TESC BSAST and calculus questions

[blu2blu]

I have been evaluating my current credits against the requirements for a BSAST in Electronics Engineering Technology from TESC (I attached the spreadsheet) and have run into a couple of questions. Any thoughts on my roadmap are appreciated, as always.

1. What, if any, are the upper level requirements for this degree? I can't find any reference to upper level requirements for this program on the TESC website. Are there none since its a BSAST rather than a standard BA or BS?

2. I need a full year of calculus with this degree (not excited about this). Will ALEKS Pre-Calculus be sufficient for 3 of those credits?

Thanks!

[skyfall123]

ALEKS Pre-Calc will not qualify...they are looking for a year specifically covering both Integral (Calculus I) and Differential (Calculus II)

One of the least painful ways of covering a year of Calc are the ACE Credit approved courses here Graduate School - Course Details
Graduate School - Course Details

Good luck whatever you choose!

[Shawn A]

ALEKS Pre-Calc will not qualify...they are looking for a year specifically covering both Integral (Calculus I) and Differential (Calculus II)

One of the least painful ways of covering a year of Calc are the ACE Credit approved courses here Graduate School - Course Details
Graduate School - Course Details

Good luck whatever you choose!

Except he needs 6 credits of Calculus and the USDA route will only net him 4...

Couple of options:

1. If you are not in a hurry - you could sit the AP Calculus B/C exam next May. A little known fact about the AP exams are that ANYONE can sit the exam. If you wish to go this route - you need to contact AP in January/February about specifics.

2. If you want to take a crack at credit by examination - you can do that through Ohio University: Combined

Keep in mind if you go this route that OU is on the quarter system - you would have to take Calc I, II, and III.

For both of these options, I highly recommend Thinkwell Calculus. My daughter did Calc I with Thinkwell and scored a 60 on the Calculus CLEP. Calc 2 is included, but she wanted to take a break from math.

3. LSU and University of Wyoming both offer Calculus at a reasonable price via Independent Study. Double check this, but when we were investigating this for my daughter, LSU does not permit graphing calculators on Calculus Exams, UW does.

4. Arizona Western College offers a 5 credit Calculus Class online this fall. You'd still have to find one other credit though.

Best of luck

Shawn

[skyfall123]

Except he needs 6 credits of Calculus and the USDA route will only net him 4...

Already had the discussion with TESC, they will accept the USDA Calc I & II as fulfilling the requirement. Word of caution, it is not the overall amount of Calc credit, but the sequence of Calc I & II taken together that is the critical requirement. The exception with TESC is that if you pass the second course of a sequence (Calc II), then the requirement for the full year is fulfilled (with the exception of Eng I and Eng II). The challenge is that in order to handle Calc II (differential) you will need a solid foundation in Calc I (intregal).


Explanation for why USDA is easiest option. It costs $295 per course. The USDA program is self paced. You have around 10 chapters assignments which are open book and worth 70% of your grade. You are required to answer 10-15 questions per assignment (showing all work). If you get the open book end of chapter assignments correct then you will have earned enough (70%) to pass the course. Although you still need to take the final exam in a proctored environment, you are not required to pass the final exam to pass the course. If you take your time and do all of the open book chapter assignments correctly, then you will have earned enough (70%) to pass.

[Kaz]

1. If you are not in a hurry - you could sit the AP Calculus B/C exam next May. A little known fact about the AP exams are that ANYONE can sit the exam. If you wish to go this route - you need to contact AP in January/February about specifics.

Always ask your target school if they are cool with that. For instance, Rutgers won't accept any AP exams taken after you've graduated high school. Period.

[Yenisei]

Does anyone have any idea if the USDA calculus courses would be available to US citizens living outside of the US?

[skyfall123]

Does anyone have any idea if the USDA calculus courses would be available to US citizens living outside of the US?

Yes they are. They send you a package containing the chapter exams, which you complete and mail back to them. The final exam is by proctor. The course book is an older version which you can buy used on Amazon. You can contact them directly here
distance@graduateschool.edu

Keep in mind that these are ACE credits, so make sure your school accepts them. The "Big 3" will all accept ACE credit.

[Yenisei]

Thanks, Geezer. That will work just fine for me (I am going to apply to TESC) and will cost less than LSU.