21
■Introduction to Criminal Justice
■Constitutional Issues
■Juvenile Delinquency
■Criminology
■Cultural Diversity in the U.S.
■White Collar Crime
■Victimology and Criminal Behavior

III. Free Electives 18 **************Already Completed Through FEMA
Total 60 credits


Thanks.

SPC Norton

[burbuja0512]

Hi and welcome! I think everyone who starts down this path gets nervous. Not too many people out there have ever taken a test to get college credit, with the possible exception of an AP course in high school.

If you use IC and the specific feedback, you can't go wrong. The specific feedback from other testers will tell you which, if any, other resources are good to use.

I would recommend starting off with whichever topic you already know most about, or are more comfortable with. Study a bunch and take the test!! Come here and search the forums if you have questions or feel free to post as well.

Good luck and let us know which one you plan on taking first!

[cookderosa]

Well ill get right to the good stuff.

I am an E-4 in the Army, Trying to rack up an Associates with the quickness. I have 18 FEMA credits added through TESC towards a Criminal Justice degree. But honestly im nervous as hell about these CLEPS

I have never been good with tests. They suck. But I really wanted to know if anyone else can help me create a plan to acheive my goals. I joined instantcert last year, but I honestly had no time to study for anything. Now in a few weeks I'll have about 1-2 months of time on my hands to knock out as much as possible.

Please Help.

My degree plan looks like this.



I. General Education Requirements 21
A. English Composition 6
B. Humanities 3
C. Social Sciences 3
D. College Mathematics 3
E. General Education Electives 6
II. Area of Study: Criminal Justice or Administration of Justice Studies 21
■Introduction to Criminal Justice
■Constitutional Issues
■Juvenile Delinquency
■Criminology
■Cultural Diversity in the U.S.
■White Collar Crime
■Victimology and Criminal Behavior

III. Free Electives 18 **************Already Completed Through FEMA
Total 60 credits


Thanks.

SPC Norton

SPC Norton,
I didn't believe it either. I was about a B/C student in high school. When I went to trade school, I was more like a B+ student since it was very interesting and I loved what I was learning. None of the exams listed were anything that I really knew anything about, I'm a chef. I'd never even taken algebra! I'm normal- average academically speaking. I am, however, pretty good at self-study and really good at zeroing in on something I want to do then doing it!

Even after I started testing, I NEVER scored all that high on a CLEP. You won't see any 70's or 80's in my siggy line. I always got in the 50-60 range. But, a pass is a pass. Use one of the exam prep books. I don't know what kind of library access you have, but that's where I found many of mine (that and thrift stores for 38 cents!)
Here is a rough idea of how I planned for (and passed-all but 1) 50-something credits.

get print materials/locate a few web resources

read what I have, more like learn what I'm about to learn

decide how much time it will take to learn this- 1 week or 10? Usually2-4

start reading

after about a week, take a practice test. Either in the book or petersons

regroup- how far off am I? Can I do it in another week or do I need 2? Am I ready today???

Read more, take second test. Am I getting close to 50% ? If yes, set the date for next week.

LAst week: read more and take final test.

Use wikipedia to look up things I still don't know- key words. Make a cheat sheet of things I've struggled to remember (dates, people, names, etc)

Drive to exam- before going in , cram my cheat sheet.

Once inside, sign in, test opens, time starts.

Spend 60 seconds "brain dumping" everything that I can remember that will stump me- names, dates, etc. Then, begin the test.

Slowly and carefully answer EVERY question.

If I am running out of time, quickly mark every remaining question "B"

Then, as time allows, go back and read each question-choose a real answer.

Feel your blood pressure go through the roof as you click that you are done.

IT will ask you a zillion times if you are sure that you want to see a grade/report your score. (duh!!)

Carefully read "passing score" and then look at "your score." Read it again- you won't believe that you passed, so you'll ask the lady to print it out for you

You'll come back here and post that you passed. Everyone will give you kudos and you'll say "OMG I should have started this years ago!" :hurray:

Welcome to the board.

[djnorton15]

Thank you for the kind welcome.

I sure hope yall are right. I am an average student, i wizzed through online high school thanks to google which haunts me now. But I know I need to get this done with.

I see so far I can knock out all the General Electives and 1 Criminal Justice class which would leave me left with 18CH left. Does anyone know of ways to complete this in a test format without having to attend the actual class?

Thanks again

[cookderosa]

Thank you for the kind welcome.

I sure hope yall are right. I am an average student, i wizzed through online high school thanks to google which haunts me now. But I know I need to get this done with.

I see so far I can knock out all the General Electives and 1 Criminal Justice class which would leave me left with 18CH left. Does anyone know of ways to complete this in a test format without having to attend the actual class?

Thanks again

You can use ALEKS -- Assessment and Learning, K-12, Higher Education, Automated Tutor, Math for math. There is a beginning and and intermediate algebra. The beginning won't count as your requirement, it's one level below what you'd need (intermediate) but it might be worth a look just for getting the brain fired up.
ALEKS is great- be sure to search it here, there is a lot of info about it. Essentially, you pay $20 for a month (or as many months as you need) and you complete the online -open book class- at your own pace. Even your tests are at home and untimed. When you pass the test at 70% you have the credit. TESC accepts Intermediate Algebra as a college level math credit. (they also accept higher maths, but this is the lowest).
One thing about ALEKS, is if you have a "get er done" attitude, you can knock out the whole class in a month (I've seen people do it in a weekend, but they clearly are the exception). That's what a lot of people here do- so that's a whole class, no books, and it's 3 credits for $20. Next to FEMA, that's the best value available.

If you get through ALEKS and like it, you can do higher maths and a stats course- TESC will allow you to use as many as 12 credits from them. It depends on your strengths, I did stats and got frustrated and ended up just taking the DSST exam and called it done :willynilly: but a lot of people use all the maths. Cheap-cheap-cheap. And you don't have to leave your house

Associate degrees don't require any 300/400 level courses, so yes- you can use tests for all of it if you want. Should you decide to take classes, you can do that in person at your local college or online or at TESC. It's totally up to you.

[djnorton15]

Do you think an October timeframe is doable for an associates? I emailed TESC to find out exactly what they expect for each class and the CLEP related exams so hopefully they can hook me up. Being in Okinawa has one advantage. Studying on the beach

[cookderosa]

Do you think an October timeframe is doable for an associates? I emailed TESC to find out exactly what they expect for each class and the CLEP related exams so hopefully they can hook me up. Being in Okinawa has one advantage. Studying on the beach

Being here has one advantage- better, faster, and more reliable advice than the TESC advisors....just sayin milelol:

When you enroll, that takes time to get your evaluation- so you should apply today to at least get them started on you. Then, fast forward, when you are ready to graduate, you'll file for graduation in the term before you want to graduate. That is several months. You'll be cutting it close- but go in and look up the graduation filing date for October- that date is when you'd have to have your classes done.

Also, if you elaborate on your question about "what they expect" someone here can help you.

[andy3000]

Link to free Peterson's CLEP and DSST practice tests for military Peterson's

[djnorton15]

My account is already active at TESC, They said if I switch my degree plan from Criminal Justice, to Environmental, safety and securities that I can almost test out of the degree which is nice. They also said that I will need to take 9 Credit Hours as part of there residency requirement which is cake.

Hopefully this will work out. CLEP is gonna whoop my ass.