Seeking advice on GRE Psych vs. ECE exams

[aliciaterp]

This is my first time posting on this site, but I've been reading it and receiving invaluable information and encouragement. Thanks so much!

In May 2008 I enrolled in Excelsior with only 7 old credits to pursue a BS in psychology. I'm now up to 99 credits and originally planned to use the GRE Psych exam to get 30 credits for my major requirements with a minimum of expense. An advisor is now telling me that the GRE Psych would duplicate the 6 Social Sciences & History credits. Fortunately I just passed the CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature which makes up for the 6 lost credits. HOWEVER...the more I read about the agony which is the GRE Psych...the more I'm wondering if I should skip the GRE and take the additional 7 exams (CLEP, DSST and ECE) to round out my psychology credits.

The GRE is $130 for 30 credits if(!) I can manage to pass at 80% or better. Or I could spend $1300 to take the individual exams; CLEP Intro to Educ. Psych, DSST Life span Development, ECE Abnormal Psych, Cultural Diversity, Juvenile Delinquency, Psych of Adulthood and Aging, and Social Psych.

For those of you who have taken the GRE Psych, is the amount of time and study and grief over this test worth it? Or should I just scrape up the money and take the individual exams?

Thanks for your advice.

Completed:
ECE Organizational Behavior
Research Methods in Psych
Ethics; Theory & Practice
English Comp
Foundations of Gerontology

CLEP Social Sciences & History
Humanities
Natural Sciences
College Math
Intro to Psych
Info Sys. & Computer App.
American Govt
Principles of Management
Intro Business Law
Intro Sociology
History of US 1 & 2
Analyzing & Interpreting Lit.

DSST Principles of Supervision
Environment & Humanity
Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Human Resource Mgmt
Here's to your Health

UExcel Intro to Political Science

[malcs]

I studied for the GRE, but ended up taking 18 credits of psych using EC exams. Statistics made it 21, enough for my area of concentration.

I took the GRE subject test in Comp Science a while back.

The problem with the GRE is the frequency that they offer it. You can't take it until Oct 10. You then have to wait for the score. So, around December you may find that you missed the mark that you need for the grab bag of credits.

If you take the individual EC exams, you will be done around the same time, and have the credits in the bank. You will be out a few more bucks tho.
Once you get rolling on the psych courses, you will realize that there is lots of overlap and it will get easier towards the end.

Three good things with the EC tests here:
1) Psyc of the Aging will be a slam dunk for you since you took Gerentology. Lots of overlap.
2) The Research Methods of Psych that you took will assist you in all of the other exams.
3) If there is a $65 practice test for the subject, you should be able to use that to score a perfect A on the exam.


You may want to consider taking statistics first, since it will come up in the psych subjects.

You could then take the GRE in Oct using your acquired knowledge from the EC exams to pick up the last few psych credits that you need, and you will not have a major setback if you don't score high enough. If you blow it, then you just keep on going on the individual exams for another month or so.

Also, the GRE will knock out your credits for the Research Methods course.

So, it ends up being high risk and cheap, vs. lower risk and expensive.

[aliciaterp]

Hmm...Great idea! Thanks, Malcs. That would take the "80% or better" pressure off. I was also concerned about that Research Methods credit so I asked an advisor. This was his response...

Hello Alicia:

If you were to take and complete the GRE Examination for Psychology you would thus see duplication in approxiamtly 9.00 semester hours of credit based on your current course credit that is on file. The following courses/examinations would thus be duplicative:

CLEP: Intro to Psychology (3 credits)
CLEP: Social Science and History (6 credits)

I hope this has been helpful Alicia!

Jason R. Burns, M.S.

No mention of the Research Methods.

[malcs]

Hmm...Great idea! Thanks, Malcs. That would take the "80% or better" pressure off. I was also concerned about that Research Methods credit so I asked an advisor. This was his response...

Hello Alicia:

If you were to take and complete the GRE Examination for Psychology you would thus see duplication in approxiamtly 9.00 semester hours of credit based on your current course credit that is on file. The following courses/examinations would thus be duplicative:

CLEP: Intro to Psychology (3 credits)
CLEP: Social Science and History (6 credits)

I hope this has been helpful Alicia!

Jason R. Burns, M.S.

No mention of the Research Methods.

Sounds like a good plan. You may want to do your own checking on that Research Methods exam duplication. I got burned by EC on my very old GRE in computer science. I had let my EC enrollment lapse by about five years, and when they redid my evaluation they claimed that I had 6 credits of overlap. Get it in writing, like you did, then check the exact credit plan that EC gives you for the GRE.

One other point on the EC exams. You need the correct textbook. Their tests match the textbook author's viewpoint exactly. You will be wasting your time if you use the incorrect book. What I do is look on half.com for an older edition of the recommended textbook. I can usually get one for less than $20. Go for a real beater of a book.

Read the chapter intros, the chapter summaries, and do all of the quiz questions in the book and on the book's support site. You will find many items on the tests that do not Google well, since they reflect the author's viewpoint. I spent hours researching things before I realized this. The matching book's index will often have the exact phrase that you are looking for.





Best of luck.

-Malcolm

[alissaroot]

You may want to do your own checking on that Research Methods exam duplication. I got burned by EC on my very old GRE in computer science. I had let my EC enrollment lapse by about five years, and when they redid my evaluation they claimed that I had 6 credits of overlap. Get it in writing, like you did, then check the exact credit plan that EC gives you for the GRE.

I'm going to second this suggestion. My final evaluation ended up with 7 credits of overlap with the GRE Psych, instead of the four credits I had expected, but I had enough credits to make up the difference so I didn't care to argue it.

I had taken CLEP Social Sciences & History as well, but they did not deduct all six credits from my GRE Psych credits for that. I had an Introductory Psych course worth 4 credits. I am not sure where the other three were taken from, but I know it was only three additional credits that were deducted, not six like SS & History is worth. Maybe just three of the six credits for that exam are duplicative?

As for the original question, I do feel the GRE was worth it for me, and it would have been worth it for me at any score above the 60th percentile. I had hoped to get three or six upper level credits out of it to save enough money to stay in my budget, and I was pleasantly surprised to have knocked out 18 upper level so cheap. I think it's worth a shot, but you should have a back up plan. It's a gamble, and I had planned to take ECEs to fulfill my degree requirements. After I got my score, it was SO fun to cross all those exams off my list. I do think malcs idea of pursuing ECEs until the Oct GRE is a good suggestion, then if the GRE doesn't work out you won't feel like you wasted time, and it's a good way to split the difference between $130 for the GRE versus $1300 for all those ECEs.

[malcs]

... so I didn't care to argue it.

I had no luck arguing with EC either. My dispute was over some computer science credits which absolutely did not overlap. I tried to negotiate to no avail. It was just easier to whip up some easy dsst credits, like "race to save the planet" to make up for the credits, than it was to fight them. I studied while at red lights on the way to the test center, LOL!

[aliciaterp]

I had taken CLEP Social Sciences & History as well, but they did not deduct all six credits from my GRE Psych credits for that. I had an Introductory Psych course worth 4 credits. I am not sure where the other three were taken from, but I know it was only three additional credits that were deducted, not six like SS & History is worth. Maybe just three of the six credits for that exam are duplicative?

As for the original question, I do feel the GRE was worth it for me, and it would have been worth it for me at any score above the 60th percentile. I had hoped to get three or six upper level credits out of it to save enough money to stay in my budget, and I was pleasantly surprised to have knocked out 18 upper level so cheap. I think it's worth a shot, but you should have a back up plan.

Thanks, Alissa. Before I started my program, I asked the advisor which course credits I should avoid so as not to duplicate GRE Psych credits. She told me not to take any psych classes and that there was no official list of courses which correspond to GRE credits. Should have gotten it in writing.

Alissa, did you have to get Statistics credits in addition to the GRE Psych? I'd rather not take the statistics exam if I can avoid it.

[malcs]

She told me ... that there was no official list of courses which correspond to GRE credits. Should have gotten it in writing.

This is either an uniformed advisor, or weak policy at EC regarding the GRE. If they don't have an exact list of courses that correspond to the GRE they are wasting their own time figuring out what to do each time they evaluate a GRE. They should have a published equivalence document.

More reason to get it in writing, and when something seems ambiguous to get it clarified in writing again.

[alissaroot]

Alissa, did you have to get Statistics credits in addition to the GRE Psych? I'd rather not take the statistics exam if I can avoid it.

No, but I still had to fulfill my general education math requirement. I chose DSST Statistics because I had already covered some of it during my GRE prep. You can take Algebra or College Mathematics if you prefer.

[aliciaterp]

This is either an uniformed advisor, or weak policy at EC regarding the GRE. If they don't have an exact list of courses that correspond to the GRE they are wasting their own time figuring out what to do each time they evaluate a GRE. They should have a published equivalence document.

More reason to get it in writing, and when something seems ambiguous to get it clarified in writing again.

Yes, I agree, Malc. The Excelsior website says "For each examination, faculty have determined the courses that duplicate the GRE Subject Test, and no credits will be awarded that duplicate course credits already on your transcript." Makes sense to publish this info.