Overwhelmed by Biology CLEP, what do I do??

[dfrecore]

It should still be one of the 6cr courses. Some of the other CLEP exams changed fairly recently, but that wasn't one of them (none of the science exams was).

[bluebooger]

wish I had seen this thread earlier

my time between taking biology in high school and taking the biology CLEP was 30 years LOL

I too was a little concerned because it had been so long (but I loved bio in high school and I always watch all the NOVA and PBS shows on bio so things hadn't completely slipped my mind)

I bought this book from a local Barnes & Noble
https://www.amazon.com/Biology-Made-Simp...ade+simple
because it was short and inexpensive

I read it through a couple of times

and I passed the CLEP easily

the book did not cover everything
there was some stuff about the "veins" of plants it did not cover
and it didn't go into enough detail about the classification of kingdom / family / genus and all that

but even after 30 years I actually remembered enough to answer every question confidently with time left over

I actually thought CLEP bio was one of the easier exams I've taken

my advice ....
don't sweat it

you did well in school
you'll do well on the CLEP

[SNC]

It should still be one of the 6cr courses. Some of the other CLEP exams changed fairly recently, but that wasn't one of them (none of the science exams was).

It showed 3 when I purchased it (see attached). I plan to take it even if it's three, but I am hoping my school gives me 6 even though it says three. Anyone else get six when it said three?
I can't imagine passing a test that covers enough material for a whole year, then having to still take Bio 102.
Seems silly.


[ATTACH=CONFIG]1852[/ATTACH]

[clep3705]

Every school sets its own credit policies. My school gave me 8 hours. My son's school gave him 8 hours. His school gives either 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the score made. If someone receives 6 hours instead of 3 hours as you asked, it could be because they have a policy of granting more credit for higher scores.

[SNC]

Thanks
It sounded like it didn't matter about score as long as I passed and my school will give me 6 and I will be using two outdoor labs I already took to take place of the biology lab for the 8

My test is next week. Not sure if I will subscribe to IC but I will post what I did to study and then my grade. Going to take the freecleptest today to see how well I do.

[clep3705]

For efficient, focused studying, use these links: http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...ology.html

[sanantone]

In my experience, Saylor's Intro to Molecular Biology is MUCH, much easier than the Biology CLEP...it's not as broad and random lol. My sister took the CLEP and I took the Saylor; we both used the same study material--mostly Apologia, some Khan Academy, some Saylor videos, some IC flashcards... My sister studied much longer and reviewed way more material than I did, and she got a 49 on the CLEP while I got a 76 on the Saylor exam. I'd been out of school for 4 years, so I had quite a bit of brushing up to do; my sister had just completed the Apologia Biology, so she was much more brushed up on her Bio...the CLEP test is just that much more difficult than the Saylor, period. I found the Saylor practice test to be very close to the actual proctored exam, also.

With the CLEP being downgraded to 3 credits, it's def not worth the extra study; I would strongly recommend Saylor over CLEP on this one!

The Biology CLEP covers the equivalent of Biology I and II. That one Saylor course only covers half of the material. Saylor has or had another introductory biology course that is not ACE-approved. One could probably find it on their legacy site. I think it was called intro to ecology and evolution.

[SNC]

Here is what I am doing if it helps anyone in the future.

Background:
I took high school biology and nearly failed about 20 years ago.
In college I've gotten A's in Chem 1, Chem 2, O-chem 1, O-chem 2, Environmental Systems, Ecology, and some other earth science classes

If I pass Bio CLEP that will save me a LOT of time my senior year.
So this is what I did starting out with nothing except the background I mentioned above.
1. First thing I did was find two websites with about 160 flashcards. One was so easy because it was multiple choice I could rule out most answers.
I wanted to just take it cold and see how I did, but I have been studying a lot instead.
2. I started out with a biology clep khan academy playlist on youtube. Watched every single video plus followed the links to the khan academy site and watched some of the extras. From that I ended up with about 2 pages double sided of notes.
3. I then watched crash course biology on Khan Academy because I happened upon it when trying to learn more about plants (one of my weaknesses). I watched it in fast forward and skipped some. I also watched most of the khan academy stuff in fast forward but watched a couple videos twice. I didn't find the biology crash course to be as helpful because it didn't have as many diagrams or visuals.
4. I then spent roughly 4 days skimming every single page in.
"Biology in focus" second edition that a teacher loaned to me
https://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Biology-...0321962753
The concepts I learned with the khan academy videos really came together when I skimmed that book. I ended up with another page of notes on plants.

5. Next I just took the freecleptest test and got 62% (in 58 minutes)
I waited about 2 hours and took it a second time and got 92% (in 39 minutes) (of course 80-90% of the questions were repeated).

6. Now I'm just going to go through that list of wikipedia articles and read up on anything I am not as familiar with and fill out some missing areas of my notes that I realized after taking the freecleptest test. Then just study and review my notes until test day.

I suppose I have spent about 5-6 weeks so far on and off. I really don't remember. This summer has just flown by too fast.
I feel like I have a good grasp of the concepts and normal level definitions. Just not the more in depth stuff and words and definitions of some plant hormones, and human systems. My test is in 5 days and I hope that will be enough to pass.

[musictester]

Philippians 4:8, you will do great! I was really worried about my first for credit test (DSST Environmental Science), WAY overstudied, and passed with good margin. You will do fine! Blessings on your test!

[SNC]

I passed
I got a 62

That test was way harder than I thought it would be. The free clep test had a note saying his test was hard on purpose but the real CLEP test was even harder. I wasn't sure I was going to pass it when I hit the final submit button but I got a 62
I used the full time period too and didn't have enough time to read two problems and just had to completely guessed on them.

There were a lot of phelogeny questions and really hard punnet squares dihybrid (for someone who has never done them other than studying for this clep test).
My strong point was ecology (having taken it and studied it a lot), so that's what saved me on the test time limit and completion cause I was able to whiz through those..

And my test sheet I got with my score says it's 6 credits

Here is what I am doing if it helps anyone in the future.

Background:
I took high school biology and nearly failed about 20 years ago.
In college I've gotten A's in Chem 1, Chem 2, O-chem 1, O-chem 2, Environmental Systems, Ecology, and some other earth science classes

If I pass Bio CLEP that will save me a LOT of time my senior year.
So this is what I did starting out with nothing except the background I mentioned above.
1. First thing I did was find two websites with about 160 flashcards. One was so easy because it was multiple choice I could rule out most answers.
I wanted to just take it cold and see how I did, but I have been studying a lot instead.
2. I started out with a biology clep khan academy playlist on youtube. Watched every single video plus followed the links to the khan academy site and watched some of the extras. From that I ended up with about 2 pages double sided of notes.
3. I then watched crash course biology on Khan Academy because I happened upon it when trying to learn more about plants (one of my weaknesses). I watched it in fast forward and skipped some. I also watched most of the khan academy stuff in fast forward but watched a couple videos twice. I didn't find the biology crash course to be as helpful because it didn't have as many diagrams or visuals.
4. I then spent roughly 4 days skimming every single page in.
"Biology in focus" second edition that a teacher loaned to me
https://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Biology-...0321962753
The concepts I learned with the khan academy videos really came together when I skimmed that book. I ended up with another page of notes on plants.

5. Next I just took the freecleptest test and got 62% (in 58 minutes)
I waited about 2 hours and took it a second time and got 92% (in 39 minutes) (of course 80-90% of the questions were repeated).

6. Now I'm just going to go through that list of wikipedia articles and read up on anything I am not as familiar with and fill out some missing areas of my notes that I realized after taking the freecleptest test. Then just study and review my notes until test day.

I suppose I have spent about 5-6 weeks so far on and off. I really don't remember. This summer has just flown by too fast.
I feel like I have a good grasp of the concepts and normal level definitions. Just not the more in depth stuff and words and definitions of some plant hormones, and human systems. My test is in 5 days and I hope that will be enough to pass.