Newbie looking for help

[Simran]

@OP- also if you know any languages other than English you can take various exams (NYU, ACTFL, etc.) and earn up to 12 credits from just the one exam. The CLEP core exams (Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences & History, and College Math) can earn you 6 credits from each exam. Those are all good ones to start with.

These are some great tips .!!! Thanks ..I'm researching NYU right now to see options available.

[dfrecore]

Thanks for the response.The reason I thought CLEP will be a good place to start is because I started off working on a study plan by looking at one of the existing plan laid down by someone in another thread but then quickly realized that I'm missing something . Please bear with me while I try to explain .
This one example below was shown in the plan.
"POS-110 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Government 3 SL $100 "

which I translated as " Civic Engagement is a course that can be taken from straighterline and get evaluated for 100$ for acquiring 3 credits " and when I searched at straighterline.com -I'm not able to locate that course . I spent a good 2 hours scratching my head to "get it right" which is when I stumbled on this link CLEP - College-Level Exam Program that maps the courses I need to take with with what's available on CLEP .

Hence I am leaning towards CLEP. With the time crunch I'm in ,I'm more worried that I might spend time on some course that is actually not a requirement for my Associate degree. With the TESU-CLEP mapping -I'm certain the courses I'm taking will help me earn much needed credits. Just some newbie jitters or I'm not doing it right.

Many thanks for your tip on College Algebra - I'm looking at that right now

TESU has a map for Straighterline as well: Thomas Edison State University Course Equivalency Guide | StraighterLine

American Government at SL is under the Courses|Humanities or Courses|Social Sciences (hint: it's a social science at TESU).

The correct way of interpreting "POS-110 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Government 3 SL $100 " is to say "If you take American Government at SL, it fulfills the Civic Engagement Requirement, and costs approximately $100." You should look at TESU's requirements for your degree to see what I'm talking about here. It's important that you not just follow a plan blindly, but understand the requirements, and what courses will fulfill those requirements.

As long as you create/follow a good plan, you won't spend a single minute on a course that you don't need. You just need to make sure you fulfill all of the requirements, and get all of the credits you need. If you create/find a good plan, you can post it here and we can look at it for you.

[Simran]

Thanks for all the help.
I'm back after straightening some stuff at my work since past 1 month .Intending to spend coming 2 months very focussed on getting credits towards attaining my goal ,atleast the general ed requirements - I've put together a plan and wanted to share with all of you -

I. General Education Requirements

A. Intellectual and Practical Skills
Written Communication
English Composition 1(Source-Study.com)
English Composition 2 (Source-Study.com)
Oral Communication (Source - TBD)
Quantitative Literacy
Intermediate Algebra (Source- Aleks - working right now)
Information Literacy
Technical Writing (Source-Clep)
B. Civic and Global Learning
Diversity - Introduction to Sociology (Source -Clep)
Ethics - (Ethics and the CPCU Code of Professional Conduct) (Source :- Theinstitutes.org)
Civic Engagement -American Government- (Source -Straighterline)

C. Knowledge of Human Cultures
Public Relation through & Practice (Clep)
Introduction to Critical Reasoning (Source :- TBD)
Intro to Humanity-(Source :- TBD)

D. Understanding the Physical and Natural World
Intro to Biology (Source- Straaighterline)
The science of nutrition (Source- Clep)
Physics I - (Source :- TBD)

E.Mathematics
Collage Algebra (Source-Aleks)


would LOVE some inputs on what the community thinks ..experts PLEASE weigh in ...!!! feedback ,however critical it may be - is very useful right now .This is the first draft ....Also TBDs are something I'm not able to decide .So any help will be greatly appreciated.

Also a general question,
Is CLEP easier to crack then working from comforts of my home using sailor or straighterline ?

Thanks for all the great work you all have been doing .

[dfrecore]

I'm putting the issues in red:

Thanks for all the help.
I'm back after straightening some stuff at my work since past 1 month .Intending to spend coming 2 months very focussed on getting credits towards attaining my goal ,atleast the general ed requirements - I've put together a plan and wanted to share with all of you -

I. General Education Requirements

A. Intellectual and Practical Skills
Written Communication
English Composition 1(Source-Study.com) - this course is only 1cr, you need another way to take it - either SL or CLEP
English Composition 2 (Source-Study.com) - doesn't exist, use either SL or CLEP (College Comp w/Essay is 6cr and counts as both English I & II)
Oral Communication (Source - TBD) - either Principles of Public Speaking DSST or SL's Intro to Communication
Quantitative Literacy
Intermediate Algebra (Source- Aleks - working right now)
Information Literacy
Technical Writing (Source-Clep) - this is a DSST, or you can take the TECEP, or you can take World Religions DSST/SL or A&I Lit CLEP
B. Civic and Global Learning
Diversity - Introduction to Sociology (Source -Clep) also available via SL
Ethics - (Ethics and the CPCU Code of Professional Conduct) (Source :- Theinstitutes.org)
Civic Engagement -American Government- (Source -Straighterline) or CLEP

C. Knowledge of Human Cultures
Public Relation through & Practice (Clep) - this is a TECEP
Introduction to Critical Reasoning (Source :- TBD) - this is a TECEP
Intro to Humanity-(Source :- TBD) - Either Humanities CLEP or study.com

D. Understanding the Physical and Natural World
Intro to Biology (Source- Straaighterline)
The science of nutrition (Source- Clep) also available via SL, TECEP
Physics I - (Source :- TBD) - available via SL

E.Mathematics
Collage Algebra (Source-Aleks)


would LOVE some inputs on what the community thinks ..experts PLEASE weigh in ...!!! feedback ,however critical it may be - is very useful right now .This is the first draft ....Also TBDs are something I'm not able to decide .So any help will be greatly appreciated.

Also a general question,
Is CLEP easier to crack then working from comforts of my home using sailor or straighterline ?

Thanks for all the great work you all have been doing .

I think that if I were going this route, I would just do SL (except ALEKS math). I think you can get everything you need for an AA via SL. It would probably be the easiest route to take. It wouldn't hurt, if you had some time left at the end, to take an additional course or two if you could fit them in as well.

[bjcheung77]

I'm putting the issues in red:

I think that if I were going this route, I would just do SL (except ALEKS math). I think you can get everything you need for an AA via SL. It would probably be the easiest route to take. It wouldn't hurt, if you had some time left at the end, to take an additional course or two if you could fit them in as well.

+1, I would recommend completing the courses, or the majority of them from Straighterline as well. Just to make sure, are you going only for an associates degree, or will you ladder to a bachelors as well? I am asking as transfer credit requirements are 45 for associates, 90 for bachelors from one source. Meaning, for bachelors you can take 30 out of 40 courses at Straighterline, for associates, 15 out of 20 courses can be from Straighterline,

[Simran]

+1, I would recommend completing the courses, or the majority of them from Straighterline as well. Just to make sure, are you going only for an associates degree, or will you ladder to a bachelors as well? I am asking as transfer credit requirements are 45 for associates, 90 for bachelors from one source. Meaning, for bachelors you can take 30 out of 40 courses at Straighterline, for associates, 15 out of 20 courses can be from Straighterline,

I do want to do bachelors but before that I'm focussed on getting the associates degree. Bachelors is the ultimate goal although faaar away .... but with what i'm reading from amazing people on this forum - it doesnt' looks like it is something that I will be not be able to achieve .

before I was introduced to this forum - I was not sure but reading posts here my spirits are high .I'm spending atleast 20 minutes a day to read through the posts which is definitely helping...

Thanks for the good work.

[Simran]

I'm putting the issues in red:



I think that if I were going this route, I would just do SL (except ALEKS math). I think you can get everything you need for an AA via SL. It would probably be the easiest route to take. It wouldn't hurt, if you had some time left at the end, to take an additional course or two if you could fit them in as well.

OMG - My apologies - I thought i replied to this thread but looks like i did not . Thanks a ton to everyone who responded esp dfrecore for validating my plan . I'm on my way to complete Intermediate Alg now having done basic algebra . As they say - Once you know where you want to go - the only thing remaining is how to get there while enjoying the journey...